Mike O'Hara, the men's golf coach at Mount Vernon Nazarene College, has announced his resignation after seven seasons as the head coach of the program.
O'Hara, who led the Cougars to a 554-226-5 overall record (.709 winning percentage) during his time at the school, is moving to Macon, Georgia, where he will serve as the assistant golf pro at the Barrington Hall Country Club which boasts NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon as one of its members. O'Hara will also be working as the assistant golf coach at Mercer University, an NCAA Division I program that competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
"I have really enjoyed my time working at MVNC," said O'Hara, who guided the program to only its second trip to the NAIA National Tournament in 2001 where the squad finished twelfth. "The program has really progressed over the past few years, and the next coach should have no trouble continuing the success that we have started. These new opportunities were just too nice for me to pass up at this time."
"Mike has done an outstanding job with our golf program over the past seven years," said MVNC athletic director Scott Flemming. "He has been able to keep the team at a very competitive level. He has also invested his time in helping these young men grow and mature as people. His Christian faith has been a priority, and you can see the evidence of that in the way he conducts his program. I will miss Mike as our coach and personally as a friend. We all wish him the very best as he takes on a new challenge."
This will mark the first coaching change at MVNC since 1998 when Steve Gregory took over as the women's basketball coach when Eric Ely took an assistant coach position at Oral Roberts University. MVNC, which is a dual member of the NAIA and the National Christian College Athletic Association, offers eight varsity sports (men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, men's golf, baseball, and softball) which compete in the American Mideast Conference.
