Inspiring Journeys: Nick Clinard on Coaching Young Golf Talents

Talk about just how impressive it's been with this group that you've had, not only this year, but the past couple years of the Jackson-Coyvans types that have now made their way up in the ranks. It's got to be fun for you to see. Absolutely. Well, first off, Smiley, thank you for having me on in War Eagle. It's been a blessing to coach all these fine young men, and just as much golf-wise, but just as much off the golf course, too. Just seeing them grow and mature and come in as young men and leave as men, you know, when they graduate from college or move on to PGA Tour or whatever it may be in their lives. And it's just a blessing, like I said, just to be a small part of their success formula and be a big part of their life too. You know, I was first introduced to you, Coach, when you were at UCF. And to see all the success and see those national championship trophies sitting behind you there on the windowsill, yeah, that's not too bad. And I'll say that, Coach, nothing happens by accident when it comes to ending up with trophies like that. And I first experienced just your hard work and how diligent you were as a recruiter back in the day at UCF. I still tell people all the time that the coach who recruited me the most, with the most, I would say, consistency. And whether it was a birthday, whether it was holidays, it was a handwritten letter from Coach Kleinert at UCF. And I can tell you that, Coach, UCF was never on my mind when I was at Birmingham, Alabama, looking at different SEC schools. But I tell you what, I was pretty close to taking a visit down to UCF just because of the dang hard work you were putting in just from the recruiting part. So, like, this is something that has been ingrained from you, like, right from the beginning of college golf is, like, hard work. I'm going to recruit the hardest of any of the other coaches and try to build a team that you feel like is good enough to be of the best. Well, I'm grateful for your kind words. I mean, it means a lot to me. I just, you know, growing up as a young person in North Carolina and watching my dad go to work every day and work so hard to give, you know, his sons with my brother and myself a better life than he ever had was something that you grow up as a kid. You're like, I'll never be like him, you know, as your parents. But now you look back on it, you learn so much just by watching the the actions and the drive and the ambitions that your mom and dad have. And I'm just very, very lucky and blessed to have them as parents. And I think that instilled the work that I have today. And I've been doing this, I'm a 26-year-old as a head coach. And looking back on those UCF days with fond memories and trying to build a program. And, you know, obviously coming to the SEC school at Auburn and trying to, you know, continue the legacy that Coach Griffin left and try to just kind of enhance that and grow young people's lives. It's funny, Coach. So when I called Auburn and Coach Griffin to tell him that I was committing to LSU and go to Baton Rouge because it was down between those two schools, I called Coach Griffin. I'm on the green at regionals in high school. And I remember calling him and saying, Coach, I'm going to go to LSU. And he said, well, I got something to tell you, too. I'm retiring. I was like, well, well, dang. I mean, I knew you were possibly eventually on your way out, which is a big reason why I wanted to potentially go to LSU. If I'd have known you were going to be their coach, my recruitment might have looked a little bit different. You know, my of course, my connections to Auburn with my my wife who cheered. There was a head cheerleader there, homecoming queen. So there's there was definitely some ties there. I could have been an Auburn Tiger if I'd have known you were going to be the coach. so you became smart you married an Auburn girl okay that's the best decision you've ever made definitely uh outkicked my coverage yeah and this is Auburn's a special place as you know it's a tight-knit community it's a great family and you know it's kind of a foodie town and oh yeah one of the most vibrant cities in the state of Alabama and it's been it's been great you know raising my daughters here it's been fantastic for us Thank you.