Charlotte, NC – Fayetteville State's Head Men's Golf Coach John Michael Cole has been named the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) 2019 Golf Coach of the Year, as voted by the CIAA Golf Coaches Association.
Cole, who is completing his first season as the Broncos head coach, recently led Fayetteville State to a second-place finish at the 2019 CIAA Golf Championship in New Kent, VA after coming into the tournament as the No. 5 seed. Under Coach Cole, FSU continued to improve throughout the championship tournament, shooting a 308 (+20) in the final round after finishing with a 314 (+26) on the first day to move from third-place into their second-place finish. This was the Broncos first podium appearance since the third-place finish at the 2016 championship.
Fayetteville State finished fourth at both the CIAA Northern and Southern Division tournaments along with a third-place finish at the CIAA mid-Major tournament during the regular season.
Coach Cole helped FSU sophomore
Sean Burke (Fayetteville, NC) win the Low Medalist Award, given to the golfer with the lowest score of the tournament, at this year's conference championship as well as earn the 2019 CIAA Golfer of the Year honors after finishing with the lowest combined score for the Northern Division tourney, the Southern Division tourney, and the Championship rounds.
Burke along with freshman
Logan Sessoms (Fayetteville, NC) were also recently named to the 2019 all-CIAA Golf Team under Cole's tutelage.
Although in his first season as the Broncos head coach, John Michael Cole was on the receiving end of CIAA accolades when he golfed for Fayetteville State as a freshman in 2011. Cole led the Broncos to a third place finish and finished fourth at the conference championship for All-Tournament honors and a spot on the All-CIAA Team. He qualified for NCAA Regional competition and narrowly missed a berth to the NCAA DII Golf Nationals. Despite missing the trip to Nationals, Cole turned around and won the 2011 PGA Minority Division II Golf Championship.
