WETRICH NAMED NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR
Ottumwa, IA – After guiding the Indian Hills Men’s Golf team to its seventh National Championship in program history, head coach Michael Wetrich has been named the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I Dave Williams National Coach of the Year. The award, presented by Golf Pride Grips, was announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Wednesday morning.
In his first full season at the helm of the Indian Hills Men’s Golf team, Wetrich guided the Warriors to an unprecedented run at the 2023 NJCAA DI Men’s Golf National Championship at Sand Creek Station Golf Course in Newton, KS to claim the program’s sixth national title since 2011 and seventh overall. The Warriors fired a 25-under, 1,127 to win by 11 strokes.
Along with the team title, the Warriors also boasted the individual national champion in Jose Miguel Ramirez (Maturin, Venezuela/Alejandro De Humboldt), the sixth individual national champion in school history. Indian Hills led the tournament wire-to-wire with round scores of 278-284-280-285. The Warriors were the only team in the field to shoot 285 or better in all four rounds.
Along with Ramirez, Gaspar Glaudas (Sainte Tulle, France/Shattuck St-Mary’s) and Taimur Malik (Nairobi, Kenya/Braeburn Garden Estate) earned NJCAA All-American honors for placing inside the top-18. Ramirez and Glaudas became just the second set of Indian Hills teammates to place in the top-3 at the national tournament in school history – Glaudas placed third overall.
The Warriors also collected a number of individual accolades throughout the year under Wetrich’s tutelage. Ramirez was named the 2023 NJCAA DI Arnold Palmer Award winner while Glaudas collected NJCAA DI PING All-Ameircan honors, a berth on the NJCAA DI All-Central District Team, and was one of five individuals named to the 2023 NJCAA All-Freshman team. Glaudas also earned the April SwingU GCAA NJCAA DI Men’s Golfer of the Month honor. Indian Hills also tallied eight Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Athlete of the Week honors across six different golfers.
Wetrich, a native of Ottumwa, IA, led the Warriors to five team titles on the year, including the national championship. Indian Hills won a pair of titles in September and captured the Prairie Dunes Collegiate and the Bethany College Classic in April while finishing second at the NJCAA Central District Championship. In total, competing against primarily four-year universities throughout the regular season, the Warriors finished in the top-five in 10 of its last 11 tournaments on the year. Four different Warriors combined to win five individual titles on the year.
Wetrich becomes the fourth head coach in school history to win the NJCAA DI Men’s Golf Dave Williams National Coach of the Year, joining Nathan Weant (2018), Roby Murray (2017), and Mike Hagen (2014, 2012).