Rob Shutte: Inside Rutgers Golf and Coaching Chris Gotterup

This week on The DROP Podcast, we’re joined by Rob Shutte, Head Coach of the Rutgers Men’s Golf Team, for an inside look at how he’s building a powerhouse program in the Big Ten. Coach Shutte shares his recruiting approach, player development mindset, and the culture driving Rutgers to national recognition. We also explore his mentorship of PGA Tour winner and Rutgers alum Chris Gotterup, and how their time together shaped one of New Jersey’s brightest golf stars.

From cultivating local talent to competing in the Big Ten, this episode offers valuable insight for aspiring golfers, parents, and fans of NJ golf. Discover how Rutgers is growing the game – and preparing the next wave of elite players.

Stream now and follow The DROP for your weekly fix of Golfing in the Garden State.

You guys just like keep coming around. I just keep hearing about you guys. And I might need to tell Ryan to cut that up a little bit and just put it in my audio for my phone. First of all, I love the game. I had a passion to play the game, not only football, but I I love the game of golf and and and what it lends to a person and the friendships you develop on the golf course. It’s been a pleasure being on the drop. I wish you guys all the best down the road. Someone like you, you have that golf itch like a lot of us do. I keep track of you and you are moving. You are on the move. So, listen. I’m a big New Jersey golf guy. Very kind, Mike. And you, too, Ryan. It’s a pleasure to be among just a couple of Jersey boys here talking about something we love. All the best. I really enjoyed it. This is the Drop Podcast where we talk golfing in the Garden State. I’m Mike Porro and this is Ryan Kulot. What’s up, Drop Pod people? Welcome back to Interview Thursday. Uh, we have a well overdue guest. Today’s guest is Rob Shudy, head golf coach at Ruckers University. Uh Mike, we’ve been doing this for almost three years now and it and it seems uh like we should have gotten this on this done earlier, but you know, Rob’s schedule with recruiting and all that, it’s tough to get on, but man, the state university to have him on and hear his story and what he’s done at Ruters, you know, going from Big East to Big 10, like that’s not an easy move for football teams, let alone for for, you know, smaller golf teams. and then you know dealing with uh you know recruiting and and hearing all those stories and then obviously you know with with Chris Goddarup and all his things here. So really great to have him on and and uh you know chat with him and hear his hear what he’s got to say. Yeah, I mean the stories that he shares, you know, both on the golf course, off the golf course, how they prepare the Jersey juice slogan, the whole nine, you know, it’s one of those things when you’re talking about New Jersey people, who better, right? Who better is right. So, without further ado, so without further ado, here’s our interview with Rob Shy. Enjoy. [Music] [Applause] All right. So, today on the Drop Podcast, we’re joined by Rob Shy, head men’s golf coach at Ruckers University. Rob, thank you so much for coming on today’s show. Hey, thanks for having me on. Much appreciated. Rob, this is uh this seems a little overdue for us since this is a golfing in the Garden State and you being at at Rutgers, the state university, the golf coach there is uh you know, seems you know, appropo to have you on. So, welcome to the show. Well, good thing I wasn’t holding my breath. I’ve been out just holding it for a long time here. But no, it’s been great watching what you guys have done for the state of golf and seeing your the show grow. So, it’s awesome to see it grow and um I love it. So, appreciate you having me on. So, Rob, let’s kind of start here at the beginning. Um because, you know, obviously everybody sees your job title today and and understands your relationship with one of the you know, in New Jersey, one of the biggest names, Chris Goddarup, but let’s start at the very beginning. What got you into this game of golf? You know, how did you decide I’m going to make this a career kind of leading to where you are sitting today? Yeah. Yeah. You certainly get this question with recruits in different times in your life to talk about the background in it. I think everyone’s story is slightly different. I think as you know, I was my parents went to Ruckers, you know, they my father played football here and played baseball here and you know, two sport athlete. My mom was a writer for the newspaper and she covered him. And so, you know, the I was raised in a family. I say that because I was raised in a family of one of six kids. I’m one of six. Uh and you know, I felt like golf was introduced as a sport, but it certainly is nothing like it was today. Like with my own two kids where it’s kind of introduced in a way where there’s some real clarity to how to get into it. You know, I don’t want to say it was discouraged, that’s for sure, but it was more basketball and the baseballs and footballs and kind of the bigger sports. You know, my mom was running around. She could kind of handle with six kids getting us to one sport and one sport only, you know. So primarily it was basketball really you know I again I loved golf. I I was introduced to it at you know probably my teenage years and did things and I played in the high school team and I was good. I also explained to people and I don’t know if you guys have heard this with other guests or not to me and I went to a high school that had you know was predominantly football, baseball, basketball push. So I was I was really more focused on basketball cuz also Tiger didn’t make golf uh cool at this point you know. So, when Tiger made golf cool, I mean, ultimately, uh, I was pursuing, you know, more division 3 basketball. And then when that, you know, didn’t didn’t work out just well, you know, the way I wanted it to, um, I went to Penn State and did their golf program there and decided to come out of the closet and say, “Hey, you know what? I’m going to really pursue this thing. I love teaching.” And that was kind of more the passion was to to teach. She got my PJ membership in college and uh you know worked at a number of clubs, you know, helped open the first tea uh site there in Mashalu in New York City when I was in college and worked at Cherry Valley and Arc Colola and different clubs and certainly uh love the teaching side of it. Um and then the opportunity to coach came about when I was probably 23 maybe. I think I was 23. I think guys were 24 at Muenberg College. And from there I just really loved the idea of managing almost like the New York Mets cuz I’m a Mets fan. Uh but you know it’s it’s like managing the roster managing the resources that you have to uh to