by January 25 – Champaign – In golf, you always remember your first: hole in one, record record, victory of the tournament.
For Mike Small, his first favorite was the Illinois Big Ten 2009 title, the first at school since he won one as a player in 1988.
“We had several seconds before that,” said Small. “For Big Ten schools and big ten fans, the Big Ten conference is a big problem.
“I have always tried to bring my team to understand the value of this conference championship. If you play well in your conference and successfully compete, I think it shows that you can compete nationally. It has always been the biggest step. “
Small’s first team title as a coach was during Penn State.
“It opened the valves,” he said.
Small, in his 25th year as an Illinois male golf coach, was a guest of “Sporttalk” WDWS on Monday at Champaign’s Esquire Lounge. He was joined by his father Bill, a former offspring of Illini’s basketball competition and captain of the 1963 Big Ten team.
“Illinois athletics have been in my blood since the first day,” said Mike Small. “Thanks to my father, I played basketball that my mother (Kay) graduated, my wife (ann) graduated, my son graduated. It’s a bit in the family.”
He pushed his love for the place further, reducing his player career to direct his Alma Mater at the turn of the century.
“People asked me why I trained in the first place, and it was because I loved university golf course,” said Small. “Playing major university golf course in Big Ten was something I was proud to do, and it was an explosion.”
Under the direction of Small, the Illinois won 13 of the last 15 Big Ten team titles.
He is looking forward to adding another to the list from April 18 to 20 to the Baltimore Country Club.
“Personally, I want this one,” said Small. “This is a big problem for us. Now we have four new teams. Four good golf programs arriving. They have all been in the top 10, top 20 in the last five, 10 years.
“This is the first fall for a long time that we are not team n ° 1 in Big Ten. Ucla is a place in front of us. This will be a big problem for any team to win the first big ten championship of time d ‘expansion.
The Illinois is organizing a regional NCAA at Urbana’s Atkins Golf Club in May. This is another first for the program.
Money anniversary
Small’s time as the Illinois golf coach stolen by, or at least, it seems that.
“Twenty-five years ago, it is hard to believe that it was so long,” said Small. “I always feel mentally the same, which is exciting. I continue to age and children continue to stay in the same age, which is a challenge.”
He quickly rebuilt Illinois not only a competitor Big Ten, but a national power.
Small’s parents were “ecstatic” when he accepted the offer of the director of the time, Ron Guenther, to go home “.
“I knew he was going to succeed because I knew how much he was a competitor when he played,” said Bill Small.
Mike had just lost his PGA Tour card and was trying to understand the next step.
“I was trying to have a certain civility in my life,” said Mike. “If you are a professional golfer, the golf game has you.
“I needed to break this, spending more time with my family.”
Good things
Thanks to two decades of success, the Illinois program is now on a playground with the rest of the Big Ten installations.
The interior exterior complexes and Lauritsen / Wohlers are among the best. Atkins’ renovations also gave Italian a real home lesson.
“There is still an arm race,” said Small.
Illinois installations were recently presented in a Digest Golf video.
“It highlights our facilities fabulously,” said Small. “Ours is very functional.”
Does he need everything he needs?
“In fact, we are now planning discussions to make even more upgrade in our establishment,” said Small. “We have very generous donors and supporters who ask us what we need. We are very lucky, very grateful for that.”
