BERKELEY – Cal men's golf head coach Steve Desimone announced Saturday that he will retire at the end of the 2015-16 campaign after spending 37 seasons as the team's head coach and nearly a half-century on campus as a student-athlete and coach. The 1970 Cal graduate is a two-time national and three-time conference Coach of the Year who led the Golden Bears to an NCAA title in 2004 and coached what is widely recognized to be the best team in the history of college golf in 2012-13 when Cal established an NCAA record with 12 wins in 14 stroke-play events.
“I love what I do,” Desimone said. “I'm really going to miss the daily routine. Working with young people has been my life for nearly a half-century, and I'm really going to miss working with the student-athletes. I've also been a competitor all my life, and I'm going to miss the competition. When you get into this business, you get into it to win, and you get into it to compete for national championships and conference titles.”
The 67-year-old Desimone won a national crown in 2004 during one of his 10 appearances at the NCAA Championships with five of those in the past six seasons.
Desimone's teams have also been quite successful at the NCAA Regional and conference levels especially of late with back-to-back titles at both events in 2012 and 2013.
Cal will make its 21st NCAA Regional appearance May 16-18 at the NCAA Marana Regional to extend its school-record string of appearances to 10 in a row. Cal played in its first NCAA Regional in 1990 and has missed qualifying for the event only six times in the last 27 seasons.
The first of Desimone's two National Coach of the Year honors came after his team's 2004 NCAA title and he earned the honor again in 2013 after his squad registered what is widely considered to be the best season in the history of college golf. Cal won an NCAA-record 12 of 14 stroke-play events in 2012-13 and finished the campaign ranked No. 1 in all three final national polls despite being upset in the match-play national semifinals by Illinois.
Desimone won Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors in both 2011-12 and 2012-13 after previously earning Pac-10 Co-Coach of the Year honors in 1986-87. He was also the GCAA/Eaton West Regional Coach of the Year in both 2011-12 and 2012-13.
The 2012-13 team was the most dominant in the history of college golf and highlighted the golden era of the program spanning a five-season stretch from the 2009-10 campaign through the 2013-14 season. Cal reached the national semifinals after winning NCAA Regional and Pac-12 crowns during both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 season, reached the NCAA Championships all five seasons and compiled 30 victories in 68 events. In addition to winning 12 of 14 stroke-play events, the 2012-13 squad compiled a 206-3-1 overall record against teams in its fields and was unbeaten against Pac-12 opponents.
“I'm so especially proud of the student-athletes we had during that period,” Desimone said. “It was an amazing run, clearly one of the best in the history of college golf.”
Desimone's journey to a national championship and the elite status the Cal program enjoys today started in the fall of 1979 when he came aboard as head coach to take over a program which had lost its varsity status following the previous season. Desimone was intent on not only returning the program to varsity status but taking it to a higher level. Among the first steps was the formation of the Cal Golf Committee in 1980, the primary support group for the men's golf team, which helped return the program to varsity status in 1982 and continues to provide its primary support today.
Cal reached the top 25 nationally for the first time in the history of the program in 1986-87 and reached the NCAA postseason for the first time in 26 seasons and first time under Desimone by qualifying for the 1990 NCAA Las Cruces Regional. Cal returned to the NCAA Championships in 1995 for the first time since 1964 while qualifying for the first time ever under the NCAA Regionals qualifying format.
Desimone has led his teams to a total of 66 tournament titles during his Cal tenure.
Many individuals thrived during Desimone's tenure including unanimous 2012-13 National Player of the Year Michael Kim as well as 2013 NCAA and Pac-12 champion Max Homa. Charlie Wi (1995) and Eric Mina (2010) also won conference titles under Desimone.
Desimone has coached 13 All-Americans (Dan Arroyo, Ben Furth, Hagy, Homa, Jeff Hood, Kim, Garrett Larson, Han Lee, Mina, Stalter, Peter Tomasulo, Michael Weaver, Wi) who have earned 20 All-American honors. Hagy, Homa, Kim, Stalter and Weaver made Cal the first team in the history of college golf to have five first or second-team All-Americans in the same season in 2012-13.
He also has tutored 13 All-America Scholars (Bill Albers, Scott Carlyle, Walter Chun, Dan Coyle, Ben Furth, George Gandranata, Hagy, Stephen Hale, John Murphy, Stalter, Peter Tomasulo, Weaver, Michael Wilson) that have combined to earn the prestigious award given only to juniors and senior 23 times.