build this team of of of guys and and it kind of grew from there. So uh that that’s incredible. So how I got a lot of questions here. Where do we where did we go to high school? So I was uh my parents moved to Pennsylvania. So it was a Pennsylvania school Allentown Central Catholic. So it was a very predominant basketball football school. and I hadn’t really hit the growth spurt yet to be to to make it on the football side still. Uh so I kind of was more on the basketball side and and things like that. But again, played a lot of sports. It was just kind of again the access is so different than it is now for my own kids. You know, when you talk to recruits, but I personally just to to piggyback on that, I do think my experience of having not played college golf has actually been a really good thing for me. I feel like I don’t go into it with a set mindset. I talk to other coaches and like, well, my coach in college did it this way. And I feel like sometimes they’re more close-minded. I come at it and that’s why of course I I know you’ll eventually want to ask about Chris, but I feel like guys like Chris, it’s a very The first question I ask in recruiting is tell me about your family. Of course, do you have brothers and sisters? But the second question is tell me about the other sports you play because I do think that my experience having played many sports and I I’ve coached high school basketball. I’ve done other I’ve been involved with other sports. I think it makes me more versatile with bringing ideas to the game of golf with coaching which is just not just the narrow mindset of just golf only. If guys tell me they play just golf and just golf only, it’s typically a turnoff for me because I want to know if they know how to handle maybe being the sixth man on their team and knowing what that adversity is of being in the lineup or not being in the lineup. And so I just like guys, you know, that are athletes and I I think I can connect with them because of my experiences as well. Well, you got two hoopsters here so we can all uh uh you know, talk about that as well. So, so you get out of college, you get out of the out of the the, you know, out of the golf course, and you said you started at Muenberg as a golf coach. Yeah, it was a division three school there in Pennsylvania, and um kind of the right place at the right time. And I knew that I I love to teach. I didn’t know if I was really cut out to be working at the country club environment forever, though. So, this was kind of a little bit more of a a new angle to take where I could be involved with that player development. But um yeah, so that was a foot in the door and I ran with it for 5 years and you know convinced some guys that could definitely play division one to come play division 3. We actually had a guy transfer in. Garrett Carpenter transferred from Ruckers to Muenberg. He’s uh you know the head assistant over there at Cano Brook now. He’s been awesome. Um you know done a great job. So yeah, guys like that you get division one guys that can come play division three and we had you know high motivations to you know to have a high level of success at wherever we were. So, and and then so five years at Muenberg, you come right to Ruters. No, sorry. Then I had a short stint for a couple years at Lehi. Um, and again, I don’t know how many people from Muenberg will end up listening to this and and get myself in trouble, but I ended up allowing myself to be fired from that job. The reason is is because I wanted to win a national championship and I had I mean I I was getting paid $5,000 a year and I spent $5,000 on a simulator. So, I was making no money, but it was all in. And at the time, there was an athletic director who was um I think he’s a he was a good man, but it just didn’t have the support. They cared about different sports. And I said, “Listen, I mean, we we have great facility here at at Lehigh Country Club, and we have all these things in place. All we need is a spot to set up this simulator.” And they told me to either calm down. Don’t try so hard or you’re going to have to get a new job. And I said, “Well, I’m not I’m not going to turn to my team and tell them I’m not trying hard. Like, I’m all in. you know, I wanted to be able to have the guys worked out on the weekends at uh Sunday morning at uh 9:00 and they wouldn’t let me have uh you know, access to the gym. So, I don’t want to throw those guys under the bus, but it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me, you know, I wasn’t going to, you know, I was motivated in this business. And so, they said, uh, all right, you’re going to we’re going to get someone who’s a little bit more uh, you know, just lazy fair. So, that opened up an opportunity to get over to Lehi. They they hired me uh right away. I knew the athletic director there. It was on the women’s side, which again was extremely helpful in my development as a coach because I loved coaching the women. They were incredibly coachable. They uh treated them like golfers and uh it definitely added to my um I guess my experiences of working with different groups of people as well and and it was a division one level and then the opportunity came knocking at Ruckers at the right time as well. So was able to make the make the switch. Very nice. And then this is how many years at Ruckers? This is I think 12 or 13 I think the 13th season maybe. So yeah, it’s been a journey here as well. That’s for sure. Very nice. That’s Yeah, that is quite a journey. Yeah. So now you know when you took over the Ruckers program, you know, what was your like maybe long-term vision for what you wanted the golf program to be? because I think you’re at a point now where it is a you’re in the Big 10, you’re you’re recruiting bigname guys, you got a support system behind you. Like what’s it what were you thinking when you you know like all right, I’m going to go take this job. Ruckers golf can be what? Yeah. Well, I knew we could only go up, you know, I think at the time and and and again, there were some really great guys on the team. So, I don’t want to make it about the players that I inherited that they weren’t good golfers because there were some really good golfers there. But unfortunately there had been about just not any consistency with coaching. I think we’re the 288th ranked team in the country out of I think at the time 290 something. So it really could only go up. So it was really an opportunity that was uh you know it’s like following like you know Urban Meyer you don’t want to follow the the the coach that who was at a very successful football program. And then very similarly again we had had like four coaches in four years here. So it was really just inconsistent and just didn’t have didn’t have the culture there. So, I just knew