Neriah Brown enters his second season at the helm of the Mulerider Men's and Women's Golf programs at Southern Arkansas.
Brown, who is no stranger to Mulerider Golf, takes over the reins of a pair of programs that showed great improvement during previous head coach Ben Sanders' tenure during which Brown played and also served as a graduate assistant.
In three semesters as a member of the Mulerider Men's Golf team, Brown posted six rounds in the 70s including a career-best even-par effort of 71 in the opening round of the 2018 MWSU Holiday Inn Express Classic which proved to be his final collegiate round after the remaining rounds were cancelled due to inclement weather.
The following spring semester, Brown joined Sanders' staff as a graduate assistant and helped engineer one of the most successful spring campaigns in program history. The Mulerider Men appeared in NCAA postseason play for the first time in the program's Division II Era (1995-96), won a program-record three team events, set 11 program records and notched the two lowest team round scores ever. In the fall of 2019, the Muleriders captured their second-straight GAC Preview title and logged three top six finishes as a team amongst tough regional competition. In two tournaments before the COVID-19 shortened spring season of 2020, the Muleriders placed second at the Houston Classic and defended their Arkansas Collegiate title.
For the Mulerider Women, Brown has greatly aided the group over the past three semesters. During that time, the SAU Women recorded a pair of top five team finishes with a third-place finish at the Natural State Golf Classic and a fifth-place showing at the Diffee Ford Lincoln Invitational. At the HSU Spring Invite, the Muleriders recorded a 54-hole score of 954 (+90) to set a new three-round program record. Following the 2019 season, a pair of Mulerider Women in
Bailey Carr and
Mackenzy Turner were honored by the league as All-Great American Conference Honorable Mention selections.
Along with his playing career and past appointment as a graduate assistant, Brown brings a plethora of extensive knowledge surrounding the game of golf, swing training and development and golf event planning. Brown owns a deep understanding of multiple swing concepts, short game fundamentals, effective mental and physical training routines as well as power and distance maximization processes that will undoubtedly continue to benefit the Mulerider Men's & Women's Golf programs.
In addition to serving as a golf cart attendant and pro shop assistant at the Hot Springs Country Club since 2012, Brown trained with Leonardo Di Marino (developer of top junior golf program in Southeast region of United State over past five years) and worked with Philip Holley (multiple PGA Pro of the Year award winner) and Barry Howard (2014 Arkansas State Golf Association Hall of Fame Inductee).
Brown received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Financial Analysis from Southern Arkansas University as he graduated Cum Laude in May of 2018. This past spring, the Hot Springs, Arkansas, native, earned his Master of Business Administration from SAU. Additionally, Brown served as a graduate assistant for the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC) from September 2018 through May 2020.
