Time To Get To Know Each Other
Men's golf adjusting to sudden change at the top
Mike Brohard
Give it time. Let it happen. Naturally.
Some things can’t be forced, and trust between a coach and his student-athletes is one of them. Neither can the opposite lane of the road.
The dynamic of the Colorado State men’s golf program was thrown for a loop on July 12 when longtime coach Christian Newton announced he was stepping down to pursue the next chapter of his life. It was a shot out of the blue, and it felt it had planted itself deep in a bunker. In short order, the university had to interview candidates, hire one of them and get their choice on campus.
Enter Michael Wilson on Aug. 5, though it would still be more than a week before he arrived in Fort Collins, living in a place with no kitchen until his new family home was ready to be occupied. On Sept. 9, the team will begin the fall portion of the campaign at the Gene Miranda Falcon Invitational, a short window to get onto the same page.
No way all the fine print is going to be covered, but that’s OK.
First step for the players was to shake off the shock value. Not only did Newton leave, but assistant Parker Edens had exited as well, taking the head job at South Dakota State.
“The other guys haven’t been around those coaches as much as I have, so it was dang, what happens now?” senior Davis Bryant said. “I’ve been used to everything for four years, I knew what I was going to get myself into, but now, how is it going to be different, what’s going to be the same, how do I adapt and how does the team adapt?
“Change is good. We need change in order to get improvement, and sometimes as humans you need something different to push yourself.”
Be careful what you ask for. And the players were.
They gathered together and put together a list of wants in a new coach. Communication. Passion. Daily energy. Approachable and relatable. A student of the game. Someone who carried the same passion as they did to improve the program, and they shared it with administration.
From what the players have seen to this point, Wilson has checked off those boxes. Even a couple they didn’t have on their list. It all started with some phone calls, then some follow-up conversations. Wilson was short on time, and he wasn’t about to waste what little amount he had on hand.
“It’s challenging, but I think since the first day I was announced, we got on the phone and did Zoom, and then I had individual conversations with each guy. We started a group chat and put stuff out there and let them know the communication is up,” Wilson said, who has since hired Chris Babcock as his assistant. “When I got into town, I had dinner with the two seniors, wanting to get to know them and building a relationship naturally like you would with anyone else. Listening to them on their wants and needs, what goals they have for themselves and letting them know I’m here for them and I’ll help them the best I can.
“It's the most important thing. First day on the job, call the guys. We have a small team, seven guys on the team, so it’s easier to do than track and field. You can really invest in each guy and take that time. It would be hard to have a meal with every guy at once, but I plan on doing that and building relationships. When we do get moved into our house, having them over for a barbeque. We had dinner here the other night after practice. It’s not just golf but coming together off the golf course and hanging out. Maybe on a weekend going for a hike and doing things together, getting involve in their lives and knowing what’s happening with them is big.”
The conversations covered everything. Naturally, the desires and goals of the golfers, not just as athletes, but as students. They covered areas of study and what each of them may want to do for a living down the road.
They were not brief chats, but in depth, with Wilson asking questions some of them were not exactly expecting but more than prepared to answer.
“He sounded really excited. He wanted to build off what Christian left behind and help turn our program into a top-five program,” Gavin Hagstrom said. “He was really interested in asking about my family, my childhood, how I got started with golf. He asked a ton of questions about my personal life. That’s something I’ve never really had in a head coach before. In a short time of knowing him, I already feel like I can go to him and ask him questions. If I’m concerned about anything, I can tell him. The other night in qualifying, he was taking notes of my whole round, of things I can improve on. He sent me notes from every single shot I hit, and that was really cool. I’ve never had anyone do that before.”
If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But he’s not fixing anything, he’s making it better. He’s improving the rest of the tree because we already had the roots.Davis Bryant
Step by step. What they all know deep down, the journey will not be completed by the first tee time at the Air Force Academy course. There are more tournaments on the schedule, and each one will offer more opportunities for them to get to know each other better.
Each round, each shot, even those at practice, are chances for Wilson to study them as individuals and a team. He’s a people person, and he needs this information. He wants to study their approach, how they think and especially how they react. He’s already given each of them a DiSC test, which studies how people react to certain situations.