day one we had to set the culture and set the standard what we were going to do. Again, being a PJ member now for over 20 years. A lot of my thinking with just how we do things um stems from that PGA mindset of doing things the right way and and taking hats off and shaking hands and just, you know, um you know, we took the names off the bags. You know, we we we guys had names in the bags. It was like, hey, we’re playing we’re playing for Ruckers. Um and you know, again, we knew the history of the golf courses here. You know, I I worked in the state in many places. I knew that there was a platform here for incredible opportunity if we just kind of tapped into it. Now, it was an uphill battle. Listen, we had some, you know, we had we had there’s guys that were committed and good guys. We had uh but we had need, you know, needs for more scholarships. We were in the Big East. They’re just they’re just, you know, facilities were down. I mean, I’m sitting in here an indoor facility and it’s it’s unbelievable. So, a lot of those things just needed to be developed to, you know, to be more competitive and things like that. So, I didn’t know how I was going to get there by any means. You know, Tim Petti was the athletic director that hired me. And shortly after that, we joined the Big 10, which was exciting, but we still didn’t have a pathway with how we were going to be immediately successful within it other than we were just going to keep chopping and and trying to develop guys and recruit good guys. And over time, we felt like it was going to it was going to get us there. You know, we just it’s kind of Jersey, you know, it’s just hard work. You just hard work. And as long as you wake up every day and you work hard every day, um, typically good things happen. I think that was pretty much again good timing with the Big 10. We got the full amount of scholarships a number of years later. you start to get some guys that have breakthroughs in different level events and then you have more breakthroughs other guys and it just kind of helps the boats, you know, rise a little bit. I like that you steal that from Shan to keep chopping. That’s a good uh that’s a good one. It is a good New Jersey motto. Like that’s, you know, we come here, we come with our our hat in hand, you know, lunch pale in and we’re here to work. It’s funny you mentioned the lunch pail because that was actually the very first thing we carried. I have it in the locker room, but it’s this really small uh lunchbox the little l and guys would have the opportunity to carry that around if they came to work and and and brought, you know, we we talk a lot about the Jersey juice now. That was something my old assistant came up with when he was out there uh walking and covering us for social media. Ryan Rose incredible came up with this Jersey juice thing and of course it’s grown in a big way. Same idea, right, with just bringing the lunch pale, bringing the juice every day and um yeah, certainly that you know, here it is. We’re we’re up talking early in the morning. you guys are bringing the juice. And it’s like when I wake up in the morning, I tell the guys, “What are we looking for? We’re looking for guys that when I wake up at 5 in the morning or whatever it is, maybe not 4:00 like Mike, but I mean if it’s 5:00 in the morning, it’s like, “Hey, who’s bringing the juice?” Cuz when I show up to practice, you know, I want to be around guys that have a lot of energy. Otherwise, you know, the job just becomes a job. You know, you want it to you want to be around guys that have contagious energy. So, [Applause] golfers, the wait is over. Weekweight Golf Course is back. After a five-year renovation across all three Essex County tracks, the trilogy is complete. And guess what? They saved the best for last. Weekquake is the first public golf course in the Garden State, opening over 110 years ago. This golden age design just got a modern revival. Architects Steven Kay and Kevin Wager have enhanced the original Vescue mounding, pop bunkers, and classic greens, delivering a strategic test that’s as mental as it is physical. It’s golf like you’ve never seen. Vintage architecture set against an urban backdrop with planes soaring from Newark Liberty International Airport, views of the Annheiser Bush Brewery, and even glimpses of one world trade. We wake is truly one of a kind. Modern turf with old school soul. You’ll feel the ghost of the game walking with you, asking where the hickory chefs went. We Quake Golf Course reopens Thursday, July 31st. Be a part of the next chapter in Garden State golf. [Music] [Applause] So, you had just mentioned practice and and I’m interested in this kind of side of it because I don’t I don’t think people can can truly understand this. These kids are going to class, you know, they they have to schedule around when you’ve scheduled practices. I assume it’s kind of like, you know, football players are class in the morning, practice in the afternoon, but golf is is a little bit more fluid than that. Like they could kind of hit balls when they want to. What does practice look like at Ruckers? Yeah, it could be a couple different buckets. First of all, we do all of our practice currently in the morning. Uh we’ll start classes around 2:00 somewhere in there. we can control that block cuz we’re a big university and we could do practice in the afternoon, but we typically like to go early because it expands our block. We get a couple more hours on the front end and I always think it’s easier for guys to get out of bed uh for practice than it is for class anyway. So, we get our day early started early. I mean, it can we have to give them one day off a week. So, again, you got six days to work with, no more than four hours in a day. So, again, you got NCAA rules that you have to work with. It can be really one of a number of buckets if we’re going out and competing and qualifying. like we’ll be out at Matikong National the next uh the next two days uh competing down there which is again one of our many awesome relationships that we’ve been able to develop and maintain for the guys which is a huge recruiting tool but also developmental tool as well to be able to test ourselves in awesome golf courses. But some days it’s playing. If it’s not playing, we’re going to pair up practice with the workout. Typically we’ll do the workouts on the back end. You know, certainly strength and conditioning is a huge part of the game. It might, you know, might just be mobility and stability, uh, as opposed to more strength and power in the offseason, but we’re still having that be a big part of our culture. And then how do you structure practice? I mean, it’s interesting. Listen, we got nine guys. There’s a lot of other people who have seats at the table within their