NCAA Golf- The West Coast is slowing starting to crawl towards the Midwest with the likes of USC joining the Big Ten in the 2024 season. To lead the Trojans Men’s Golf team into that new arena is former Mt. Pleasant graduate and highly decorated head coach Mark Hankins after hiring him on July 9th.
Hankins has been on the course for most of his life, as a student-athlete at Iowa State University Hankins finished his senior season with an All-Conference nod. His first year as head coach of a college program spans back to 1997 with Texas-Arlington. During his three-year reign he led the Mavericks to 8 tournament wins.
His next stop was to the Big Ten with Michigan State (1999-2007). Haskins put the Spartan golf team on the map, which culminated into two Big Ten conference championships, two Big Ten Coach of the Year awards along with five NCAA Championship Regional appearances.
Jumping from Michigan to Iowa (2007-2014), Hankins took the Hawkeyes and built the program into a Top-25 juggernaut. In his seven-year tenure, he coached three All-Americans, 11 first-team All-Big Ten honorees and appeared in six NCAA Championship Regional rounds. His team finished as high as 10th place at the NCAA Championship Finals.
After a brief hiatus from coaching, Hankins moved west and took the helm of the University of Nebraska (2018-2021). Hankins helped the Huskers finish in 4th place twice at the Big Ten Conference Championship.
Hankins then moved south to help co-coach at Missouri (2021-2023). The Tigers qualified for the NCAA Championship Regional round in back-to-back years and finished in 5th place at the SEC Championship, their best program finish.
Hankins has served at President and Vice-President of the Golf Coaches Association of America from 2006 until 2014, served in athletic administration and on the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Committee for four years, and served as the head coach for Team USA at the World University Games in Bangkok, Thailand in 2007.
USC has won their Conference Championship twenty times.