The COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t stop Louisville from finding it’s new men’s golf coach.
On Wednesday, athletic director Vince Tyra announced the hiring of Ryan Blagg, a Baylor assistant coach since 2012, as the Cardinals’ new coach. Blagg will take over for longtime coach Mark Crabtree who in December announced plans to retire after the 2019-20 season.
Despite a lot of interest in the position and a virus that halted nearly all face-to-face interaction, the timeline for hiring Crabtree’s replacement was never rushed. And in the end it didn’t impact Blagg, either, as Louisville was able to find a leader for what could be a top-10 team next season.
“The pandemic is what it is,” Blagg said. “We are just going to work through it. It didn’t slow me down at all. I want to be part of what’s going on up here.”
When Crabtree announced his retirement, Tyra had plenty of interest from coaches around the country. But he didn’t want to start the process too early, fearing it might distract the current staff and players mid-season.
So Tyra allowed the phone calls to come in, put together a search committee and once February and March came around, they started on the search.
“We didn’t have to do a lot,” Tyra said. “We had a lot of inbound interest.”
What they found was a deep pool to pick from. Though somebody with head coaching experience is usually an ideal hire, Tyra leaned toward Blagg because he was one of the top Power 5 assistants in the country.
During his run at Baylor, Blagg helped guide the Bears to seven consecutive regional appearances and a school record four-straight NCAA Championship appearances, while coaching six different players to earn All-American accolades.
He was also named the 2017 Jan Strickland Award winner, given to the assistant coach who excelled in working with their student-athletes both on the course and in the classroom.
Congratulations to @Ryan_Blagg on being named head coach at @UofLMGolf❗️
We’re sad to see you go after 8 years in Waco, but so happy for the Blagg Family! #SicEm 🐻⛳️🏌️♂️ #BaylorFamily pic.twitter.com/fzTzTxy2wM
— Baylor Men's Golf ⛳️ (@BaylorMGolf) May 13, 2020
“If we weren’t going to hire a current head coach it had to be somebody that was at a very high-level, elite-level assistant at a Power 5 school,” Tyra said.
For Blagg, Louisville wasn’t a foreign place. Coaching Baylor last season, he was at the University of Louisville Golf Club for last year’s regional. He even had some time to talk with Crabtree, although he didn’t know he was retiring, at the time.
Right away, Blagg was impressed by the facilities and the city. He will also walk into a good position, with a roster that finished the season ranked No. 11 in the final Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. Louisville will return all four seniors from last year’s team — Keegan DeLange, Trevor Johnson, Devin Morley and John Murphy. The NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility to all spring sport athletes after the pandemic canceled spring sports and each have said they will take that year.
“I think we have a team that can compete for a national championship and hopefully get to nationals, get to match play and then see if we can’t knock them off and get this thing done,” Blagg said.
Blagg considers Louisville the perfect fit for him. Tyra agreed, adding that Blagg fits in well with Louisville’s current players.
Although there is currently a hiring freeze in the athletic department and there have been layoffs and furloughs, this hiring was an exception. Tyra asked for it before the hiring freeze was put in place, he also asked they fill the assistant coach position.
Blagg’s job will begin effective June 1 as he works to continue the success Crabtree left at Louisville, in the middle of a health pandemic.
“I want to continue to make the team elite,” Blagg said.
Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague