Why Jim Garren resigned, leaving Coastal Carolina looking for a new men’s golf coach
.jpg "Coastal Carolina men’s golf coach Jim Garren (right) poses with States Fort in February 2021 after Fort won a tournament. Garren resigned on Thursday, according to the university.")
Coastal Carolina University men’s golf coach Jim Garren has resigned from his position to pursue other coaching opportunities, according to CCU Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and University Recreation Matt Hogue.
“We thank Jim for his service to Coastal Carolina University and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Hogue said in a university release. “We will begin our search for the next head coach immediately.”
Garren has coached the Chanticleers for the past five seasons.
He was hired on July 20, 2017 to replace Chad Wilson, who left the program after just one season. Garren was hired by CCU following three years as an assistant at Oklahoma, including the Sooners’ 2016-17 national championship season.
“I enjoyed my time at Coastal,” Garren said in the CCU release. “I’m proud of all that we were able to accomplish over my five years here. I’m excited to see the growth that our program had over my time here and wish it continued success. At the same time, I’m excited about the next step in my career.”
Garren could not be reached for further comment Thursday.
In his first season, CCU won the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Golf Championship, earning him 2018 Sun Belt Men’s Golf Coach of the Year honors.
The Chanticleers moved up 43 spots nationally in the Golfstat.com rankings in his first two years in 2018 and 2019 despite revamped schedules that saw the Chanticleers play against many of the nation’s best teams.
Garren’s CCU teams won five team tournament titles, including the 2018 Sun Belt championship, and recorded 16 top-five team finishes. His teams were represented in three NCAA Regionals with the 2020 NCAA Championships being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a team, the Chants competed in the 2018 NCAA Kissimmee Regional, while Zack Taylor played in both the 2019 NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional and the 2021 NCAA Noblesville Regional events.
Under Garren’s tutelage, the Chants had two Sun Belt Newcomers of the Year in Morgan Deneen (2018) and Zack Taylor (2019), a Sun Belt individual tournament champion in Deneen (2018), and eight All-Sun Belt selections in Zack Taylor (2019 and 2021), States Fort (2021), Seth Taylor (2021), Wes Artac (2019), Deneen (2018), Luis Ruiz (2018), and Thadd Obecny II (2018).
Zack Taylor was tabbed a Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA)/Ping All-Region selection back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, while a total of five student-athletes earned GCAA All-America Scholar recognition since Garren’s arrival, including a program-record three GCAA All-America Scholars in 2018.
CCU has a rich history in men’s golf, finishing as high as fifth in NCAA championship in 2007, which was Dustin Johnson’s senior season.
Johnson has 24 PGA Tour wins among his 28 professional wins, including the 2016 U.S. Open and 2020 Masters, and has been ranked No. 1 in the world for a combined 139 weeks, which is third all-time behind Tiger Woods and Greg Norman.
In addition, alumnus Sebastian Soderberg is a five-year member of the European Tour, and Zack Byrd was named a 2009 third-team All-American by Golfweek and the Golf Coaches Association of America.
This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 5:35 PM.
