MONROE, La. -- ULM men's golf
head coach Erik Hsu has been promoted to director of golf effective
immediately, ULM director of athletics Bobby Staub announced on Friday. Hsu's
promotion is pending final approval by the University of Louisiana System Board
of Supervisors.
"Erik has done an outstanding
job with our men's program and has a great vision for the future of both the
men's and women's programs," Staub said. "Erik has been active cultivating
relationships within the community and is well respected by his peers. We are
looking forward to the future of our golf programs under his leadership."
In his first season guiding
the men's program, Hsu led the Warhawks
to their first winning season (73-60) since 2005-06. The Warhawks had four
top-five finishes (three in the top three), including a second place finish at
the Sun Belt Conference Championship, the best showing at the tournament
in program history.
"I want to take this
opportunity to thank Bobby Staub and President Bruno for giving me the
opportunity to become the director of golf at ULM," Hsu said. "I look forward
to my new role. With the community support we experience here, I know that ULM
is a special place and I am very excited about where our two programs are
headed. I look to continue to grow the many great traditions and events we hold,
as well as continuing the many great relationships our golf program has developed
with the people and facilities of this community. It is my goal to make ULM one
of the elite and nationally recognized programs in the country."
Last season Hsu helped guide Gustaf Kocken to one of the most
successful freshman seasons by a ULM golfer in the program's 58-year history.
Kocken won his first individual title in just his second collegiate start and
picked up his second-straight medalist honor two weeks later to become the
first Warhawk to do so in over 20 years.
In all, Kocken had a string of six-straight top-10 finishes, four of
which were in the top-three, and tied for medalist honors one more time before
falling in a playoff. Hsu played a huge role in Kocken's success, which earned
him the program's first-ever Sun Belt Men's Golf Freshman of the Year award as
well as Louisiana's Freshman Golfer of the Year honor.
Hsu also coached Kocken to an 11th place finish at the NCAA Southwest
Regional Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., the highest individual showing by a
Warhawk at the NCAA National Championships in ULM's history.
During the fall season alone, Hsu led the Warhawks to two third-place
finishes at the Oral Roberts Invitational and HBU's Intercollegiate
Invitational while collecting fifth and sixth place finishes at the Kansas
Invitational and Sam Hall Intercollegiate. The success continued in the spring
with another fifth-place finish at the ASU Red Wolf Intercollegiate.
Hsu, a four-year letterwinner for the Warhawks from 2000-03, was named
to the All-Southland Conference Team in 2003. During his ULM career he had
multiple top finishes including a 10th-place performance at the 2002 Southland
Conference Championship.
He played professionally on the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series in 2008
before moving on to work as a sales consultant for AT&T in Brookhaven, Miss.
Before joining the Adams Golf Pro Tour Series, Hsu won the 2007 Baton
Rouge Invitational.
