After a whirlwind of a first semester as head coach, Andy Serketich said the University of Indianapolis golf program is in a good position looking ahead to the spring season.
Serketich was hired as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s golf team on Aug. 23, according to UIndy Athletics, only three days before the start of the semester. The women’s team then turned around and played the weekend of Sept. 9-10, and both teams competed almost every weekend through October. Although this caused a somewhat chaotic season, Serketich said his past experience as a player and coach and the atmosphere of this year’s team helped with the transition.
“It was just a whirlwind,” Serketich said. “I’ve been around college golf for 18 years, so experience wise, I’ve been around it a lot, but this is the first chance where I’ve been the head coach for both teams. … But that said, I got here knowing that both teams have been really good, so you don’t really want to rock the boat too much.”
There are 13 golfers between the men’s and women’s teams, and junior Macey Brown said the teams are very close — helping them prepare for the fall season without a coach at the time. She said the fall season was a great learning experience for her and her teammates, especially since it is a relatively young and inexperienced team.
“Having smaller team sizes has really helped the atmosphere,” Brown said “And I think this year with all the stuff that happened over the summer and staying super optimistic about who our new coach is going to be and how the fall season was going to go. I think it’s created a positive culture and a positive atmosphere to be around … especially when we’re traveling together, there’s a lot of support around you, and not just from your coaches or your parents, it’s also your teammates.”
Sophomore Cameron Young said the men’s and women’s teams have also been able to get closer, especially since Serketich is coaching both. He said practicing and hanging out with each other outside of golf helped the teams succeed throughout the fall season.
Serketich said one of the teams’ goals looking ahead at the spring season is to build off the success and experience they saw in the fall. Brown and Young said they both hope to continue improving throughout the spring season as well as being consistent.
“It’s hard individually, like obviously I have goals and I want to shoot certain scores and I want to place top ten at certain tournaments,” Brown said. “But I think for me, it’s more focused on the team and continuing to improve the culture and as golfers.”
Serketich said it is important to him to focus on growth as a team and as individual golfers but also to keep an eye on the bigger competitions. The women’s team also won the 2024 DII women’s golf championship and eight GLVC championships in the last 10 years, and the men’s has won two, including last season, according to UIndy Athletics.
“We can’t really control outcomes, but our process is working towards playing our best golf at the end of the year, and hopefully that’ll be good enough to be contending for conference and regional national championships specific events in the spring,” Serketich said. Brown, Young and Serketich all said they are looking forward to traveling with both teams for tournaments throughout the spring season as well as continuing to improve as individuals and as a program. Keep an eye out on the UIndy Athletics site for its spring schedule once it is released.
