Greg Nye Position: Head Coach Experience: 16th season

Penn State men's golf head coach Greg Nye entered his 17th season with the Nittany Lions. The historic marches to NCAA Finals in 1996 and 2004 are two major highlights. The most significant contribution Nye has made to Penn State and eastern collegiate golf history came at the end of the 1995-96 season, when he led the Nittany Lions to the NCAA Finals with a ninth place finish in the NCAA East Regional qualifier.

With their triumphant finish at the East Regional, the Nittany Lions became the first team from either of the NCAA's eastern sections - District I or II - to advance to the finals since the regional format was established in 1987.

In 2004 his Nittany Lions rocked the collegiate golf world by nearly winning the NCAA East Regional, finishing 2nd of 27 teams, of which seven teams were ranked in the nations top 15. One of the teams finishing behind the Lions was the No. 1 ranked Florida Gators. His Nittany Lions then went on to finish 15th of 30 teams at the NCAA Finals, making Penn State golf history marking its highest team finish ever.

"Both of the 1996 and 2004 teams were very special," said Nye. "More importantly, both were very tough minded and believed they could be successful against the higher ranked teams.

Personal Milestone at Temple Tournament In October 2004, Nye marked a personal achievement while the Nittany Lions celebrated their victory at the Temple Invitational. The championship, won on a cool rainy weekend at Glenmora National (one of Pennsylvania's great new golf courses), was the 45th of Nye's coaching career. His career coaching win total now stands at 48. In his first two years, Nye's teams set two Penn State records for the number of championships earned in a season, with six in 1992-93 and eight in 1993-94, a mark that was tied by the 1996-97 squad.

Academic & Athletic Excellence In addition to the team's success on the course, Nye has continually stressed strong performance in the classroom. In each of the past eleven seasons, the Nittany Lions have achieved a team grade point average greater than 3.0. In the 2000-01 season, Nye's team posted the best G.P.A. of any of the 29 teams at Penn State.

Following the 2006-07 season, Nye's team earned its third consectutive Graduation Success Rate of 100 percent, one of only six Penn State teams to do so.

Nye has coached 16 GCAA All-American Scholars, one GTE Academic All-American and each year he has seen a high percentage of the team rewarded for their academics and athletics with Academic All-Big Ten honors. Nye's teams have ranked near or at the top of District II and have qualified for the NCAA East Regional in 14 of the last 15 seasons. His squads also won the Eastern Championship three straight seasons, 1993-95, and in 1997. Nye was voted the NCAA District II Coach of the Year in 1993, 1994, 2000, 2001 and 2004. He has coached 32 NCAA All-District players, six Mid-Atlantic Region Players of the Year, six All-Big Ten selections, as well as three NCAA All-Americans: Adam Decker in 1997, Matt Abbott in 2001, and Mark Leon in 2004.

"Our program has grown on the national scene as we watched our rankings consistently stay in the top 25 percent of all Division I golf programs," Nye said. "We have challenged ourselves with our schedule and the quality of our play has moved right along with that challenge."

The Road to Happy Valley After eight years as head coach of the Bowling Green State University men's and women's golf teams in Bowling Green, Ohio, Nye was attracted to Penn State and its membership in the Big Ten Conference. The 1987 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year developed a familiarity with Penn State as a visiting primary instructor to its golf camps. Nye is currently the co-director of the Penn State golf camps, which run for four weeks each summer.

Professional Leadership Nye has been a member of the Golf Coaches Association of America for 22 years, and has served as the Chair of the Ethics committee from 1993-2003 within the association. He has served the NCAA as a District Selection Chair for the NCAA Championship from 1997-99. Nye, a PGA "Class A" member since 1982, began his professional career working as a golf professional.

Playing Career Nye graduated from the College of Wooster in 1979 where he earned All-America honors each of his four seasons. As a sophomore, junior and senior he received first-team honors. With a second-team selection in his first year, Nye and his teammates captured the 1975 NCAA Division III Golf Championship in which he finished eighth individually. Before concluding his collegiate career, Nye earned second, fourth and sixth-place finishes in the national championship. Nye was the individual champion in the Ohio Athletic Conference in his final two years at Wooster. In 1978, he set a conference margin of victory record winning by 11 shots. He played on Fighting Scot squads that captured conference titles in 1975, 1976, and 1977.

In 1990, Nye was inducted into Wooster's Athletic Hall of Fame and was honored with induction into the Wayne County, Ohio Sports Hall of Fame in Wooster, Ohio in 2002. Nye's national amateur tournament experience is considerable. While at Wooster, he twice gained exemptions to play in the Western Amateur and Porter Cup. He also played in the Eastern, Canadian and U.S. Amateurs. He played professionally on the North Florida mini-tour in 1980.

A Life In Golf When asked about how his life in golf and Penn State fit together Nye said, "Sports, golf, competing, coaching and teaching have been with me from the beginning. I have been very fortunate to be able to pursue a passion for competitive golf at a few very special places with many outstanding people. Penn State has been one of those places. I have particularly enjoyed the Penn State approach to intercollegiate athletics. Penn State supports our program to be competitive athletically on a conference and national level, but insists that the student athletes' education and well being remains first and foremost."

Nye and his wife, Marjie, reside in State College with their two sons, Russell (18), and Graham (15).

Coach's Quotes "I have been very fortunate to be able to pursue a passion for competitive golf at a few very special places with many outstanding people. Penn State has been one of those places. I have particularly enjoyed the Penn State approach to intercollegiate athletics. Penn State supports our program to be competitive athletically on a conference and national level, but insists that the student-athlete's education and well-being remain first and foremost." - GREG NYE

Strength of Play "We have challenged ourselves with our schedule and the quality of our play has moved along with that challenge." - GREG NYE