Director of golf Brad James resigns

The Minnesota golf program will be without the man who brought it to prominence next season, as director of golf Brad James announced he is resigning after the spring season.
James will return to his home country of Australia to become High Performance Director for Golf Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport. In his new role, James will oversee the men’s and women’s national teams, the rookie program and junior development league.
According to James, AIS approached him in late 2009. The announcement of his resignation came on Jan. 5.
Assistant Athletics Director Phil Esten said the position is a “job of a lifetime” for James, but the decision to leave was not an easy one.
James has been involved with the University of Minnesota for 17 years , starting out as a member of the golf team from 1993 - 96. He was an assistant coach for the men’s golf team for six years until 2001 , when scandal left the future of the golf program in jeopardy.
An audit found then-head coach John Means had used University funds for family members’ plane tickets to travel with the team.
The resignation of the long-time coach left the door open for James, who led the men’s team to its first NCAA championship in 2002 as an interim head coach .
James was named head coach of the men’s golf team following the championship season and went on to win two more Big Ten championships in 2003 and 2007.
After the amount of success James had in a short amount of time, Athletics Director Joel Maturi made James the director of golf in 2007.
As director of golf, James has overseen the both men’s and women’s programs, with men’s associate head coach Andrew Tank and women’s associate head coach Kristine Wessinger running their respective teams.
A decision on the structure of the coaching staff will be made after James’ resignation becomes effective on July 1 . No decision has made yet, with the spring season giving the coaching staff time to decide on the direction of the program, he said.
While there may be uncertainty in the future of the program, Tank is confident the right choices will be made.
“I know that the administration is committed to the golf programs, and they are going to make a decision that’s best for those programs. I’m confident in that,” Tank said.
As well as a respected coach, James is also a strong recruiter. Recently, both programs have signed five recruits to National Letters of Intent . James said all the recruits are still committed to coming to Minnesota despite his departure.
Current players were surprised by the news but are happy for James, Tank said. The men’s team will hold a meeting Tuesday to talk about the future of the program.
“Just like anything in life, when there’s uncertainty, they want to know what’s going to happen next,” Tank said.
As for the women’s program, which had its best ever season statistically last year, Wessinger said the team won’t experience any drastic changes.
“For the women’s program, we are just going to move forward,” Wessinger said. “We plan on being here next year.”
Both coaches are confident in the future of Minnesota golf and are looking forward to what lies ahead.
“I know the program is going to remain strong,” Tank said.