Although it’s still far from a done deal, ASU might not have to look too far from home to find its next men’s golf coach.
The favorite is a name that is familiar to the Sun Devil golf family, Mickelson.
Not Phil Mickelson, who won three individual national championships in his time in Tempe. The favorite for the head golf coach position is another former ASU golfer, his younger brother Tim Mickelson. The younger Mickelson helped capture the 1996 National Championship under previous coach Randy Lein, who was told his contract wouldn’t be renewed for the 2011-12 season Wednesday.
Mickelson is now coaching at University of San Diego, where he won his third West Coast Conference Coach of the Year award in 2010. The former San Diego State assistant started turning around the USD program in 2004, leading the team to its first tournament victory in four years.
The ASU administration has been quiet so far on who they are looking to hire as Lein’s replacement.
Don Bocchi, the senior associate athletic director who oversees the golf programs at ASU, said in an article by the Arizona Golf Association, “You always hear his name, and he has certainly has had a fine career as a head coach. But there are other people I’m impressed with too.”
The hiring may even help relations with the most famous Sun Devil golfer, Phil Mickelson, who hasn’t shown much support for ASU golf after Tim transferred from the school in 1997.
Reach the reporter at jjmckelv@asu.edu.
