FARGO — The most successful coach in the history of golf in Fargo is calling it a career. Thirty years of walking the fairways was enough for North Dakota State head men’s coach Steve Kennedy.
He leaves a history of victories, although his involvement with players and the sport in general goes deeper than that. This year was his 12th at NDSU. Before that, he led Fargo South High School to 12 state championships in 18 years, one of the more incredible runs in the history of North Dakota high school athletics.
Most of that was done on the road and the travel eventually took a toll. So at 67 years old, it was time.
“It was kind of getting to me a little bit,” Kennedy said. “I don’t feel 67 but I go to some of these tournaments and I see some of these older coaches that have been doing it forever, they sit in a cart and just drive around and really don’t do much. I didn’t want to be that guy. I wanted to go out when I was still doing what I needed to do to do a good job.”
He was gone for 51 days for tournaments last year. There were times of getting up at 2 a.m. for 5 a.m. flights. This year, the Bison played in tournaments in New York, Arizona (twice), Oregon, Florida, California and Mexico.
Unlike some sports that have a larger number of athletes, golf is a small traveling party with a fall season, off-season winter workouts and a spring season. In the summer, Kennedy often checked on his players in amateur tournaments.
It was a 365-day job.
North Dakota State head men’s golf coach Steve Kennedy, right, chats with player Andrew Israelson.
NDSU athletics photo
“We’re like a big family,” he said. “When we travel, we’re all together in the same car, the same van. In practice, we’re dealing with each other personally every day. It’s a close-knit group.”
Kennedy built NDSU, his alma mater, into a perennial Summit League contender. The Bison won their first Summit tournament title in 2018 with almost every program record being set during his tenure.
They won 18 regular season tournament titles including at least one for six straight seasons. His teams had 146 top-10 finishes. This year’s team finished with the best scoring average in Bison history at 286.3 over three rounds.
“I feel good with what we’ve accomplished, it’s not easy being a school up north,” Kennedy said. “We competed hard. The guys we had, they’re such top-notch guys and just good character. It’s such fun hearing from guys, like the ones I coached 10, 12 years ago.”
Or longer. At South, Kennedy mentored plenty of college and pro prospects and was one the ground floor of PGA Tour player Tom Hoge, a 2007 Fargo South graduate. Kennedy and Hoge were both inducted into the South High Hall of Fame in the same year in 2022.
“I’m proud of Tom for many reasons,” Kennedy said. “All that he’s done on the PGA Tour, the person that he is, he gave back to us at NDSU. He always thinks of me when he has something going on, he doesn’t forget the little guys.”
Kennedy was the National Coach of the Year for high school boys in golf in 2008. He was a five-time North Dakota High School Coach of the Year.
What now? He says he and his wife, Renee, will miss being around the players. It’s hard to say goodbye to those guys, especially the ones that are coming back. Kennedy plans on spending more time with his grandkids, more time fishing and traveling to things other than golf.
And one other thing: play golf.
“I actually want to golf a little bit,” he said. “That’s the last place I wanted to go after being out there all season long.”
North Dakota State head men’s golf coach Steve Kennedy helps his player Nate Adams line up a putt.
Zachary Lucy / NDSU athletics
Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.
