Chattanooga’s Guhne Earns Region Honor

DENVER—UTC men’s golf coach Mark Guhne was named the Eaton/Golf Pride East Region Coach of the Year as announced Monday by the Golf Coaches Association of America. It is the first such honor in Guhne’s career.

Guhne led Chattanooga to its third straight Southern Conference Championship and berth in NCAA Regionals. This year’s squad finished third at the South Central Regional in Stillwater, Okla., to advance to the first NCAA Men’s Golf Championship appearance in school history.

After starting out in third place after day one, the Mocs ended their 2008-09 season with an 18th-place finish at the NCAA Finals at famed Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. The three-time SoCon Coach of the Year was succinct in summing up the award.

“It was a great season, and this is a tremendous honor,” said Guhne. “You have to point to our student-athletes, because of the dedication they placed into making it such a memorable year for our school and fans.”

Joining Guhne among the honorees include Greg Nye of Penn State (Northeast), Nick Clinard of UCF (Southeast), Illinois’ Mike Small (Midwest) and Matt Thurmond of Washington (West). Oklahoma State’s Mike McGraw was the recipient of the Dave Williams Award as national coach of the year.