CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/31068
spurred his team to its first National Championship in 1990, then he utilized a very specific formula to help the Monarchs dominate the entire decade. “The formula was that the team had to be first,” said Conley, who is in his 24th season at Methodist. “In golf, that’s a major shift in thinking. Not that someone hadn’t thought to do it before. I just made it a major point of emphasis for us.” Conley began entering the Monarchs in the toughest golf tournaments on the toughest courses he could find. By the time the NCAA National Tournament rolled around, the coach found that his team was battle-hardened and ready for just about any situation. The result was nine national titles in 10 years. And despite the coach’s emphasis on “team,” the Monarchs had plenty of individual success stories, too. Methodist golfers have won the NCAA Division III tournament a total of nine times, including three victories by PGA Tour professional Chad Collins and two wins 50 | May/June • 2011 by Ryan Jenkins. There hasn’t been a singular philosophy driving the women’s success; the Lady Monarchs have remained NCAA Division III’s preeminent program despite several different coaches taking the helm of the program during this remarkable run. But Methodist’s current women’s coach, Tom Inczauskis, knew that he didn’t want to be the skipper in charge of a Lady Monarch team that ended the National Championship streak. “It hit me during the interview process, the level of expectation everyone had,” said Inczauskis, who is entering his second season with the program after guiding Methodist to national title number 23 one year ago. “Definitely pressure came with the job, no doubt.” But Inczauskis had one advantage that many first-year coaches don’t have — he already had a pretty good relationship with many of his athletes. The Illinois native was new to collegiate golf coaching, but when he took over for Vici Pate, the Lady Monarchs’ coach for seven straight National Championships, he had been serving as Director of Instruction and Head Golf Professional for Methodist’s PGA Professional Golf Management Program. “It definitely helped that I knew the young ladies and they knew me,” Inczauskis said. “Switching over from sheer instruction to coaching was a big change for me. I had to get out there and start recruiting.” Inczauskis was clearly a quick study, picking up where Pate left off by guiding the Lady Monarchs to capture the 2010 National Championship. It helps that the coach had access to Methodist’s customary arsenal of talent. The Lady Monarchs have earned First-Team All- American honors a total of 68 times — at least one each year since the national- title streak began in 1986 — and on 14 occasions a Methodist golfer has won the NCAA Division III national tournament. Susan Martin was the latest