golfing development. You know, there’s certainly guys that I’ve worked with on this team through the years that they want to hear a whole lot of what I have to say and maybe exclusively what I have to say. In other cases, they other great teachers all over the country. So, you you really have to all over the world in some cases. You have to be able to know that there’s other people in their ear with that development and so we have to kind of be wear many hats. I think the one thing that we always have in common with all the guys is we see them play. Sometimes the instructors that they have and they’re awesome instructors sometimes just not with them as much as we are. So we’re not seeing the habits with how they’re maybe implementing some of those those swing things or what they’re seeing on the golf course or routines. And so I think it’s really more putting the pieces together. So, you know, we are the ones who have the stats. we’re the ones that have, you know, more of the eyeballs on a day-to-day basis to kind of help with those teams. But when we structure those practices, it can consist of a couple things. Again, it can be a a coach control practice exclusively where we might want to go out and set up drills on our golf course, which is great cuz it’s right on campus. And we can go out and simulate, you know, putting hole locations in different spots and we’re trying to control the ball, you know, short, left, right, or long with different pins because we’re going to see that at a number of tournaments where in college those pins are cut four paces from the edge, five paces every time versus the junior golf, which is a lot more sixes and sevens and eights away from the edges of the greens. That makes a big difference when it comes to short sides and all these things. So, we can simulate getting out in the golf course and make it be more of, hey, a coach controlled. What are we doing with that golf ball? We can test guys and do different things on the range. We have a, you know, different ways of testing where it’s a lot more manual in some cases. You know, again, we don’t have nine trackmen. We have a lot of technology, but very often it’s fun to do manual tracking with coaches and calling out numbers and and and physically plotting where the shots are landing and giving that feedback more like, you know, Ben Hogan would probably do. And I think again, I think the the number one thing overall, I mean, again, players can sometimes control practices where we have them come in with ideas and and work around and stations and testing. So again, I don’t want to bore you with the nuances, but I think there’s many ways of doing it. The over the overall message that I want to feel in practice is I want guys to want to, you know, have a culture where guys want to come to practice. You know, it is a game. And once we lose the fact, you know, lose sight of the fact that it is truly just a game and it always will be a game, um, then we’re in trouble, right? So it’s not really, it shouldn’t be a job. It it, you know, sometimes the guys can make it be feeling like it’s a job, but it’s not. It’s a game. And so we want to make sure practices are engaging and fun. There’s competition. there’s ways that they can compete at all times within some of those some of the ways that we’re we’re evaluating them. And uh sometimes it’s a matter of exposing weakness. Sometimes it’s a matter of encouraging and uh you know those strengths that they have, but sometimes we’ll go to a tournament. We know that there’s some shots that they might they may or may not have and it’s our job to help kind of get them ready for those as well. Yeah. It’s a different way to look at practice than you and I handle, Ry. That’s for sure. Um but we’re going to talk afterwards. I I want to You’re going to develop my practice plans this year, Rob. Okay. you know. So, so Rob, as now you’ve kind of you get into the Big 10 and you know, I think one of the things that people are very curious about is your relationship with Chris got her up and how you decided to kind of go all in on recruiting him because, you know, after Chris has won the Scottish Open and he’s played really well all season, you know, your name and the story circulated a lot. Ryan and I kept going through it, talking about it, seeing it. explain to us the importance of someone in your position landing a homegrown stud like Chris to getting him to formally commit to to a place like Ruckers. Yeah. Yeah. So, like the background before Chris was that there was, you know, I take over and, you know, we I felt like there was there was one or two guys in the previous recruiting classes. Um, I don’t know if I should mention their names, but they end up going, we were right there getting them. And I felt like I don’t know if there was a a stigma or not, but I felt like because of the history of the program, we were able to get good players in the state, but not always were the best players always considering staying home. And I felt like, again, you know, I don’t really think too much at all about Penn State, but I did go to Penn State. And it’s interesting to look at some of like the loyalty that was out there. And I felt like Ruckers at the time, we we didn’t have that brand. Nothing like it is now. I mean, right now, I mean, look look at the I mean, it’s it’s incredibly aligned with the state and and being in the Big 10, everything else, but at the time, this is going back, you know, 10 years, you know, I just felt like we needed to make sure that we kept the best players home. Um, and so, yeah, Chris I saw play a ton. you know, certainly he was a guy that um was one of the best players and he was impressive to see him hit the ball and he had unbelievable pair of hands and um just we hit it off. He was an athlete. So like to me like it was just such an easy process. I knew knew I wanted him because there was no red flags with how I was going to be able to coach him. Like I knew I was going to like my coaching style I felt like it was going to align very much to him, you know, and I’m somebody who’s going to call a ball a ball and a strike a strike. and you know his parents and his father I think they understood that and they appreciated that in the recruiting process that it was like you know I think his father said here’s a big a big lump of clay and um you go work on it and I felt like they empowered me and I was like all right cuz I’m going to go to work I mean this is a guy who in his words was you know you know he needed to work on his body he was he was you know at the time you again I don’t think these things are off limits because Chris and I have a very good relationship but he came in and it was you know his body needed developing and you know he quit in the stayed open before he