With Augusta State’s NCAA championship quarterfinal victory over Georgia Tech just finished late Friday afternoon, Jaguars sophomore golfer Patrick Reed stole the briefest of glances into the future.
“Our team’s been in the top five most of the year, but Oklahoma State’s been overshadowing us. What a dream final that would be.”
That final is now here, the two facing off at 9:30 this morning at The Honors Course.
But if Reed balked at the notion that this was a repeat of tiny Butler facing dynastic Duke in April’s NCAA basketball title game, Augusta State coach Josh Gregory sees striking similarities.
“Obviously, from a financial standpoint, being a Division II school (in everything but men’s and women’s golf), it’s hard to compete with the Georgias and Clemsons of the world when it comes to the dollar figures,” said Gregory, who’s completing his eighth year at the Georgia school once known as the Junior College of Augusta before becoming a part of the University of Georgia system in 1958.
“I just try to turn it into an advantage. Our kids constantly play with a chip on their shoulder. They constantly want to prove themselves. If you want it bad enough, you can win.”
Perhaps that’s why he said of Friday’s narrow, gritty victory over Tech, “It may seem like an upset from the outside looking in, but I don’t think it was. It was two evenly matched teams that played really well. My kids know they belong here, and they can play with anybody.”
From the outside looking in, it might seem an advantage playing only one sport at the Division I level. It might also seem a bit unfair, since financial resources could all be aimed at a singular success story.
But golf isn’t football or men’s basketball. And Augusta State isn’t the only school that competes in Division I in one sport only. Johns Hopkins has such an arrangement in lacrosse. Several schools — St. Cloud State, Colorado College, St. Lawrence, etc. — play Division I hockey, but nothing else.
“Josh and I are good friends, and this just proves you don’t have to have Florida-Ohio State-Oklahoma-type money to be successful,” said University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coach Mark Guhne. “But recruiting money is essential. Josh doesn’t have big-time Division I money, but he’s doing better than us.
“Just look at their $85,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van they came here in. Our women’s team’s got a van now, but that shows the commitment of their supporters. We’re catching up, though. But at least this year, we beat Georgia and Georgia Tech, but we never beat Augusta State. They’ve really done a great job.”
Now that job is one win away from doing what Butler couldn’t do against Duke at the Final Four — win it all.
Nor does the 35-year-old Gregory — just one year older than Butler’s Brad Stevens — sound like a coach willing to concede anything to the Cowboys and their 10 NCAA men’s titles.
“We have one more match against the best program of all time,” he said. “We have a chance to win a national championship, so we’re going to take advantage of it.”