Thursday, September 6, 2001

Men’s Golf Coach’s
Q&A

The Skiff talks with head men’s golf coach Bill Montigel about the upcoming season and the team’s move to Conference USA.

Question: What are your expectations for the season?

Answer: I would like to see the team be competitive and ranked in the top 20 in the country.

Question: Who looks to have a big year?

Answer: This is a hard question. Last year we lost three seniors. This squad is a bit untested. The tournament (Ridges Intercollegiate) this weekend will be a better way for us to judge. There are two guys that stand out in my mind: Andy Doeden (senior) and Adam Rubinson (junior). We have a lot of parity with this lineup.

Question: What does this season’s recruiting class look like?

Answer: We have four freshmen this season. I think one stands out among all of them: Joe Starzec. He is a guy that will be a good player for TCU in the future. He will probably redshirt this season and work on his game. He knows there will be three guys (seniors) that will leave this year. But he will have a great opportunity to be a good player in the next four years.

Question: What are your team’s strengths this year?

Answer: This team has a lot of depth. We actually have seven guys that are all pretty similar in talent and style. That will make it competitive for us later in the year.

Question: What are your team’s weaknesses this year?

Answer: The main weakness is we don’t have a proven First Team All-American lineup. In the past we have had guys like J.J. Henry, who was ranked No. 1 in the nation on several occasions. Hopefully, somebody like Rubinson can step up for us. If you want to compete with the best teams in the country you need to have one of those lineups or at least one person to step up.

Question: What does the move to Conference USA mean to the golf program?

Answer: I want to play the absolute best schedule we can. Conference USA is really no different from the Western Athletic Conference. In golf the conference does not really matter, because our goal is to be the best team in the country. To accomplish that we need to play the best teams.

Question: What kind of golf conference is it?

Answer: There are quite a few good teams. There are also several bad teams on the bottom end of the conference. Houston is very solid. They have won 16 national titles and they have a nice tradition. But the best team in the conference is UAB (Alabama-Birmingham). They are one of the top five teams in the nation.

Question: How does TCU fit in Conference USA?

Answer: We are one of the top three teams in the conference. I don’t really know much about these teams. Actually, I don’t even know how many teams in this conference play golf.

Question: How is the TCU men’s golf program rank among other programs around the nation?

Answer: TCU is one of the highly respected schools in the country. People around the nation want to come here because we have good weather, nice courses to play on and a bit of golf tradition.