came to school and I stopped my tractor and called him and said, “You’ll never survive here because you’re a quitter.” You know, I kind of called him out for that. And so I think that the whole dynamic of him and I being able to challenge him in a healthy way, never in a demeaning way, but in in a demanding way, he always responded to those. So I just felt like and I could tell in the recruiting process his lacrosse background, the fact that he was very raw, the fact that he had some incredible skill sets but was still this big lump of clay. It was intriguing. And so yeah, we went all in and um yeah, I think we can go through many stories with Chris, but yeah, what does it mean? I mean, as Chris knows, my wife knows cuz you know, you talk to her a lot. It’s just so in it’s interesting to get someone out to have been a part of his life to be at this level because there’s not a single day in my life that goes by without talking about Chris. And it’s just it’s it’s interesting. I mean, you work and I love them all. all these guys you’ve worked with and and gals for that matter both of them like you know you watch their successes in life and they have kids and you’re at their weddings and all these things and they all mean like the same in terms of their people and you very you know you create these relationships that are so meaningful and and so Chris is no more special in regards to the human human element and yet there’s not a single day that goes by that there’s not multiple questions that I have to answer about him and so it’s a unique relationship with that and he knows I just feel like we’re so aligned like I almost feel like he knows what I’m thinking and he knows what I’m thinking and and in in terms of how we feel about each other and the impact and he knows that I don’t try to make you know the thing with the Scottish you know open like it’s just genuine you know and he knows that like when I talked to him yesterday I think some people will start to make out the fact that it’s like oh like I said have we had we’ve had a relationship for so long so it’s just it’s it’s never it’s it’s it’s very meaningful it’s a very meaningful relationship I think to both of us genuine is the word I would use to describe it as well like just seeing it from afar, you know, not not talking to Chris about it, just talking to you for the first time about it, like just seeing it from afar, it seems like you two have a a genuine human connection that is is sometimes rare to find, but it seems like you guys would be friends even if it wasn’t for being a coach player relationship. You guys, it it does seem genuine is the word I would use. I think that’s the best word. Yeah, go ahead. Sorry, man. That’s all right. And and don’t forget, I know I know Chris had a little lacrosse. He had a smooth jump shot as well. Oh yeah, we did, you know, we do a lot of things in the offseason with the guys. The home run der I’ll tell you if you look on our social media way back in the day with our home run derby competitions. You know, I felt like it was always him and I that had a chance to hit it out. I prided myself on who could hit it out, him or I. But, you know, yeah, same thing with the shot. You know, he he was very smooth uh shooting the basketball as well, the three-point competition we do in the offseason. and seeing his success I think this year what when you think big picture and you think long-term success at Ruckers having I you know more or less an anchor like Chris to say hey listen this guy came through Ruckers he’s born and bred here how big of a recruiting tool is that to show these other young studs here in the state like hey listen a guy like Chris Goddrop he is the example of what you can be how much does that help you in the recruiting process. It’s funny, you know, yeah, we it definitely we talk about it. I think if you look at our recruiting presentation that we’ll do, I don’t really actually have that much about him. I don’t because I certainly I don’t want to present people hopefully know about it and I think Chris knows I don’t ever like again it’s almost like protective of him because I don’t want that to be the only thing that defines our program and defines it. It’s a huge piece of it though when it comes up. Of course, but I don’t want to walk around as a billboard and be like and turn it into a constant thing of being like we developed them. We developed them. We developed them. Like do we have a huge part in developing? I believe so. Listen, he he went from where he was to being the Big 10 player of the year and we all know how it played out with the co like that co situation that his senior year was frustrating for everybody. I mean people may or may they don’t know it but I think that the narrative is well you know he had his best year at Oklahoma and we have a great relationship with the the the you know the whole group of coaches you know and the coaches Oklahoma and Chris and it played out the way it needed to play out he needed you know that whole last year of co was I think not just frustrating for coaches but the players again we didn’t have a fall schedule the spring schedule was um you know the SEC’s wouldn’t play anybody you just didn’t have a real schedule it was uh and I think it rained and it was cold every time so like again I think his career ends in a way where It’s like had he come back here for his fifth year, he would have had an unbelievable fifth year here as well. Again, but again, I’m I’m I’m happy the way it’s all played out for him and he had an unbelievable year there at Oklahoma. So, we’re not going to take that away by any means, but it certainly is I want people to understand like he became the Big 10 player of the year here and he would have been the Big 10 player of the year if if he was here for one more or or we had a full senior year which just didn’t exist. It was just choppy and co uh was was tough that part. But I think it’s uh again it’s a huge part of of of things we can certainly point to. I can I look more to the specifics with the recruits, right? So if I were to sit there on the recruit and be like, “Oh, like we pound our chest like we did this for, you know, we developed Chris.” Well, no, Chris has got, you know, Jason Burnbound was part of that team. Rich Campbell, the trainer, was a part of working on his body. These are a whole colleg coach. There’s a huge group of people. So I’m never taking like any of that full credit. But again, I think we are the right people at the right time. I could look at his freshman year in the indoor bubble, right? He’s averaging like five yards off target for let’s say a 20 ball sample from 50 to 100 yards variable length this is just to see where he would be at and he’s averaging five. Well, you got a guy like Matt Huda who’s