All he does is win

Idaho men’s golf coach John Means wins wherever he goes

From the Eastern U.S. to the West, Idaho men’s golf coach John Means has succeeded as a college coach. 

Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Men’s golf coach John Means instructs team members during Wednesday’s practice at the University of Idaho Golf Course. The team recently won the team title at the University of Wyoming Southern Invitational at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona.

“If you look at his resume, it’s pretty impressive,” senior Aaron Cockerill said. “He’s been around for a long time.”

Some of Means’ highlights include nine Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships between 1982 and 1989 while coaching Army. He coached the Black Knights from 1981 to 1990. Army won one MAAC championship in the spring of 1989 and one in the fall of the same year. He also won a Patriot League Championship in 1990.

After his stay in West Point, New York, Means took a coaching job at Minnesota. In his third season, Means led the Golden Gophers to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships. This led to eight straight NCAA Tournament appearances and eight straight seasons ranked in the top 20.

In his fourth season at Idaho, he has the Vandals headed in the right direction as they recently won their first tournament of the year Oct. 5 at the University of Wyoming Southern Invitational in Arizona. The Vandals won by 17 strokes, the largest winning margin ever at Idaho.

“They will break records this year as long as they believe they can, and they did,” Means said.

Sophomore Jared du Toit won individually in Arizona, with a 10-under-par 206.

“My goal was to make this team nationally competitive,” Means said of his goal when he arrived in Moscow. He also said he wanted a chance to win a national championship.

Means’ entire life has been engulfed in golf. He said he started swinging golf clubs when he was 7 years old, after the birth of his sister.

“My father bought a set of golf clubs for him and my mom as a welcome home gift from the hospital for delivering my sister,” Means said. “I had no idea what they were. I saw them in his room, and I picked it up. I had no clue what it was, and I went out in the backyard and started swinging it, and that’s where it all started.”

Means, who was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up in a suburb of Madison, golfed collegiately at Tulsa and Oklahoma.

Means and Hank Haney, who later instructed Tiger Woods, entered the Tulsa golf program as freshmen the same year. Means later transferred to Oklahoma, where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

Means’ coaching career began at Colorado State, where he started the men’s golf program. He also earned his master’s degree from CSU.

Means said his team’s golf budget was $1000 for the opening year. He said he gave his golfers $3 a day when they were on the road, and  his team slept six to a room. He admitted it was fun at the age of 21.

After a year, he accepted a coaching job offer at Army, and after about a decade of conference championships, Means took the coaching job at Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers were ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1999, and won a national championship in 2002 under the coaching guidance of Means.

“Minnesota actually was a lot like Idaho when I got there,” Means said. “They had no history. The team was awful. They were in a great conference (Big 10), and because of the great conference, that’s how I was able to start recruiting.”

In Means’ 35 years of coaching, he’s had 17 of his players make the PGA Tour.

One of those players, James McLean, played for Means at Minnesota and won the 1998 national championship.

“He was in college just after Tiger Woods and he was better than Tiger,” Means said. “That guy was all-world. He could do anything with the golf club.”

McLean is one of 12 All-Americans Means has coached.

“He was the greatest athlete I had ever seen in my life,” Means said. “He had Michael Jordan moves on the golf course.”

Nathan Romans | Argonaut
Men’s golf head coach John Means instructs members of the team during Wednesday’s practice at the University of Idaho Golf Course.

As far as who Means looks up to, he said Arnold Palmer is his favorite golfer.

“I grew up loving that man and I got to meet him several times,” Means said.

As for current professional golfers, Rory McIlroy is one of his favorites.

“I like the way that he handles himself,” Means said. “I like the way that he handles the people, kind of like Arnie. He smiles, he’s generous, he’s genuine. He doesn’t blow them off like Tiger does. I like those kinds of guys.”

Means’ success in the northern states might surprise some people, since teams in the North can’t practice all year because of the snow. But in Means’ opinion, cold weather is a benefit to players.

He said golfers in the South play all year and tire themselves out. At the end of the fall season at Idaho, Means said he encourages his players to participate in intramurals, which he said most coaches don’t do, because they don’t want their players to injure themselves.

“He knows that it’s time for business when we’re practicing,” senior Sean McMullen said. “It’s time for business when we’re playing, but he also knows that getting our homework done and having an actual social life outside of the golf course is important. So that makes it really easy for a lot of the guys to connect well with him.”

Means said he takes about a two-month break from practice as well after the fall season.

“When they show up at practice, they don’t want to leave,” Means said of his players after returning from a long winter break. “They just want to stay there and get better, and get better and get better.”

Means also coached the women’s team at Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the 2000s. He led the Blugolds to five Division III NCAA Tournament appearances. One of his players won an individual Division III National Championship. Means was named Coach of the Century by the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) over the summer.

“It was a great honor, because that was probably, in all the years I’ve been coaching, that was so much fun,” Means said. “Women are so different to coach than men.”

Eau Claire’s best finish at the national championship tournament under Means was third.

“I left my best team when I came here (to Idaho),” Means said.

Means said taking the job at Idaho would give him an opportunity to live in a part of the country he had never really been in and give him the chance to win another Division I national championship like he did at Minnesota.

“I was excited about that opportunity,” Means said.

It was definitely tough to leave his team to take the Idaho job. Right before he drove to Moscow, he coached his final tournament at Eau Claire — a tournament in which Eau Claire hosted and won. After the tournament, Means sat his players down and told them he was leaving to take the Idaho job.

“It was an awful experience,” Means said.

He said his players were excited about how well they played in the tournament, but when they heard him say he was leaving, they started crying.

“I drove straight. It was like 24 hours straight and I think I cried the whole way,” Means said.

However, he said once he met the players at Idaho and they started playing golf, he was ready to go again.

After coaching multiple schools across the northern part of the U.S. for years, Means has racked up a lot of air and road miles. After this fall season and the 2015 spring season, Idaho will have traveled to New York, Washington, Arizona, Texas, Hawaii, California, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Idaho already traveled to Farmingdale, New York, last month for an invitational, which is about 37 miles east of New York City.

Means said his team visited Ground Zero and visited MetLife Stadium where the New York Giants and Jets play, and where this past season’s Super Bowl was held. He also took them to see a New York Mets game.

Like most coaches, Means loves to see his players do well.

“It’s the smile on their face when they have success,” Means said. “That’s what it’s all about. When they struggle, you die a little bit inside, or I die a little bit inside.”

He loves to watch the simple things, like when one of his players gives a fist pump after sinking a putt.

“It’s those little things that make it so much fun,” he said.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at [email protected]