UDM Mercy Coach Mark Engel shares about his team, taking Detroit area places and their program

In our quest to keep up with the movers and shakers in Michigan golf, we try and talk to people that make things happen in our state. One of the best golf programs at the collegiate level is at UDM. Their coach Mark Engel has brought the Titans several Horizon League Championships and he has the policy of signing Michigan area players as often as possible.Kyle Gaines (Brother Rice) and Spencer Lendzion (Stoney Creek) are two of his recent signings.

Mark Engel is to the right being interviewed

Aaron Knutson of ND Prep

Brendan Leonard

Coach Engel

Q-  Mark, I had no idea when I started covering golf that University of Detroit Mercy had a golf team. It turns out, your program has a long storied history. UDM has won seven championships in the Horizon League. How have the Titans done this under your direction?

It starts with the high school players who 'bought in' to the vision and goals I had for the program when I took over as head coach. We had to move up in so many ways. Recruiting was so important -- of course, it still is. We needed more good players and, as we got them, we needed to improve our schedule to make us even more attractive to even more good players. We needed to become contenders in the Horizon League before we could become champions. When we actually won the conference championship in 1999, my first as head coach, we started talking about how we could win again, and then get ourselves to the NCAA Regionals, and we did that for the first time in 2001. Along the way, we were able to move to Detroit Golf Club as our home club, and to be able to practice and play there every day is an absolute home run for our team. We got our foot in the door at a lot of other tremendous courses like Prestwick Village, where we host a tournament every year. Not too many teams are as lucky as we are when it comes to where we play and practice. So it took a lot of work, a lot of talking and a lot of good people who helped make the dream come alive. Of course, over the entire time I've coached the team, we've always been able to offer our student-athletes a great education. That element of UDM has never changed.

Now, if you want to say we've climbed to the top of the mountain, that's OK, but we want to stay there. We've won more conference championships than any men's golf team in Horizon League history and I'm really proud of that. But we have to keep working hard to win the next one. The guys have accepted the challenge, year in and year out. They know we're going to play a tough schedule every year, on great courses and against great teams. This year we played against teams from the Big Ten, the SEC, the Big 12 and so on. We played difficult courses that have hosted PGA and USGA championships. And I think that helps make the team better and it gets us ready for the Horizon League Championship, where we can always expect a tough course, and hopefully for the NCAA Regionals after that.



Q- The Titans took third place in the 2013 Horizon League tournament held in April. What areas specifically do you see the Titans working on over the summer to get back on track to win championship number eight?

We counted on two All-Conference players, Simon Reyers and Brendan Leonard, at the top of our lineup but, basically, we were a very young team in 2012-13. So the experience the young guys picked up last year will be invaluable this season. I think Al McGuire, the great basketball coach at Marquette, said this: 'The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores.' That's probably true about us. The young guys learned how to travel and stay caught up in school, how to play on tougher courses and in tougher fields than they've regularly seen before, how to manage the courses better, how to play in all kinds of spring and fall weather. Hopefully the young guys take their experience from last season with them into their summer tournaments and play well, and bring confidence and their 'A' Games back with them to school in August.

Each of the guys have different things they're working on this summer, whether it's tweaking their swing a bit, working on their short game, getting a little more tournament experience and so on. Hopefully all of them will get something productive out of the summer that they can bring back with them in August, because I know they all want to be in the lineup when we leave for the first fall tournament, the University of Missouri's invitational at Turning Stone Resort. Simon Reyers always said it well before he graduated this year, how he looked at playing on our team as a 12-month commitment, and he always worked hard on his game to be ready when he came back to UDM after summer vacation. I hope all of the guys keep following his example.

Q- Players are always trying to get your attention in order for recruiting. Do you like to get videos, consult rankings or what gets your attention as you start recruiting kids?

The internet and email has changed so much when it comes to recruiting. A lot of coaches get resumes and videos emailed all of the time and I'm no different. They're all helpful to me because it shows some interest in our program by the player or he wouldn't have written in the first place. They help in evaluating prospects, sure. But not everyone is going to write, so I have to do my homework, too. Rankings do help, although they may not be exact gauges of players' abilities because they all don't play in the same tournaments. I guess scores are the biggest attention-getters. If I see someone has been playing well, or if I hear about someone, then I have to find out how to write to them and I have to get out and see them play. At some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, I have to find out about their academics, like where their grades stand in high school and what they want to study in college to make sure there would be a match with UDM.

