RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On Thursday, the Great American Conference announced its 2024-25 Preseason Coaches Poll, and after a third-consecutive trip to the Central/Midwest Regional, the Mulerider Men's Golf squad is located at fourth among the nine programs in the league. Entering year five at the helm, the 2024 GAC Men's Golf Coach of the Year,
Neriah Brown's Muleriders receive 45 points from the league's coaches as the group has a 12-point lead on Arkansas Tech and is behind just three to Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Southern Arkansas made its third visit to the Central/Midwest Regional and fourth as a team. The Muleriders placed 17
th in the regional as they defeated in-region foe Winona State and Midwest Region opposition Findlay and McKendree. On the 6,944-yard course, SAU shot 862 in the 54-hole and par-70 tournament.
The Mulerider Men enter the 2024-25 seasons following the departure of two of the programs most influential players in the NCAA Era,
Caleb Miller and
Connor Harrington. Both Miller and Harrington capped off their careers in stellar fashion as Miller, the Cabot, Arkansas native, was named to the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) PING Division II All-Central Region Team for the second-consecutive year (5/21). Harrington, native to Magnolia, Arkansas, was tabbed to the College Sports Communicators At-Large All-American Third Team.
Even after the departure of two of the program's historically great golfers, Coach Brown brings back eight competitors who seek to continue the progressive road that has been set out for them.
In 2023-24, Brown's Mulerider Men made their third-consecutive trip to the Central/Midwest Regional after the lead-up of six top-five finishes during the Fall and Spring. That same troupe accounted for a pair of tournament victories amongst those top-five finishes with the Muleriders winning the Tulsa Cup (Oct. 23-24) and the SAU-hosted Arkansas Collegiate (Mar. 25-26).
The remainder of the top-five conclusions included finishing third at the NSU Men's Classic (Sep. 18-19), fifth at the Missouri Southern Fall Invitational (Sep. 25-26), second at the Battle for the Belt (Oct. 2-3), and second at the Natural State Classic (Apr. 15-16).
Assumedly, Southern Arkansas' performance in the 2024 Great American Conference Championships was well-received as the group hung around the top-three with a third-place finish in which the squad recorded 907 strokes (+43) on the 54-hole, par-72, and 6,826-yard course at The club of Forest Ridge.
The Fall season is on tap now for the Muleriders as the team will venture to Muskogee, Oklahoma to open the campaign at the NSU Men's Classic (Sep. 16-17) for the fourth-consecutive season. SAU will then travel back to the Shangri La Resort for the second year in-a-row (Sep. 23-24). Southern Arkansas will then head to the all-familiar Hot Springs Country Club to "battle" it out in the Henderson State-hosted Battle for the Belt (Sep. 30-Oct. 1). To attempt a prediction of this campaign's super regional, the Muleriders will then take to St. Joseph, Missouri where Missouri Western will host this year's Super Regional Preview at the St. Joseph Country Club (Oct. 7-8). To finalize the Fall schedule, SAU heads to the same spot Coach Brown secured his first team-win as the Muleriders Head Coach. The Rogers State-hosted Tulsa Cup is scheduled to end the Fall season, once again at the Indian Springs Country Club (Oct. 28-29).