Desimone's success landed him in the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Northern California Golf Association's Hall of Fame in 2014. He was also the first coach to receive the Jack Lemmon Ambassador of Golf Award from the California Golf Writers & Broadcasters Association in 2013. In addition, Desimone was the head coach of the American squad at the 2014 Palmer Cup, an annual international event featuring the top college players from the United States and Europe competing against each other.
Two of his former student-athletes – Furth and Tomasulo – are in the Cal Athletic Hall of Fame.
Desimone has also helped numerous former players reach the heights of professional and amateur golf with James Hahn winning the first PGA TOUR event ever by a former Cal player at the 2015 Northern Trust Open. Kim, Homa and Weaver became the first three players from the same collegiate team to play at the same U.S. Open in 2013. Weaver became one of only two players to ever compete in the Masters, Palmer Cup, U.S. Open and Walker Cup in the same calendar year in 2013. Hahn and Kim currently play on the PGA TOUR with many others active professionals.
Desimone and his Bears will begin a final postseason run May 16-18 as the No. 3 seed in a 14-team field at the NCAA Marana Regional hosted by Arizona at the Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Ariz. The top five teams and one individual not on those teams from each of the six NCAA Regionals taking place across the nation will advance to the 2016 NCAA Championships to be played May 27 – June 1 and hosted by Oregon at the Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
“The finality of this is just dawning on me and it's a strange feeling,” Desimone said. “It's gone by so quickly, and it's hard to believe that it's been 37 years.”
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Cal Golf Committee Chairman Frank Brunk
“Steve is an incredible person. I don't know if anybody else could have done the job that he has done He coalesced the group, got people together and recruited great student-athletes. Cal golf has been his program and I'm thrilled to have been a part of it. He is leaving this program if not the best college golf program in the country certainly in the top five. Steve did it with integrity and honesty. He recruited the right kind of guys who were students and represented the University, themselves and their families extremely well. I don't know how anybody else could have done what he did. It was just a tremendous effort. He related well to the players, was a father figure and coach, a tremendous administrator, and a guy that gathered a whole bunch of others around him to make a success out of a program that was absolutely in the ashes when it was cancelled.”
Cal Associate Head Coach Walter Chun
“Coach Desimone has always said from the time I met him in 1996 that he got into coaching to work with young men and help them navigate life. It's been 20 years now and I can certainly validate that he has changed lives and helped young men. I'm certainly one of those young men that he's forever impacted. He gave me the opportunity to study at a world-class institution, play golf and represent Cal, and more recently has allowed me to work with him and learn from him. I cannot thank him enough for what he has done for me, and I'm sure there are hundreds of others out there who feel the same way as I do.”
Sophomore KK Limbhasut
“Coach Des has been like family to me for the past two years. He treats all of us like his own son and only hopes for the best for each of us. It is sad to see him retiring, but I am sure that we will still get to see him around the campus or at tournaments because he will always be our No. 1 fan. It is an honor to be part of his legacy. Being able to represent a program that he has built is very prideful. He has given us the opportunity to follow our dream.”
Ken Lloyd, Cal Golf Committee President
“Steve Desimone has been the undeniable leader of the Cal men's golf program for the last 37 years. He has built tremendous relationships and been a great counselor, as well as a fabulous consensus builder and fundraiser. Steve has done an amazing job leading his team on the course and fielded a consistently competitive team year after year. Under his direction, the Cal golf program has also fostered an environment and culture that has led to high levels of success not only on the course but in the classroom, with his teams consistently among the best academically at Cal. The consistent success his program has enjoyed in all areas under his long tenure is remarkable. To say he will be missed is a huge understatement.”
Freshman Collin Morikawa
“Coach Des lives, breathes and represents Cal golf like no one else and to have the opportunity to represent the history he's created is an honor. He has made such a big impact on me during my short time here at Cal. He was a large part of my decision to come here and has taught me so many lessons along the way. Even though it's only been a year since I've truly gotten to know him, I feel like we've created a great friendship that will continue for many years to come. To be on his last team before he retires means a great deal and we look forward to enjoying the postseason together and hopefully getting another championship ring.”
Cal Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Williams
“Coach Des embodies Cal. His contributions as a student-athlete, coach, alum and colleague over the decades are extraordinary. His golf program is in the conversation and continually competing for championships at both the Pac-12 and national levels while his student-athletes have made tremendous achievements both athletically and academically. I wish Steve the best in his retirement, but I know I can continue to count on him to give me his insight and provide his great sense of humor.”