At the same time, our Sports Information staff really has to be on its toes in keeping our team's web site up to date and full of information about our team that prospective student-athletes want to know. It's like the front door to our program. Everybody should be able to walk in and find what they want to see. The web site has to include stories and information, sure, but we also have photo galleries and interviews, and also videos on things like our home course and our indoor practice center. So we try to do different things to get future players' attention as well.

Q- You have a very noticeable presence at many tournaments? Within NCAA rules, you basically can watch golfers but not much else. What do you hope to see?

You're right, there are so many regulations on who we can talk to as coaches, and when we can do it. But I still can get a lot out of being at high school and junior golf tournaments even being limited. Certainly I look for a good swing, and especially a consistent swing. I mean, Jim Furyk's swing may not be textbook, but it's repeating and it works. How long does a player hit it off the tee? We play 7,000-yard courses in college, and players can't be hitting 3-wood or hybrid into every green if they're going to be successful. I look at their short game and their putting. You're not going to hit every green, but you have to be able to save par as often as possible. And I look at temperament, how someone reacts to a bad shot or a bad hole. The guy who is so upset that he can't get over a bad hole isn't going to help himself, or his team.

Simon Reyers


Q- I have noticed that you like recruiting Detroit area players. You currently have Aaron Knutson from Notre Dame Prep and now Kyle Gaines from Brother Rice and Spencer Lendzion from Stoney Creek HS in Rochester have signed. What is your philosophy of taking Detroit area players?

The Metro Detroit area is usually as strong as any in the State when it comes to the number of college golf prospects available every year, which helps a lot. More to choose from, I guess. In Oakland County, like the guys you mentioned, there are so many good high school players and so many of them seem to benefit every year from playing beyond high school tournaments, whether it's the AJGA, the Adams Tour, the Golfweek Junior events or some of the others. All of that experience can make them better players and, in turn, that makes them better college prospects.

In the case of our guys, friends recruiting friends has helped me a lot. Kyle knows Aaron well, so having a friend on the team made UDM a great option for Kyle along with all of the positive elements that make up our golf program and the University. And Spencer knows Kyle well, so same thing, he became that much more interested in UDM knowing Kyle was with us. I've always said that it doesn't matter where a player is from, as long as he's a good person, a good student and a good golfer. These guys happen to be from Detroit, and they definitely fit the mold. Plus they're all Red Wings fans, so I'll have a little help when it comes to having to listen to a certain Maple Leafs fan on our team.

Q- As for Spencer Lendzion, what sold you on his ability to be a future Titan?

Spencer works hard and, right off the bat, it looked like he was going to fit in well with the team. That's important. He had a great campus visit and really hit it off well with the guys when he hung out with them at a Titans basketball game. He started competitive golf a little later than some maybe, but he's gotten experience quickly. He's had some good finishes and winning a regional tournament in Kentucky last summer did a lot for his resume and his confidence, too. He cares a lot about how his high school team has been doing all spring and I know that will carry over to college. He wants to help us every time he can.

Kyle Gaines is like that, too. He can't wait to play his first tournament at UDM but first, this spring has been all about helping Brother Rice be as good as it could. Last summer was a breakout time for Kyle, and he started seeing how good he can really be. The confidence he's gaining will always pay off. Between Kyle and Spencer and a third freshman who is coming in this year -- Matt Gallupe, who's from Nova Scotia -- I think we have three guys who will play a lot of great golf for us and be great UDM students and teammates.

Q- Finally, I understand a NCAA golfer brought attention to herself by simply washing her car. Did you have to talk to your players about these types of things when they come up?

That's an amazing story. The young lady looked like she was going to be in violation of the 'extra benefit' rules because she used a university hose and water to wash her car. Wow. But it goes to show, we have to be really careful to make sure that student-athletes are treated like regular students in so many ways. That's the way the NCAA wants it and the way it should be. Our team has a meeting with our compliance officer every year before we even have our first practice and things like this are always mentioned. The student-athletes have to be on their toes and hopefully they ask before they act if something comes up that even remotely seems like an 'extra benefit' which would violate NCAA rules.

As a coach, I have to be on top of the rules, too. Like who I can talk to and when. Or who I can write to and when. If a prospective student-athlete texts me, I could only email him back and say I can't text him until after he signs with us, otherwise it's a violation. I have to be careful not to text him that message, even though it would be so easy to hit the reply button. The NCAA Manual is big and cumbersome, but we have to know it and follow its rules. It's no different than following the Rules of Golf. You have to do it the right way.