an unbelievable player who’s still out there playing. He’s won 12 times on on the mini tours and and I think he’s still going to break through on the PJ tour. Just got to get through Q school which we know he can. He was averaging like 1.8. I mean he’s a better wedge player, you know. So, I think it exposed Chris. And so, I think I like to look more to the specifics of like, all right, where was his putting at his freshman year when he had a chance all of a sudden to make a run at Baltimore Country Club? And I think he’s made it one of the best parts of his game. I know statistically it’s still might not be because part of that’s because he hits it so, you know, hits it so good. He’s going to, you know, lose strokes putting sometimes, but his putting’s become unbelievable compared to where he was. So, I I think it’s more looking at, you know, the specifics of different areas of where he he developed within the program to use with our current team. I think it certainly has credibility. I know that it validates a little bit in my own head when sometimes I’ll, you know, these guys I get older. I’m 44 now and the guys get younger. So the gap between me and them continues to get wider and wider and you know I think sometimes when you sit back and you look at a good player in our program and sometimes you’re like maybe I shouldn’t push on that area, you know, maybe I’ll let that go. I think it certainly allows me to be like no I’m going to push on that because I know that in the long run the formula, you know, it it did work a little bit, you know, and again it has to be the right guy. they have to want to be coached like Chris wanted to be coached. Um, but if they’re coachable, I think it shows that certainly we can have a huge impact on being a piece of that development for sure. Oh, no, no doubt there. What is like the the future here for Ruters? What’s the, you know, you’ve you’ve gone from, you know, Big East to Big 10. You talked about scholarships. What’s like the what’s the next thing that you’re pursuing in Ruters golf? Sure. I mean, the so much has happened since we’ve been here in such a positive way. You know, we’re right there. I mean, we had every year I think when we took over, we had, you know, moved up a little little every year. You know, my I have an uncle who’s like a ninetime coach of the year here in New Jersey, Joe Light, in basketball and softball. And so, he’s a mentor of mine and has given me so many pieces of advice. But I feel like if you if you recruit a little better every year and if you develop a little bit better every year and listen, there’s other things you need in place. You know, what do we have here? We have so many things in place. You know, we just expanded our grass tea there at Ruckers. So the convenience for guys to hit balls is is is easy and it’s accessible. We have relationships with some of the best golf courses throughout the whole state. We have an indoor facility behind me. We have a great budget to do what we need to do with training trips and things like that. So we’re right there now. The college golf landscape is also changing along with athletics and everything else. So you’re seeing had those rules not changed, we’d be like all right, you know, but of course the goalpost has kind of moved again a little bit in regards to how things are. So, I got to tell you, I mean, I’m meeting with our new athletic director here in a few minutes, and I know that there’s incredible excitement. We know that there’s I don’t want to give away projects or things that I shouldn’t be, but we know there’s new things that can be done here in terms of additional facilities and things like that to continue the arms race that is. But I tell our guys, and I and I and I believe it because I’ve had these conversations too with guys like Chris to ask about comparing one place to another and and things like that. We have everything we need to be successful here. you know, it it might be a little harder at times like we can, you know, the sun’s going if people use that in the recruiting, you don’t have the sun or whatever, but like we have strategies and ways to utilize this indoor facility and coach better and develop better. So, I’m not going to sit go out there and predict, well, you know, we’re going to be at, you know, we have to be a top 25 program this amount of time. I just think that, you know, when you bring a player in and you look them in the eye like we can get them to where they need to get to. So, again, they have to just buy into that and have a little more grit and and overcome a little bit more at times. But no, we have we’ll see what the direction is with the athletic director. I think all the athletic directors have decisions to make within this new landscape of of athletics at the highest level. I mean, we’re in the Big 10. This is not like we’re dealing with a small level. These are like big big issues that deal with big revenue and big television and big big revenue share and all these things that are kind of big picture issues. So, we’ll see what that looks like because again, the landscape has changed. But, I know we’re rolling up our sleeves and just working really hard like every day. And I think those things lead to, you know, lead to positive outcomes. So, [Music] [Applause] The New Jersey Golf Foundation, the charitable arm of the New Jersey PGA section, is proud to introduce the Heroes Tour coming in April 2025. The Heroes Tour will offer competitive golf opportunities at golf courses across the state for military veterans, active duty military personnel, and first responders, including law enforcement, EMTs, and firefighters. Proceeds from the Heroes Tour will support the continued growth of military programs offered by the New Jersey Golf Foundation, led by PJ Hope, helping our patriots everywhere. PJ Hope is a weekly rehabilitative golf program for veterans that is saving the lives of America’s heroes in New Jersey and nationwide. Today, the program is offered in 15 counties across the state while positively impacting nearly 500 veterans annually. To support or learn more about the Heroes Tour, please visit njgolffoundation.org or call 732-4651212. That’s njgolf foundation.org or 732-4651212. [Music] [Applause] So Rob, I got a question kind of away from Rucker Golf, away from Chris, away from all that. What’s away from Chris? We just started on Chris. We I’m just kidding. What What’s the What’s the golf game like? My golf game is uh I would say it can be good. It could be good. It’s rusty right now. You know, I got three kids of my own, 13, 12, and 10. I do feel like there’s been moments in this program where I feel like I’ve played more and there’s moments where I’ve played absolutely none. Right now, it’s in one of those phases. And I think that I’m