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BOONE, N.C. — App State alumnus John Michael Cole, who served as a team captain in Boone and has helped direct multiple schools to NCAA Championships appearances as a collegiate coach, has been named the head coach of the Mountaineers’ men’s golf program, Director of Athletics Doug Gillin announced Thursday.
“We’re excited to welcome John Michael and his wife, Emery, back to App State,” Gillin said. “John Michael is a proven winner. He’s an alum who bleeds black and gold. We look forward to his leadership of our men’s golf team.”
The 33-year-old Cole spent the 2024-25 season as a Sun Belt Conference head coach at Georgia State, which posted four top-five tournament finishes and climbed to a 10th-place league finish after placing 14th at the 2024 Sun Belt Championship a season before he arrived.
He helped lead VCU to the Atlantic 10 Conference title and a berth in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional as a Rams assistant in 2024 after being the head coach at Division II Fayetteville State for five seasons, leading his hometown school in southeastern North Carolina to NCAA Championships berths in two of his final three seasons and earning an HBCU National Coach of the Year honor in 2023.
As a collegiate player, Cole won five tournaments and was named the CIAA Player of the Year as a Fayetteville State freshman before transferring to App State for his final three seasons (fall 2011-spring 2014). He contributed a final-round 68 to a first-place team finish at the 2011 Hummingbird Intercollegiate, then had multiple top-10 finishes as a Mountaineer and played on three professional tours, winning the 2015 Crow Creek Invitational on the Coastal Players Tour.
He is an Appalachian State University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in recreation and park management, plus a minor in communication.
“I want to thank Chancellor Heather Norris, Director of Athletics Doug Gillin, Senior Associate Athletics Director Sarah Strickland and many others for giving me this opportunity,” Cole said. “Once I began this journey of collegiate coaching nine years ago, I knew I wanted to find my way back to Boone and be the head men’s golf coach at Appalachian State University. There is a different standard and expectation of winning while representing the block A, and I can’t wait to bring that winning culture to App State Men’s Golf.”
Cole began his coaching career in his early 20s as the first head coach of the men’s and women’s golf teams at Fayetteville Technical Community College in 2016, building both programs from scratch. He earned NJCAA Region X Coach of the Year accolades in 2017 and led the Trojans to a victory at the 2018 NJCAA Region X Championship to clinch a berth in the NJCAA DII National Championship tournament.
Cole was named Fayetteville State’s head coach later that year, and he promptly led the Broncos to a runner-up finish at the 2019 CIAA Championship, the program’s best showing in seven years. The Broncos returned to the NCAA Championships thanks to a fourth-place NCAA Regional finish in 2021, and Fayetteville State won its first CIAA title since 2012 during the 2023 season, when a second CIAA Coach of the Year award preceded a second-place NCAA Regional finish and another NCAA Championships berth.
Caden Hodges was an honorable mention All-American during Cole’s time at Fayetteville State, while five of his players earned All-CIAA honors and two were named to the Ping All-Region Team.
After moving on to VCU to work with head coach Andy Walker, the Rams recorded the lowest single-round total in school history on the final day of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional en route to an eighth-place showing, the program’s best regional finish in more than 20 years.
In his first season as a Division I head coach, Cole helped lead Georgia State to a second-place finish in the Panthers’ third fall tournament, highlighted by a third-place individual finish. They were in seventh place entering the final round of the 2025 Sun Belt Championship.
Cole attended Cape Fear High School in Fayetteville and is married to Emery Sherrill Cole.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:
Andy Walker, VCU head coach during the 2023-24 season and current Eastern Michigan head coach:
“Definitely one of the best hires this summer. John Michael’s rapid rise up the college coaching ranks comes from his work ethic and how he connects with his players. I know he’s excited to get back to his alma mater. The Sun Belt Conference now has a new contender.”
Steve Conley, head coach at Fayetteville’s Methodist University (15 national titles in 38 years)
“John Michael has a passion for coaching, the game of golf and for App State. There is no doubt in my mind that he will be successful there.”
