Auburn has a new men’s golf coach

    Clinard led UCF to NCAA Regional play in five of the last six
seasons, including 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009, and the Knights have
won six tournament titles in the past two seasons. Clinard has nine
tournament victories including two conference championships, coached one
All-American, four Academic All-Americans, two conference players of the
year, three individual conference champions and eight all-conference
selections at UCF.

    UCF won the NCAA Southeast Regional title by defeating No. 2
Georgia and No. 13 South Carolina this past year along with claiming the
school*s first Conference USA Championship. The Knights also won The
Hummingbird Intercollegiate and the Rio Pinar Invitational as Clinard
was named Conference USA Coach of the Year and the NCAA Southeast
Regional Coach of the Year.

    *Nick Clinard brings a tremendous amount of head coaching
experience as well as success both athletically and academically that
will enhance the Auburn men*s golf program,* said Jacobs. *Nick is
regarded as one of the nation*s top recruiters and shows a relentless
work ethic. I am very excited about the direction that Nick will bring
to our golf team.

    *I would like to thank the selection committee for all of
their efforts in doing their due diligence for Auburn.*

    Last season, Clinard coached a PING All-America second team
selection who was also named to the Golf Coaches Association of America
National five-man All-Freshman team and garnered Conference USA Golfer
of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors.

    Clinard*s 2008-09 team also featured a pair of first-team
All-Conference USA selections, two second-team All-Conference USA
members and two GCCA All-South Region team picks.

    In 2007-08, Clinard coached two All-Conference USA first-team
selections, the C-USA Newcomer of the Year, four C-USA Players of the
Week and David Johnson, the Florida State Amateur Player of the Year.

    After Clinard inherited a UCF program that was ranked 147th in
July 2001, his 2004 recruiting class was rated as the best in the nation
by Junior Golf Scoreboard. He signed two of the top 16 players
nationally in 2007, the two-time Florida State Junior Champion and the
2006 Florida State Golf Association Player of the Year in 2008 and three
top 50 players nationally in 2009.

    *It is a privilege to be the next head men*s golf coach at
Auburn University,* said Clinard. *Building on Coach (Mike)
Griffin*s legacy is an honor and something I am very excited about.
I welcome all the former players and supporters to become heavily
involved in Auburn Golf as we are going to compete and win championships
with quality student-athletes.

    *I appreciate Mr. Jacobs* trust in me to lead Auburn Men*s
Golf in the future and anxiously look forward to the opportunity.*

    In the Knights* four years in C-USA, UCF men*s golfers were
named to the league*s academic honor roll on 33 occasions.

    Clinard won Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year honors as
his UCF team won the 2004 A-Sun Conference Championship. A pair of
Knights won back-to-back medalist honors at the A-Sun Conference
Championship with Stefan Wistorf in 2003 and Barry Roof in 2004.

    Clinard played professional golf for five seasons from 1996-2001
on the NGA Hooters Tour as well as several Nike Tour and Canadian Tour
events prior to becoming head coach of UCF.

    He was also the assistant tournament director of the Jim McLean
Future Collegians World Tour from 1998-2001 and worked as an assistant
golf professional at the Hank Haney Golf Ranch in McKinney, Texas, from
1997-2000.

    The Gastonia, N.C., native graduated from Wake Forest University
in 1995 with a Bachelor*s degree in speech communication. He played
one year of collegiate golf at SMU before playing his final three years
at Wake Forest from 1992-95, where the Demon Deacons were ranked in the
top 10 in the nation all three seasons.