Marquette Men's Golf Continues To Garner Accolades

April 29, 2008

MILWAUKEE - Marquette head coach Tim Grogan was named BIG EAST Men's Golf Coach of the Year on Tuesday after leading the Golden Eagles to their first BIG EAST title last week. It's the second time Grogan has been selected to receive the award.

"Such an award is always about the quality of the student-athletes you have in your program," said Grogan, who is in his 17th season as head coach of the Golden Eagles and earned the award in 2006. "We are fortunate to have many quality individuals in our program who performed at a very high level this season, and that is a credit to our players. To be recognized within the BIG EAST Conference is a great honor for Marquette and our golf program. Also to be named by your coaching peers is personally very rewarding."

Marquette claimed its first BIG EAST team title in any sport with the win at the conference championship April 20-22. Senior Ted Gray earned medalist honors and was the only individual to finish under par. MU's Mike Van Sickle and Michael Bielawski also placed in the top seven, helping the Golden Eagles to win the team title by two strokes over defending champion Louisville.

Grogan's squad currently boasts a team scoring average of 291.22, nearly two strokes lower than the school record of 293.03 set in 2005-06. The Golden Eagles also had three players recently named to the All-BIG EAST team - Gray, Bielawski and Van Sickle.

Additionally, the Golden Eagles posted a 118-30-3 head-to-head record against opponents in 2007-08, including a perfect 24-0 mark versus BIG EAST schools. Marquette finished in the top-five in nine of 11 events played and tallied a school-record three victories (Xavier Invitational, BIG EAST/MAC Challenge, BIG EAST Championship).

MU was also recognized last week as one of 32 men's golf programs in NCAA Division I for their efforts in the latest multi-year Academic Progress Rate score, which is used to measure eligibility, retention and graduation of student-athletes.

"It's a reflection on both the golf program and Marquette University," Grogan said about the NCAA's announcement. "We take academics seriously. Graduating is the number one priority. That's the goal for each student-athlete when we recruit them, is that they're also going to make that commitment to getting a degree."

As BIG EAST champions, Marquette received the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Championships to be held May 15-17. Marquette will learn on May 5 which of three regional sites they will be sent to. It is the first time the Golden Eagles have qualified for NCAA postseason play. Van Sickle earned an invitation to play as an individual at the NCAA Central Regional in 2007.