Men's Golf

The return to national prominence for North Texas golf has been led by fifth-year head coach Brad Stracke. When he arrived at North Texas in December of 2009, the Mean Green was ranked 143rd in the nation; last season North Texas finshed the season ranked 28th.

The Mean Green captured the 2012 Sun Belt Conference Championship, the first conference title since 2003 and another bid to the NCAA Tournament. In 2010-11, Stracke led the Mean Green to the first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and it marked the first time that North Texas had been in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons since 1974-75.

He has coached back-to-back individual conference champions in Ty Spinella (2012) and Carlos Ortiz (2011), a feat accomplished for only the second time in school history. In his four seasons, North Texas has had nine players named to the All-Sun Belt team, which is the same number of golfers named to the all-conference team from 2002-2009.  

His first two recruits, Ortiz and Rodolfo Cazaubon are only the fifth and sixth players in school history to earn three-straight all-conference seasonal honors.

The 2010-11 season saw Stracke lead North Texas to its highest ranking in decades at No.3 in the country after winning the UTA/Waterchase Invitational to begin the year. North Texas received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the first since 2003 and only the second at-large selection in school history.

Stracke led the Mean Green to a top-5 finish in nine of the 11 tournaments last season. North Texas finished the season ranked in the top-40 in the nation, the highest end of the year ranking for the Mean Green in decades.

Individually Carlos Ortiz won the 2011 Sun Belt Conference title with a score of 7-under par, becoming the first North Texas player to win the conference title since 2003. Ortiz and Rodolfo Cazaubon both were named to the All-Sun Belt team for a second straight season.
Ortiz won three individual tournaments throughout the year and Curtis Donahoe won the fourth individual tournament title of the year for the Mean Green.

The Mean Green posted the lowest stroke average as a team in 2010-11 since 1994-95 and Ortiz had the lowest individual stroke average since 1993-94.

Starting in 2010, Stracke has led North Texas golf back onto the national scene. The Mean Green captured its first tournament title in five seasons and had numerous individual accomplishments throughout the 2009-10 school year.

Two of Stracke's first recruits, Cazaubon and Ortiz, have paid immediate dividends. Both players were selected to play in the NCAA Men's Golf Regional, marking the first time in school history that two individuals have advanced to a regional.

Stracke's freshmen competing at the regional puts North Texas in elite company. North Texas is the only school in the nation that sent two freshmen to play at a regional in 2010.
Cazaubon was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, the first-time in the program's storied history that has happened. He also posted the lowest stroke average in seven seasons for North Texas and was an all-conference selection.

Ortiz was also an all-conference pick and shot the third-lowest round of golf with a 64 in the nation this season. Along the way as a team, Stracke guided North Texas to the best stroke average since the 2002-03 season. North Texas had seven top-5 finishes or better this season.
In 2009, Stracke led North Texas to a third-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championship as they posted the lowest team score of the season.

Stracke brings a wealth of experience and a championship pedigree to North Texas after spending time as a highly successful assistant coach and head coach. Prior to North Texas, Stracke spent the previous three years as an assistant coach at Florida and he was the head coach at Indian Hills Community College for nine seasons from 1996-05, winning a NJCAA National Championship.

At Florida, Stracke helped guide the Gators to the NCAA Championship three straight seasons, culminating with a second-place finish in 2006. That year the Gators won the West Regional Championship with a tournament record score of 37-under par. Florida finished ninth at the NCAA Championship in 2007 and 11th in 2008.  

In three years at Florida, Stracke also coached six All-Americans, eight SEC All-Conference players, and one Walker Cup player. At Indian Hills, his team won the national championship in 2000 and had six straight seasons of finishing either first, second, or third at the national championship.

He coached 21 All-Americans at Indian Hills and led them to its first number one ranking and national title.

Stracke earned an associate of arts degree in arts and science at IHCC in 1990. He also earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1993, where he played for the Blazers.

After redshirting his junior year, Stracke won all-conference honors in 1993. As a professional player, Stracke was a sectional qualifier for the U.S. Open in 1995 and earned a top-10 finish in Player of the Year Points in 1995 and 1996.

He won the Lake Bracken Pro-Select in 1996, the Fort Dodge Pro-Am in 1996 and the Bos Landen Prairie Tour event in 1997.