Ending a 20-year dynasty is never easy.
On Wednesday, ASU Vice President of Athletics Lisa Love announced that men’s golf coach Randy Lein’s contract will not be renewed for the 2011-12 season.
The 2008 Golf Coaches Hall of Fame Inductee had one of his worst years in 2010-2011, with the team finishing ninth in the conference and 18th at nationals, despite having six players in their final year of eligibility. It was a disappointing end to an ASU career that included three national championships, two individuals and one team, eight conference championships, and 18 national championship appearances in 19 years.
“I had 20 great years,” Lein said. “I don’t have any regrets. I coached a lot of great players, met a lot of great people around the world, and had a lot of great times.”
Throughout the years, Lein has had 18 All-Americans, 14 of which had multiple appearances on the list. He also had 44 total tournament victories, but didn’t record any this past year.
“In close to two decades at Arizona State Coach Randy Lein has been an incredible Sun Devil and we fully appreciate his efforts,” Love said in a press release. “He and his student-athletes have always represented Sun Devil athletics honorably.
"While we look forward to a future that has us competing for national championships in a sport that has had so many outstanding Sun Devils, we also want to thank Randy for his wonderful years of service and for the attitude and energy he brought towards being a team player of Sun Devil athletics."
Lein was hired in October of 1992, but since then collegiate golf has changed dramatically. The influx of European players has made it even harder to recruit players.
“The competition has certainly gotten a lot stiffer,” Lein said. “Years ago you would be recruiting the local high school players, go to the U.S. Junior, wherever that was, and maybe one out of state event. Now with the traveling over to Europe once a year, and all over the country during the summer months, the talent has gotten a lot better.”
One of the Sun Devil program’s best recruiting tools has been the practice facility at the Karsten Golf Course located on the Tempe campus. Having the course available to players regularly has helped win over some recruits and even some transfers, such as Phil Francis, who transferred from UCLA to complete his collegiate golf career at ASU in 2011.
“When I got here there was no clubhouse, no practice facility, no player facility, no performance center, and no short game area,” Lein said. “So those are all things that got done while I was here.”
The team will be welcoming six new players, three international and three from Arizona, this year. Stanislas Gautier, who won the 2008 European Young Masters, is the first French recruit during Lein’s tenure. Another European, Mathias Schjolberg from Norway, was the first to win the Suzann Junior Challenge, one of the country’s toughest tournaments, three years in a row.
“The international kids are pretty disappointed, because their contacts were through me, but the coach should be just a part of the decision making,” Lein said. “ASU’s reputation, academics, facilities, weather, alumni support, and the schedule, that’s what I emphasize when I recruit and that’s what I emphasized to them when I spoke to them Thursday morning.”
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu.