up early and I go to bed late. And uh first of all, I always tell the guys, listen, you know, I was I’ve been recruit all summer, so I just you can’t pick the clubs up. Like if you look at like section events and stuff like that, it’s just like there’s there’s literally no time. The time when you get back from recruiting, you try to be a dad for like 10 minutes, you know? You try to pitch whiffle ball, you try to get the whiffle ball league going in the neighborhood, and then you cuz again, I always tell the guys, listen, if I can’t if I can’t manage work life balance in this job, I’ll quit and get another job. like I love the job, but I also can’t sacrifice the work life balance piece of it. So, I’ve had a lot of great assistants now the last couple years. Right now, Patrick Sprags is my assistant. I’ve had, you know, Oliver Watley was a former player of ours. So, I feel like when there’s been opportunities to play, I’ve always given my assistants the first opportunity to play. I feel like the number of golf courses that we play that are incredible top 100s in the States, I’ve become a lot more of a politician when it comes to when we’re playing there. I I feel almost guilty. I need to talk to the head pro. I got to talk to the caddy master. I got to talk to members. And so it’s become a little bit more instead of just, hey, look at me. I’m playing golf. I think we have to find ways of doing that with the guy because I know that’s important and try to try to make sure I can still hit the shots when I need to hit the shots. But yeah, the left foot’s hurting. I went to hospital hospital for special surgery because all the wear and tear and you know, so it’s just father times beating me up, you know, but no, I can still hit it. I don’t I have not been able to focus on competing events in events because I feel like the program is not paying me exclusively to do that. I know there’s some other great coaches out there that their programs are in a spot where I feel like they’re a little bit more autopilot and they can probably play a little bit more. For me, I feel like it’s just a constant grind to do other things to improve our program. And if I go out and play it, it could certainly help a little bit, but not as much as doing other things, I guess. So, I’m just I’m just prioritizing and and kind of put the clubs down for a minute. But hey, six more years to the senior tour so I can maybe, you know, make a comeback and, you know, we’ll see where the program is then because it’s, you know, it’s why you coach, too. It’s a beautiful game and it’s, you know, you love teeing it up and and getting it out there. Yeah, it really is. Do you do you feel like the title golf coach for you is a little bit uh like not the right term? You talked about politicking at the golf course. You talked about these players come in with their own swing coaches and their own things. Do you feel like it’s it’s sometimes more golf manager than it is golf coach? I’ve never thought of it that way necessarily. I mean, you’re seeing other um you know, other programs, you know, it’s basketball, you have more of these kind of program managers role, but no, I I still I love the title coach. Um it’s just something again when you look at like my uncle who’s ninetime coach of the year in the state, like it’s just just come from a family of athletes. So growing up, my father was always just big on, you know, it was again, you know, it was I come home from a basketball practice or so or or whatever practice and didn’t like the way, you know, that it went at practice and it was always, you know, the the, you know, respect for the coach and the coach is right and you go up and coach coach coach everything and so yeah, it’s just something that I’ve always you be at a golf tournament and someone will say coach and of course like you know, five or six heads turn if you’re at a tournament, you know, because it’s just it’s a title that I appreciate. And what does it mean? I mean, yeah, it certainly involves being a a manager and some of those things, but um no, I still like I haven’t thought about it that way, but I I’ll go with coach for now. Okay. Maybe changes. Uh listen, I I do have one final question here for you on my end that I got written down is is obviously you’re someone who’ve seen and gotten to play, I’m sure, a ton of different golf courses here in New Jersey, excluding Pine Valley. Okay. Because if you got an invite to go play there, you probably are not, you know, you know, you’re just dropping everything. But what is that one spot in New Jersey for you, public, private, that just hits differently? Oh, jeez. I don’t want to offend any of the great clubs we have relationships with. There’s so many. Then I’ll be honest with you. I don’t answer if you I don’t want to put you on the spot there. No, I I will because I I won’t overly offend because I love them all, you know, and they all have different, you know, different different things going on. I mean, I’ll say this and I’ll maybe I’ll just kind of politically name a few, but I think the one thing is we are going to and maybe we can talk more about it down the down the road, but we are uh launching a college event here next fall and that’ll be at Bayon and so teams are going to be staying in New York City and taking the ferry over and it’s going to be it’s going to be really special and uh so Bon of course when if you look at a link style is is is and I love getting overseas. I’ve been overseas a number of times, been fortunate with groups of guys, certainly recruiting, it’s just right there. But that to me, that style of golf where the ground matters, where you’re stopping the ball with friction on the ground as opposed to purely just using height and spin is something that is contagious. And I I know that if our players haven’t been overseas, we do international trips to make sure that they do appreciate that style. So Bon with that with the style, I love u because you feel like you’re out away. Certainly Planefield, the vibe at that club, you know, whether it’s from Scott Paris that he creates uh with with his memberships and the way he’s treated us. Um I know a lot of people. So there’s so many other ones that have been so so wonderful to us, but certainly that is an easy walk playing field and one that if you know if I was going to be if they you know if someone was going to offer me a nice honorary membership somewhere, I would love to accept it over at that playing field as well. But uh I’m still waiting for that call. So, well, it’s not the easiest walk on a 110 degree day, uh, as Mike and I experienced. So, I know there’s no trees to hide out there anymore, but yeah. Is there anything that you do, um, tournament day or or leading into a tournament that you find like are you’re a