Bob Cooley is only the second coach in the history of mens golf at Ohio.
Ohio has only had two coaches in its golf history. One of them, current coach Bob Cooley, claims to be a lifetime Bobcat.
Cooley graduated with the class of 1971, and played at Ohio for three years. In 1988, he became the men's coach.
“I played here (1969), '70, and ‘71, I could only play three years because that was the rule back then," Cooley said. "We were very good, we won the (Mid-American Conference tournament) two of the three years."
After his stint in Ohio, he went to play on the Canadian Tour for one year, but soon came back to Athens to help his father run the family's printing business.
Spending his time back in southeast Ohio, he coached the Athens High School golf team for five years, and helped his mentor, Kermit Blosser, as an assistant coach at Ohio.
“He couldn’t see very well so I helped out," Cooley said. "So I helped him out for four or five years. I drove the kids, and when he decided to retire I took over in 1988.”
Looking back on his 28 years as the program's coach, Cooley said he has been pleased with the men that have come through the program.
Though he never had any of his golfers turn pro, he's groomed many of his players to become club pros. Some even work for golf companies, such as Callaway.
It’s Bobcat Open time
After Cooley started at the program, he realized that the program was in a need for money. That is when he came up with the idea for a fundraiser, and the Bobcat Open was born.
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“It started out at Athens Country Club, but then it got to big so we moved it to Columbus," Cooley said. "We have been at The Lakes, which is a fantastic course, so we have a great time. Counting the kids on the team we will have about 100 people there. We do alright, we usually raise 10 to 15,000 dollars.”
Looking towards the future, but building on the past
Coming off of a disappointing second day at the Marshall Invitational, Cooley chose to pick out some of the good things from the tournament.
“We felt great after the first day," Cooley said. "We were in second place, six under par, Peyton was playing very well; Ty was playing very well.
"I was hoping we would finish in the top two, but we just didn’t play very well. I knew we were capable, we had been playing some good qualifying and practice rounds. We got some talent, we just need to put together three rounds. We are going to have a good year.”
@Pete_Nakos96
pn997515@ohio.edu
