The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Men's Golf
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- mgolf@uab.edu
- Phone:
- 504-9328
Accolades:
2021 NCAA National Championship - 24th Place
2020-21 Conference USA Co-Coach of the Year
2019-20 Conference USA Coach of the Year
Highest national ranking in school history (#5 on Nov. 17, 2020)
13 All-Conference USA Players
Record at UAB: 342-291-10 (.540, 5 seasons)
University of Alabama at Birmingham Director of Athletics Mark Ingram named Mike Wilson the seventh UAB men’s golf head coach on August 31, 2016. Wilson is in his fifth year leading the Blazers.
Wilson has carried on UAB’s rich golf tradition as the Blazers continue to compete for national prominence each and every year. As recent as November of 2020, the Blazers were ranked No. 5 nationally after posting an undefeated fall season. The No. 5 ranking is the highest in program history.
Wilson was named the 2019-20 Conference USA Coach of the Year for guiding UAB to an overall record of 57-23-1 and a final ranking of No. 44. The Blazers were the highest ranked C-USA team and were on their way to an NCAA Tournament berth before the season was cut short due to COVID-19.
Under Wilson’s guidance in 2019-20, Khavish Varadan was the Conference USA Freshman of the Year, while William Walker III and Murray Naysmith were both First Team All-Conference USA honorees.
The Blazers have had representation at NCAA’s twice during Wilson’s tenure as R.J. Keur made NCAA Regionals in both 2017 and 2018 as an individual. Keur, who came to UAB with Wilson from Charleston Southern, became one of best golfers in program history, sharing that prestige with the likes of Graeme McDowell, Paul Dunne and Zack Sucher.
Keur graduated with UAB’s second lowest stroke average for a career (71.97) only behind Graeme McDowell. In his senior year, he recorded UAB’s fourth lowest single season stroke average at 71.53. As a junior, Keur qualified for the NCAA Regionals at LSU, where he tied for 17th overall. His senior year, Keur was placed in the Kissimmee Regional and he finished 39th. Keur was named First Team All-Conference USA in both of his seasons at UAB.
Wilson has also been instrumental in the development of William Walker III, who is in his senior year in 2021 and was a First Team All-Conference USA Selection in 2019 and 2020. Walker’s 70.33 stroke average during the 2019-2020 season was the second lowest in school history.
Under Wilson’s guidance, the Blazers have earned 10 All-Conference USA accolades, which includes five First Team selections (Keur 2017-18, Walker III 2019-20, Naysmith 2020), one Second Team honoree (Taylor Eyster 2017), two Third Team selections (Khavish Varadan 2020, Ben Reichert 2020) two All-Freshman honorees (John Snoddy 2019, Khavish Varadan 2020) and the C-USA Freshman of the Year (Khavish Varadan, 2020).
Prior to his time at UAB, Wilson spent the previous nine years at Charleston Southern. He was the head women’s golf coach from 2007-09 before being named the men’s coach in 2009. In 2011, Wilson was appointed the Director of Golf which gave him oversight of both programs while remaining as the head men’s golf coach.
The CSU men’s team competed in back-to-back NCAA Regionals and captured the 2015 Big South title. The Buccaneers’ selection to the Tuscaloosa Regional in 2016 marked the first time in CSU history that a program earned an at-large berth into an NCAA championship event.
The Buccaneers also won the Kiawah Classic at Turtle Point in late November of 2015 to ascend into the Top 25 in the Golfstat rankings.
Under Wilson’s watch, Austin James completed the best single season in CSU history, sweeping Big South Player of the Year and Big South Medalist honors as a junior in 2015-16. He won the Big South Championship by five strokes at 11-under par, one shot shy of Dustin Johnson’s championship record. James reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Amateur and recorded nine Top 10 finishes in his junior season.
The year prior, Wilson led the Buccaneers to the 2015 Big South Men’s Golf Championship and a berth in the Lubbock Regional in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. The Bucs posted the lowest final round - 10-under - in Big South history to win its first conference championship in 12 years. The Bucs won by six strokes over Campbell and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003, joining the likes of Texas, Texas Tech, Cal, Auburn, and Duke at The Rawls Course in Lubbock.
Newcomer R.J. Keur was the first freshman since 2008 to win the Big South Championship, finishing the week at 8-under par to win by one stroke.
In Wilson’s first season as head coach, the Buccaneers finished second in the Big South after a seventh place finish the year before. In 2012 Wilson was named the Big South Coach of the Year.
In 2007-08, Wilson led the Lady Bucs to the 2008 Big South Championship and onto the NCAA East Regional, where the Bucs finished 19th overall. Jordan Higgins finished second overall at the Big South Championships and, along with teammate Katrin Rumpf, earned All-Conference honors.
Upon graduating from Charleston Southern in 1999, Wilson served as an assistant coach for the 1999-2000 season. He spent seven years as the Golf Assistant and Director of Instruction as the Seabrook Island Club on John’s Island, S.C., before joining the Top Golf Academy in Alexandria, Va., as a teaching professional in 2006. Wilson also spent time as a golf professional at Coosaw Creek Country Club in North Charleston, S.C.
Wilson and his wife Jennifer have three daughters, Brooklyn, Blakely and Bristol.
