by Craig Morgan
Matt Thurmond's love of coaching draws on many sources.
His dad, Joe, coached multiple sports and always managed the varied talents and personalities of his boys, John, Matt and Adam.
Coach Thurmond's childhood golf instructor, Carl Welty, taught Matt to draw out the strengths out of his game and see his big potential.
As a junior high and high schooler he read books by John Wooden, Bobby Knight, Pat Riley and Lou Holtz that taught him the mindset of elite coaches. BYU coach Bruce Brockbank created a huge love for college golf, and believed in him enough to give him his first coaching job. Former Washington golf coach O.D. Vincent provided "20 years of experience in one year" after hiring Thurmond in 2000.
"I actually kind of broke down a little bit. I could see it in their eyes, how beaten they were. They knew it was over and they were crushed. It occurred to me that they had to finish the round, there are no substitutions, and the clock won't run out. The only option is to play all 18 holes."
In that moment, Thurmond gained an even deeper appreciation for his players, who rallied a bit on the final few holes to finish in a tie for ninth place. With his team still heartbroken in the parking lot after the match, Thurmond pulled from President Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech, "The Man in the Arena."
"I felt like the Grinch because my heart grew a few sizes that day," he said. "I gained such respect for them being willing to put themselves in a position to fail so badly and feel so much pain. Most people will subconsciously self-sabotage long before putting themselves in a position to feel that much hurt. That was a pretty impactful day for me. After that I felt I could never have anything but big love and respect for my players because it's hard to do what they do. It's hard to put your name on a scoreboard so that everyone in the world can see it with a number next to it."
Thurmond believes that "losing teaches you so much if you can handle the pain," but when he took the job at ASU one year ago, losing wasn't on his mind. His high school and college golf years in the 1990s were spent watching the Sun Devils dominate the collegiate scene, with two national championships, six straight Pac-10 Championships, runner-up trophy and four individual champions in five years (Phil Mickelson three times; Todd Demsey once).
"In my prime time of college awareness it was all ASU," he said. "They looked different, they dressed different, they had a swagger about them and all the best players in the west wanted to go to ASU, like the best player in my class from Washington, Scott Johnson."
Thurmond wants to see ASU reassert its place at the top of the men's collegiate golf scene.
"The competitive landscape and parity of college golf has changed, but so has women's college basketball and UConn still wins every year," Thurmond said. "So has college football and Alabama still wins every year. I think there's still space for a team to be that dominant. That's how I see ASU and that's what's possible to me."
Thurmond admits there is much to do in Tempe between building a new facility, rallying the community and on expanding on what he calls "the great tradition we have," but he insists he is happier when the to-do list is longer.
The Sun Devils have played 35 local courses as they attempt to connect with and impact a community. Thurmond keeps in close contact with the program's alumni to ensure there is an unbroken thread between past and present, and as the Sun Devils continue play this fall, his "active mind" is brimming with the possibilities.
"I don't want to feel like we have failed if we don't win the championship every year because that's not fair, but I do think a kid growing up should have ASU at the top of his list of where he wants to play college golf," Thurmond said. "Great Sun Devil coaches have laid the foundation with NCAA titles, Pac-12 titles and a laundry-list of who's who on the the professional level. With the type of school, geographic location, the facilities, the weather, the history, the resources, the coaching history, Barrett Honors College and the university carrying this feeling of expansion, growth, and innovation, I can't find anything that gives me reason to think we shouldn't be awesome."
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Matt Thurmond's love of coaching draws on many sources.
His dad, Joe, coached multiple sports and always managed the varied talents and personalities of his boys, John, Matt and Adam.
Coach Thurmond's childhood golf instructor, Carl Welty, taught Matt to draw out the strengths out of his game and see his big potential.
