Brian McCants
Head CoachAlma Mater: Ferris State '94
E-mail: brian.mccants
Office Phone: 947-2065
Brian McCants is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Newberry College men’s golf team. He was promoted to the head job in July of 2005 after serving as the team’s assistant coach during the 2004-05 season.
The Newberry men’s golf program enjoyed another strong season in 2009-10 with the scarlet and gray qualifying for the NCAA Division II South/Southeast Super Regional for the third consecutive season. In nine tournaments during the 2009-10 campaign, Newberry picked up five top-5 placements, eight top-15 placements, and two tournament victories. The scarlet and gray finished in second place at the 2010 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championships and were consistently ranked in the top-25 nationally in the Golf World/Nike Coaches’ Poll.
The 2010 season saw Newberry break every 18-, 36-, and 54-hole low for both the team and individual records. Senior Sean Collard and junior Daniel Stanley each shot a 66 to hold the 18-hole low. Stanley also owns the school record for a 36- and 54-hole low with stroke totals of 135 and 207 respectively. Newberry crushed the school record for a team low for 18 holes with a 273 in the second round of The Honda of Columbia Fall Classic in mid-September. The seven best team 18-hole rounds of golf in Newberry history have come during the 2010 season.
The scalret and gray also set the team record for a 36-hole low at The Honda of Columbia Fall Classic with a combined stroke total of 551 which bested the previous low by 23 strokes. A new 54-hole low was set at the Bearcat Classic in late March when Newberry totaled 844 strokes, 28 lower than the previous mark.
McCants’ squad placed two on the All-SAC first team and one on the second team. Six Newberry individuals earned all-tournament honors throughout the 2009-10 season.
In his time as head coach of Newberry men’s golf, McCants has guided the scarlet and gray to 27 top-5 placements and seven tournament championships. Newberry individuals have placed first in McCants’ tenure including two SAC Championship winners in Ben Lown (2008) and Daniel Stanley (2010). McCants has placed 10 individuals on all-conference teams and has coached three consecutive SAC Freshman of the Year award winners; Ben Lown in 2008, Matthew Campbell in 2009, and Chandler Gruenemeier in 2010. McCants has won the SAC Coach of the Year award three years in a row and has had two GCAA All-Region selections, three GCAA All-America Scholars and one GCAA All-America Honorable Mention.
As an assistant during the 2004-05 season, McCants helped direct the men’s team to four top-five finishes and a fifth place in the 2005 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championships, shooting 306-304-294. It was the lowest 54 hole total at the SAC Championships by a Newberry team.
McCants came to Newberry via Myrtle Beach, S.C., where he was a sales representative at Golf Dimensions. McCants was previously the head men’s golf coach at St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. During his year at St. Andrews, McCants coached a pair of players to the NCAA Atlantic/Southeast Super Regional. His year at St. Andrews also saw Josh Nahm become the first St. Andrews player to be named to an All-CVAC Conference team. Nahm, a junior on that team in 2001-02, is now a lead golf instructor at the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C.
McCants also served as a caddie at legendary Pinehurst Resort, home of the 1999 and 2005 U.S. Open Championships. While in Pinehurst, McCants caddied for Eric Jorgensen, the 2002 Men’s North/South Amateur Champion, and Elizabeth Burden, a 2001 North/South Women’s Amateur Quarterfinalist.
