Michael Beard

The 2020 National Coach of the Year and the head coach of the 2021 NCAA champions, Michael Beard has restored the Pepperdine men’s golf program to elite status and has the Waves poised for postseason success for years to come. He begins his 10th season as head coach in 2021-22.

Beard, a five-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year and a two-time GCAA West Region Coach of the Year, took the Waves to the pinnacle in 2021 when Pepperdine captured its first national championship since 1997.

During his tenure, the Waves have won 16 tournaments and had 16 medalists, which includes four WCC team titles and four WCC individual champions. Seven different Waves have been named All-Americans, and Sahith Theegala was the unanimous National Player of the Year in 2020, winning the Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus awards.

With Beard in charge, there have been 25 All-WCC honors (19 on the first team) and 13 WCC All-Academic recipients (nine on the first team).

Under Beard, the Waves have posted 10 of the top 11 18-hole team scores in program history, and the program’s seven-best 54-hole scores. He’s coached eight of the top-10 players in career scoring average at Pepperdine.

Pepperdine has made six consecutive NCAA Regional trips since 2015 and has made it to the NCAA finals three times.

The Waves won their program-record sixth tournament of the season at the 2021 NCAA Championships, held at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Pepperdine came in third place in stroke play to advance to match play for the first time in program history. The Waves beat the three highest-ranked teams in the country – Florida State, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma – to win the title.