As a junior high and high schooler he read books by John Wooden, Bobby Knight, Pat Riley and Lou Holtz that taught him the mindset of elite coaches. BYU coach Bruce Brockbank created a huge love for college golf, and believed in him enough to give him his first coaching job. Former Washington golf coach O.D. Vincent provided "20 years of experience in one year" after hiring Thurmond in 2000.
All of those experiences laid the foundation for his current gig as the Sun Devils men's golf coach, but Thurmond's love of coaching student-athletes was cemented in 2006 when his Washington Huskies led the NCAA Tournament heading into the final round at the Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Oregon."Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves." --Stephen Covey
— Matt Thurmond (@MattThurmond) September 8, 2017
"I was thinking this was it, we were going to win it," said Thurmond, whose team had been close on other occasions. "People from Seattle drove to Crosswater overnight and after the first few holes, we had extended our lead. Then a couple hours and zero birdies later, there were only a few fans left that had the stomach to keep watching. I remember on the 12th hole looking up at the scoreboard and we were in 11th place."It's my belief that most of us dramatically underestimate our unique potential to grow, learn, achieve, become, serve, and impact.
— Matt Thurmond (@MattThurmond) August 19, 2017
"I actually kind of broke down a little bit. I could see it in their eyes, how beaten they were. They knew it was over and they were crushed. It occurred to me that they had to finish the round, there are no substitutions, and the clock won't run out. The only option is to play all 18 holes."
In that moment, Thurmond gained an even deeper appreciation for his players, who rallied a bit on the final few holes to finish in a tie for ninth place. With his team still heartbroken in the parking lot after the match, Thurmond pulled from President Teddy Roosevelt's famous speech, "The Man in the Arena."
"I felt like the Grinch because my heart grew a few sizes that day," he said. "I gained such respect for them being willing to put themselves in a position to fail so badly and feel so much pain. Most people will subconsciously self-sabotage long before putting themselves in a position to feel that much hurt. That was a pretty impactful day for me. After that I felt I could never have anything but big love and respect for my players because it's hard to do what they do. It's hard to put your name on a scoreboard so that everyone in the world can see it with a number next to it."
Thurmond believes that "losing teaches you so much if you can handle the pain," but when he took the job at ASU one year ago, losing wasn't on his mind. His high school and college golf years in the 1990s were spent watching the Sun Devils dominate the collegiate scene, with two national championships, six straight Pac-10 Championships, runner-up trophy and four individual champions in five years (Phil Mickelson three times; Todd Demsey once).
"In my prime time of college awareness it was all ASU," he said. "They looked different, they dressed different, they had a swagger about them and all the best players in the west wanted to go to ASU, like the best player in my class from Washington, Scott Johnson."
Thurmond wants to see ASU reassert its place at the top of the men's collegiate golf scene.
"The competitive landscape and parity of college golf has changed, but so has women's college basketball and UConn still wins every year," Thurmond said. "So has college football and Alabama still wins every year. I think there's still space for a team to be that dominant. That's how I see ASU and that's what's possible to me."
Thurmond admits there is much to do in Tempe between building a new facility, rallying the community and on expanding on what he calls "the great tradition we have," but he insists he is happier when the to-do list is longer.
The Sun Devils have played 35 local courses as they attempt to connect with and impact a community. Thurmond keeps in close contact with the program's alumni to ensure there is an unbroken thread between past and present, and as the Sun Devils continue play this fall, his "active mind" is brimming with the possibilities.
"I don't want to feel like we have failed if we don't win the championship every year because that's not fair, but I do think a kid growing up should have ASU at the top of his list of where he wants to play college golf," Thurmond said. "Great Sun Devil coaches have laid the foundation with NCAA titles, Pac-12 titles and a laundry-list of who's who on the the professional level. With the type of school, geographic location, the facilities, the weather, the history, the resources, the coaching history, Barrett Honors College and the university carrying this feeling of expansion, growth, and innovation, I can't find anything that gives me reason to think we shouldn't be awesome."
Follow Craig Morgan on Twitter