Marshall University Athletics
BOGACZYK: Grobe Seeks Team Consistency, Success from Herd
9/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
By JACK BOGACZYK
HERDZONE.COM COLUMNIST
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Matt Grobe hopes the memories of a solid summer can be sustained in what's ahead for his 2015-16 Marshall men's golf team.
Grobe begins his fourth season as the Herd coach next Sunday through Tuesday in the Golfweek Program Challenge at Pawleys Island, S.C. It's an 18-school (men's and women's teams) invitational event, and Grobe said it will be a tough test for a young club that has some experience.
The Herd's 10-player roster includes four freshmen, a Division II transfer and only one senior, Logan Lagodich. However, Lagodich and sophomore Alex Weiss capped the Marshall program's summer by qualifying for last month's U.S. Amateur.
By virtue of making the Amateur field, Lagodich and Weiss were automatic qualifiers for the Herd's season-opening tournament, which precedes the 46th Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational by one week. Otherwise, Grobe is looking for talent to emerge ââ'¬Â¦ not to mention consistency.
"I guess I was a little disappointed in last season, to be honest with you," Grobe said when asked if he was happy with his program entering Year 4. "I thought we had a young, talented team and I expected to see some glimpses of some good golf and we just didn't really hit on all cylinders in any one event.
"I guess as a coach, I'm a little bit leery going into this year, because I thought last year was going to be a springboard into this year, and this year would be great. So, it still has that potential, but after last year and not having enough guys step up at the same time in the same event ââ'¬Â¦
"We'd have five guys show up at every tournament, and two different guys would play good every week and the other three would disappear. And the next week, it would be a different two. And I thought we were deep. I thought having five good players was enough."
Grobe said Marshall missed Herd-leading seniors from his first two teams, Nathan Kerns and Brian Anania.
"They kind of held the team together," Grobe said. "We always knew we were getting a good round out of them. Hopefully we have a couple of guys now who come out and separate themselves and we're not stuck with a bunch of guys who are all the same, because we found out last year that we need kind of a star to be a good golf team."
Marshall finished 10th last spring in the 13-team Conference USA Championships. Lagodich, coming off hip surgery, shared an individual title in the Western Carolina-hosted Hummingbird Intercollegiate last fall. Otherwise, highlights were few.
Grobe said, however, that the U.S. Amateur appearances by two Herd players is the kind of springboard a program and a team can use.
"It's one of those first steps you need to have your program recognized, having individuals step up and do some special things with Logan and Alex, and even Clark (Robinson) last summer, when he qualified into the second (sectional) stage of the U.S. Open qualifier," the MU coach said. "You start to get some good stories out there about individuals.
"What we need now is to have some good team stories to tell here in the next couple of years. But I think that's the first step, guys start to play well individually, and then hopefully we can come out in the fall and spring and win some important events and then people might start looking at us as a pretty serious contender inside Conference USA."
With Lagodich the veteran of the bunch, Grobe has four juniors in returnees Robinson, Will Evans, Davey Jude and A.T. Cashwell, who made the lineup sparingly last season after transferring from Division II Pfeiffer (N.C.).
"A.T. got into a couple tournaments last year and he's a really solid player, but I think he had a little problem adjusting from Division II to here," Grobe said. "He was really a good Division II player and I think he came here a little bit shocked at how good Division I golf is. He's a hard worker, had a good year of work and hopefully he can contribute this year."
With Weiss the lone sophomore - he posted four top-10 finishes as a Herd rookie - Grobe's roster is completed by two redshirt freshmen in Jake Appleby and Andy Bott, and true freshmen Ben Roeder and Charles MacCallum.
"Ben is from Midland, Mich., and was the state high school (Division 1) champ as a junior (in 2014)," Grobe said. "Charles is from Melbourne, Australia, went to several schools in the (United) States, and graduated from a private school outside of Atlanta.
"We'll be trying to find a lineup. I have a deal with the kids that if they win their state Open or state Amateur or qualify for the U.S. Amateur or U.S. Open, they're exempt (from intrasquad qualifying) for our first event. Logan and Alex both played in the Amateur, so we'll qualify for two others and then I'll pick our fifth player for Pawleys Island.
"We've got a lot of competition and with 10 hopefully we'll find guys who will not only play well, but play with some consistency. With redshirting -- what I typically do - it won't come up until we get through the fall. I want kids to have a chance to qualify all the way through the fall, and then if we get to the end of fall and they haven't played, that's when it's time to have the conversation."
Grobe also has retooled the Herd schedule, adding a fall event (to six) and removing one from the spring prior to the April 24-27 C-USA Championships in Texarkana Ark. Grobe felt the Herd "was probably too exhausted in all areas of life going into conference" last year. Marshall plays four regular-season tournaments next spring.
This fall, the Herd will play in Western Kentucky's Kenny Perry Invitational (Oct. 12-13) and the following week go to the inaugural Mountaineer Intercollegiate at the Pete Dye Club in Bridgeport. West Virginia, which has brought back a men's golf program, hosts that event. Grobe said WVU also will play in the 16-team Joe Feaganes field on Sept. 14-15 at Guyan Golf & Country Club.
The Feaganes Marshall Invitational Field also includes Belmont, Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky, Longwood, Morehead State, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, Richmond, Samford, Wichita State, Wright State and Youngstown State.
"I'd say our goal next spring is to get to (the four-team) match play in the conference championships," Grobe said. "We're still a pretty young team, think our goal is to make it top four for match play. Of course, you want to win title, but with this team I think match play is a lofty goal for us, a good goal."
Grobe also will have a familiar face around to help him with his young roster. Former Herd player Jake Miller, who finished his career last spring, has one semester of study left to get his MU degree. He'll work with Grobe as an undergraduate coach this fall.
"Jake is back to get his degree," Grobe said. "He's already accepted the assistant golf coach position at Findlay (Ohio) University for the spring, but he'll be with us one semester as a student coach. In the fall, we can do best with two coaches on course rather than one.
"All he wants to do is be a coach and he's fired up to get started helping his alma mater. He'll be an incredible coach, and I'm blessed to have him for one semester to help me out."