little superstitious with to to get the kids ready or is there some kind of like routine that you that you have that’s like I have to do this or or I feel like my I feel like my balance is off. I feel like game day is there’s not much going on at that point. To me, it’s all about the practice round. You know, the practice round is where, you know, you have a plan coming in. I’ve been to most of these courses. You know, been here for 13 years. So, a lot of the tournaments we’ve been to, it’s like, ah, we I kind of know how they’re, you know, that coach is going to set it up. I know where they’re going to try to trick us. I know I’ve seen all four wind directions on this golf course. I, you know, you see how firm it is and you know your players shot ability and so you’re trying to overlay where you’ll have one player in a par five where it suits well you know sets up well for them based on their shot dispersion or their distance or their mindset where another player it’s a it’s a true three shter and you’re making sure that the guys in the group understand why or how that’s a difference versus oh we’re all going to do this or all do that. So it’s just kind of how they’re all going to play their best. So to me it’s all about the the practice round is the most like sacred time with your team and you know typically there’s no spectators out there and you can create a a real culture of uh you know just relaxation but also focus at the same time. you know, the guys, you got the uniform on and no, I mean, game day is, you know, I’ll probably wear the same hat over and over just because I like the way certain hats fit, but uh no, I mean, you try to make sure all the details are done the practice round timing of departures to make sure that guys have, you know, as silly as it is, and this might it might be going in the wrong direction, but like it’s the small things you try to prepare for, like where are the extra bathrooms in the morning for your players on tournament sites if it’s a shotgun start and all of a sudden everyone’s got a line for the like it’s little weird things where I try to feel like I there’s no question a guy can’t answer or ask me that I don’t have an answer for all of a sudden because it’s those last minute things before they tee off. They want to feel comfortable what time they get to the golf course. Got to make sure I have enough time to do this. I want to putt first. You know the flow of that morning and making sure it’s all done ahead of time. Sometimes the range is got just two spots for the teams to hit cuz the shotgun start. It’s not much. Hey, we got to put the freshman over here. You guys going to put hit like. So, it’s trying to make sure that they feel like they’re not thrown off in the morning and everything is is uh it flows for them to make sure that again they the breakfast. We’ve made sure that the breakfast at the hotel is is it good? Is it bad? Are we going over here? You know, just make sure that again they have nutrition. Where are they getting? Were they filling up the water bottles? Just all the little details to make sure that it feels as smooth as possible for them. And uh but then from there, I mean, it’s just golf, right? So, I try to be very very unemotional about everything cuz I know that I’ve made those mistakes earlier in my coaching career where like you can sometimes get too reactionary or emotional even internally and players can sense that. And so typically I will never look at the scoreboard for probably a number of hours because you’ve learned that it’s just too unnecessary to get emotional because it’s such a long 54 hole journey. So I’ll avoid looking at that. I might look if there’s certain holes that I know are very critical and how guys are playing it and it might be on the back nine or front nine depending on where we’re starting to say all right how is that actually playing with that hole location and you can get a sense for what you might need to do. But, uh, for the most part, I try to just chew gum and and just, you know, and just basically just be a caddy and and and and be very unemotionalist for a very long time cuz it doesn’t help. You know, players will see reactions from their parents or whatever. Like, they just want to, you know, again, it’s it’s pretty much a catty approach at that point. You know, wherever they are, it’s encouraging. It’s it’s just trying to be positive because, uh, I only ask the guys for two things to prepare hard and try their best, you know. So, if we prepare really hard leading up to the tournament, we prepare hard in the practice round and really at that point like they’re not preparing on game day. They’re just trying their best. And so, I can’t really ask for anything more than that. You know, if we win, we’re going to get ice cream. If we lose, we’re going to get ice cream. Either way, we’re going to get ice cream when it’s over. And uh I think it’s important to keep it a game that way. I love that. My type of guy. My type of guy. Well, Rob, you guys like ice cream? Is that why? Is that No, I I listen. I’m a big pizza party guy. I’m a big let’s no matter what wins or losses, let’s have a pizza party. I think those team bonding things matter and I don’t think they should be results driven. I don’t think I I think it’s like, hey, listen, we’re doing this together because we enjoy each other. We want to be a team and we’re kind of like a family. So, we’re getting ice cream. Win or lose, let’s go get some ice cream. That’s a That’s exactly right. I love it. Pizza with ice cream. That would be even better. But yeah, you’re talking my language. Early mornings, you’re talking analytics. You’re talking ice cream pizza. I might become your new best friend. I love it. I love it. I love it. Well, Rob, thank you so much for joining us. Like I said to start, it’s uh it feels like it’s overdue. You’ve been doing a great job up there at Ruckers and uh and we hope for the best this upcoming season and uh and hope to have you on again soon. Yeah, I appreciate it. Maybe we can connect. If it’s not, I would ask for the spot, but as we get closer to that event next year, you know, might be something where we have more details. People in the community can be able to come out in New Jersey and see some great college programs compete. So, if it’s not an interview, it’s just something we can get out to your listeners so they know how to find it and and maybe at least be able to follow along online because it might be tough for spectators, but at least they can know what’s going on about that event. I I think we can make that work. What do you think, Mike? I’ll talk to theuler. Oh, you got to talk to the scheduler. So, all right, Rob, take care. Thanks again. All right. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. [Applause]