Daily Bruin picks Vincent as top coach

If you ask the ever-humble O.D. Vincent, there’s no magic
about what he’s done for UCLA men’s golf since he was
named head coach last June.

He’s quick to deflect the resurgence of the program to one
of the strongest junior classes in the country ““ John
Merrick, Roy Moon, Travis Johnson and Steve Conway.

It just so happens that he’s the best head coach in
college golf, and the winner of the Daily Bruin’s Coach of
the Year award.

“I told these guys, the day that I’m not in my
opinion the best golf coach in the United States, then I’ll
step aside and let someone else be the golf coach here,”
Vincent said, “because that’s what they
deserve.”

His first tournament as head coach, the Pacific Invitational
back in September, turned into the first tournament win for a UCLA
men’s golf team since 1998.

They entered that tournament unranked, ended the week ranked No.
4 in the country, and didn’t look back, finishing a solid
third at the NCAA finals in Stillwater, Okla., May 30.

In between, the Bruins won five more tournaments ““
including the Pac-10 and NCAA West Regional championships ““
with Conway winning two individual titles and Merrick one.

Not bad considering no one on the team had ever won an
individual or team title at UCLA before.

“When we won our first tournament at Pacific … that got
us started for the whole year,” Vincent said. “The guys
got used to winning, and they liked it.”

Vincent encountered his share of sand traps in his first year at
UCLA, ““ none more prominent than freshman Spencer
Levin’s month-long suspension, which preceded his leaving the
team permanently in May.

Not getting through to Levin was, as Vincent called it,
“an unsuccessful chapter in my coaching career.”

But Vincent stayed on the green for most of the year, and in the
end, 2002-03 will likely be remembered as one of the best in the
history of the program.

Keeping UCLA at the top will, in Vincent’s opinion, be
even harder than getting them there was this year. All of the
team’s top five ““ the four juniors and sophomore John
Poucher ““ will be back next year and are early favorites to
improve upon their third-place finish at Stillwater.

“On paper, everyone gets excited about that, because they
think this should be the big year for them to shine,” Vincent
said, “but if you talk to most coaches in most sports,
they’ll say the senior year is the most difficult year,
because you have a lot of things on your mind about what
you’re going to do after school.

“Those four seniors have a tremendous challenge to
overcome as well as I do as a coach to set up the right framework
for them.”

In one year, the 34-year-old Vincent has built the framework to
bring a championship to Westwood. Now he’s talking about his
summer plans: finding the successors to next year’s senior
class on the recruiting trail.

After this year’s powerful shot off the tee, UCLA is
closer than ever to sinking a national championship putt. With a
realistic chance at that NCAA title, Vincent has a lot more to
offer high school players than he did when he stepped in.