Penn State Men's Golf

Nye. At the Championship, the squad sat in 25th after the third round and did not make the 15-team cut to advance to the final round. Kevin Foley tied for 23rd in the third round and was the sole Nittany Lion to compete in the final round. The talented sophomore held on to his 23rd-place position at the completion of the championship. The Penn State squad was propelled into the 2010 NCAA Finals by seniors T.J. Howe and Kevin Foley. The standout performances by the pair secured a fourth-place finish for the Nittany Lions at regionals, knocking off higher-ranked opponents including No. 17 South Carolina and No. 19 Virginia. Howe's t-1st-place finish made Penn State history as he collected the best individual regional finish by any Nittany Lion golfer. The team went on to finish 29th in the field of 30, with Howe coming out on top for the Nittany Lions yet again. "The 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2010 teams were very special," said Nye. "More importantly, those were very tough minded and believed they could be successful against the higher ranked teams." In April 2007, Nye marked a personal achievement while the Nittany Lions celebrated their victory at the Marshall Invitational, beating the next best team by 12 strokes. The championship, won on a cool, snowy weekend at the Guyan Golf and Country Club, was the 50th of Nye's coaching career. To date, Nye's career coaching win total stands at 60. In his first two years, Nye's teams set two Penn State records for the number of championships earned in a season, with six in 1992-93 and eight in 1993-94, a mark that was tied by the 1996-97 squad. In addition to the team's success on the course, Nye has continually stressed strong performance in the classroom. In 15 of 20 seasons at Penn State, the Nittany Lions have achieved a team grade-point average greater than 3.00. In 2000-01, Nye's team posted the best G.P.A. of any of the 29 teams at Penn State. Nye has coached 17 GCAA All-America Scholars, one GTE Academic All-American and each year he has seen a high percentage of the team rewarded for their academic achievements with Academic All-Big Ten honors. Nye's teams have continually ranked near or at the top of the Mid-Atlantic Region. The team has qualified for the NCAA East Regional 17 times and NCAA Central Regional one time. In 2011, senior T.J. Howe competed individually at the Virginia Tech regional. His squads have also won the Eastern Championship three straight seasons, 1993-95, and in 1997. Nye was voted the NCAA District II Coach of the Year in 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2008 and 2009. He has coached 39 NCAA All-District players, five Mid-Atlantic Region Players of the Year, eight All-Big Ten selections, as well as five NCAA All-Americans - Adam Decker (1997), Matt Abbott (2001), Mark Leon (2004), Foley (2008/09/10) and Howe (2010). "Our program has grown on the national scene as we watched our rankings consistently stay in the top 25 percent of all Division I golf programs," Nye said. "We have challenged ourselves with our schedule and the quality of our play has moved right along with that challenge." After eight years as head coach of the Bowling Green State University men's and women's golf teams in Bowling Green, Ohio, Nye was attracted to Penn State and its membership in the Big Ten Conference. The 1987 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year developed a familiarity with Penn State as a visiting primary instructor to its golf camps. Nye is currently the co-director of the Penn State golf camps, which run for four weeks each summer. Nye has been a member of the Golf Coaches Association of America for 28 years and served as the Chair of the Ethics committee from 1993-2003. In addition, he also served the NCAA as a District Selection Chair for the NCAA Cham pionship from 1997-99. Nye, a PGA "Class A" member since 1982, began his professional career working as a golf professional. Nye graduated from the College of Wooster (Ohio) in 1979 where he earned All-America honors each of his four seasons. As a sophomore, junior and senior, he received first-team honors. With a second-team selection in his first year, Nye and his teammates captured the 1975 NCAA Division III Golf Championship in which he finished eighth individually. Before concluding his collegiate career, Nye earned second, fourth and sixth-place finishes in the national championship. Nye was the individual champion in the Ohio Athletic Conference in his final two years at Wooster. In 1978, he set a conference margin of victory record winning by 11 shots. He played on Fighting Scot squads that captured conference titles in 1975, 1976, and 1977. In 1990, Nye was inducted into Wooster's Athletic Hall of Fame and was honored with induction into the Wayne County, Ohio Sports Hall of Fame in Wooster, Ohio in 2002. In the fall of 2009, Nye was also inducted into the Wooster High School Hall of Fame. Nye's national amateur tournament experience is considerable. While at Wooster, he twice gained exemptions to play in the Western Amateur and Porter Cup. He also played in the Eastern, Canadian and U.S. Amateurs. He played professionally on the North Florida mini-tour in 1980. Nye and his wife, Marjie, reside in State College with their two sons, Russell (22), and Graham (19). Bob Nye coached golf and soccer at the College of Wooster from 1963-1996 and was inducted into Wooster's Hall of Fame in 1997. He served as the president of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) from 1984-86 and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2000, the elder Nye received the GCAA's highest distinction by being presented with the Honor Award for his lifetime contributions to golf. He was named Golfweek's Father of the Year in 2007. Coach Nye's brother, Scott, is the head golf professional at the prestigious Merion Golf Club, located in Ardmore, Pa., which has hosted four United States Open Championships. Merion hosted the 2009 Walker Cup and will host the 2013 U.S. Open. Nye's youngest brother, Gary, serves as the head golf professional at the Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier, Pa.

Leon, a member of the Nittany Lion golf team from 2001-05, earned All-Big Ten honors in 2005, 2004 GCAA All-American recognition and All-Region selection in 2003, '04 and '05. He is fifth on Penn State's career scoring leaders list with a 73.79 average in the 134 rounds he played on the squad. As a junior, Leon led the team to a great finish in the 2004 NCAA Championships. He posted a three-round, one-under par total of 279 (69-69-70-71) to tie for sixth, the best all-time finish in Penn State history. Leon's younger brother Matt followed him to Penn State where he secured a spot on the golf team, graduating in 2008. Leon also enjoyed success after Penn State, bringing acclaim to his alma mater again when he made it to the quarterfinals of the 2005 U.S. Amateur Championship. Leon earned a spot for the quarterfinals by winning his regional qualifier in Altoona. In 2006, Leon played on the Canadian National Team. He was a medalist in the 2006 Canadian Amateur and made match play in the U.S. Amateur for the second consecutive year. He went on to qualify for the Canadian Tour, of which he was a member of from 2007-10. "Since I graduated in 2005 a lot has changed with our program, particularly with regard to the facilities," said Leon. "Coach Nye and Coach (Jon) Dunlap really ushered in a new look for Penn State men's golf, and it is reflected in the success of the team in the past six years. The Blue Course, team practice area and Tombros Varsity Clubhouse have given our team a world-class facility to hone its skills and compete on a national level. Despite everything being so new and so different, it's still like coming home for me. Like all proud alumni, I love this University and I will do my best to represent it as a coach." "We welcome Mark back with the program after his year playing on the professional Canadian Tour," said Coach Nye. "He was one of Penn State's most accomplished players, and will bring his enormous competitive spirit to our team. He is well connected in the game, and has teaching and coaching in his blood."