He’s learning from them, too. For instance, he had no idea what the name of the school mascot was, but he does now. Each interaction could lead anywhere, which is the way Wilson wants to approach getting to know them all.
“This fall will probably be a learning curve of getting to know them, building that relationship and that trust. By the spring, we should be up and running,” Wilson said. “But it’s like that with any freshman who joins the team. You’re doing that through the fall and integrating them. Matt Wilkinson (the lone freshman entry on the roster) and I are like the newbies on the team. It was funny walking down the fairways at Collindale Golf Course, having the guys telling us stuff about some Ram culture stuff we didn’t know. I need to learn, and he needs to learn it, and they were teaching us.”
As a new coach, imbedding methods and a belief system are important, but so too, is understanding what doesn’t have to change. The culture Wilson found in place was strong, and it’s not something he has on his list of concerns.
As he witnessed in a practice round, his roster is not one to ride wild waves of emotion over the course of a tournament. Not even shot by shot. As he watched them, he couldn’t tell what they were shooting. There was nearly a 10-stroke swing from the high to the low that day, but the reactions were flatlined.
He found it extremely encouraging, and the players talk about Wilson in the same way.
Some people trust others from the start, holding on to it until proven otherwise. Others need it to build up over time through interactions. There’s a mix on the team, but no one has spoken of any steps back. Quite the contrary.
“I fall into how you carry yourself and your actions lead to trust. I think we all have already seen the benefits of him being our coach,” Bryant said. “We trust not only in him but in each other. I feel more excitement this year. We might not have known what we were getting ourselves into, but once we had our meeting for two hours, we were energized. He has brought out a positive culture, and the culture was something that was great before. We have a great group of guys, we’re all on the same page and we were all playing well.
“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. But he’s not fixing anything, he’s making it better. He’s improving the rest of the tree because we already had the roots.”
Roots can be strengthened, and one in particular for Wilson is preparation through competition. Practice is where they’ve seen the most noticeable changes take place.
To start with, the Harmony Golf Club practice green has always been notoriously slow. Not anymore. Wilson worked with the grounds crew there and had the pace quickened up. He’s rolled it himself, and so have some of the players. One day, even after an afternoon rain, it was as quick as Bryant has ever seen it, which is better preparation for tournament play.
And in tournaments, there will be pressure points. It may be a shot or a ball placement. A bad lie or a crucial putt. That’s what Wilson has set up in practice.
“He has us do a lot more pressure-oriented drills. Every single practice will have a competition, and there’s a winner and a loser every single practice,” Hagstrom said. “It’s practicing under pressure, which we never really used to do, and I think that’s really important. It’s getting more reps while competing and being in pressure situations, which can only help us. It’s a way to test your game. You can hit different shots when there’s no pressure, no problem, but as soon as you add the competition aspect to it, it makes it harder and that will only make us better.”
Trust is crucial. The players have to be confident in what their coach is telling them to do, understanding why and with the belief it is in their best interests. A coach needs it from his player, or else they will go off on their own and splinter the team dynamic.
It takes time, and the Rams are making the most of the clock. It’s always ticking, but the base is the team trusts each other. They showed it last year, as after a rough start to the season, they came back strong in the spring to earn an NCAA Regional berth.
But the clock has no countdown. There is no endpoint with trust. It can be broken as soon as it’s gained. It’s fragile, but certainly not hands-off.
“I think it’s important, but it happens faster than you think. For me personally, I know how much he’s already done for us in a few days.” Bryant said of Wilson. “It’s incredible. He takes care of us, he’s personable, he cares about our lives outside of golf. He wants to make our facility better, things that are like, wow, it’s cool. Yes, he has a different way than Coach Newton and other coaches across the country, but the things I’ve seen so far are awesome. That’s not throwing anyone under the bus, it just shows the type of character he has, the person he is and the impact he wants to make on the program. He wants to help us individually so much. He wants us to thrive.”
The program, too. Wilson wants to see it grow and reach goals yet unattained. It’s a fact the Rams already trust, which is a great place to start.