Then it fell on hard times. Suddenly it found itself falling deep toward the bottom of the top 100. It was time for a change.
UTEP athletic director Bob Stull, who reels in top coaches like an expert angler does fish, seems to have landed just the man who can restore the Miners to their previous high golf loft:
Scott Lieberwirth.
BOB STULL had more than 60 applicants for the job but found this gem of a golf coach close to home.
Lieberwirth coached New Mexico State to six – count them – six conference golf championships and the same number of NCAA appearances, the last coming just last year. He was named conference Coach of the Year five times.
And he’s only 32 years old!
If he could produce such success at New Mexico State think what he can do at UTEP (uh, no offense intended, Aggies. You know we in El Paso love you).
NOT THAT Lieberwirth’s success as a player and a coach is surprising. Golf has been part of his life since he was a little tyke. He was six years old when he first started going out to golf courses with his father, Eric, a low handicap golfer. The sport naturally caught Scott’s interest and he started swinging a club himself and watching golf on television.
He excelled in high school with help from a PGA professional well known in El Paso, Ronnie Doan. And he really got his game going at New Mexico State under coach Larry Beem, father of PGA winner Rich Beem.
Scott, who was born in Carlsbad, N.M., was 1999 Big West Conference champion, 2000 Big West most valuable player and Golf Coaches Association of America Academic All-American.
SCOTT SPEAKS highly of his college mentor. “Outside of my father, Larry Beem has had the most influence in my life,” Scott says.
Scott tried professional golf and found some success. He shot a course record 61 at the Hooters Tour event in Indiana. “But,” he says, “I decided to go into coaching.”
And who would recommend him for the coaching position at New Mexico State? Yes, Larry Beem. Scott succeeded his hero.
WHAT WILL Scott be looking for at UTEP? Well, good players, of course. But he says he learned, as many have before him, that it takes more than just hitting a ball well to be a winner. He says he looks deeper. He can teach a player how to swing but, he says, “you can’t teach some things, like motivation. You can teach touch but not great touch. I look for a person’s background. I look to see if he’s a good student. That’s very important. Being a good student means a player knows how to manage his time and has good work habits.”
He says he learned a lot about golf just by watching the country’s great players and encourages his players to do so, too.
“There are some things you can control and you can help players to believe they can be winners,” he adds.
SCOTT AND his wife, Heather, have a two year old daughter, Rylie.
The Miners will open their golf season Sept. 12 in a tournament in Denver. Can Scott return the UTEP golf program to its former lofty heights?
He says modestly, and frankly, “I have no idea.” But he left no doubt that he’s going to do his best. And if past performances are any indication, it would be wise to bet that he will.
Veteran sports journalist and author Ray Sanchez welcomes suggestions for his column.