June 16, 2004
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame golf coach John Jasinski has signed a contract extension to continue coaching the Irish men’s squad.
Just the fifth coach in the storied 75-year history of Notre Dame golf, the veteran coach has already made his imprint on the program. He succeeded George Thomas who served as Notre Dame’s head golf coach for 13 years (1989-01).
In just three seasons with the Irish, Jasinski already has made major inroads in recruiting high-level high school and junior golfers while also upgrading the schedule, as Notre Dame continues its return to prominence in the BIG EAST Conference and on the national golf scene.
Under Jasinski’s tutelage, the Irish took a major step in their development in 2003-04, winning the BIG EAST Championship and making the program’s first NCAA postseason appearance since 1966. Not content with simply making the NCAA regionals, Notre Dame then proved to be a more than worthy challenger, contending for a berth in the NCAA Championships right down to the final hole on the final day before finishing 12th overall in the 27-team field. Still, the Irish placed 12 spots higher than their No. 24 seed, a performance only two others teams could match.
Besides the league title and NCAA bid in ’03-04, the Irish also won the SMU/Stonebridge Invitational and placed second at both The Tillinghast and Rice Intercollegiate. In addition, Notre Dame fired the best 54-hole score in school history (863, +11) at The Nelson Invitational and carded the eighth-lowest single-season stroke average in the Irish record books (301.03). In fact, in Jasinski’s three seasons at the helm, Notre Dame has registered three of the nine lowest season stroke averages in school history.
As he prepares to welcome another stellar freshman class in 2004-05, Jasinski’s first two recruiting classes have yielded impressive early results. Of the eight golfers he has inked, six have stepped in and contributed right away, led by junior Scott Gustafson, who has the fifth-lowest career stroke average in school history (74.61), and sophomore Cole Isban, who is ninth on the Irish career stroke average charts (75.24).