AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn’s two-time national champion men’s golf head coach Nick Clinard is one of four chosen for the 2026 Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame class, the GCAA announced Thursday.
The GCAA Hall of Fame Reception & Awards Dinner will be held on December 7 at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Also part of the 2026 class is Northwestern’s Pat Goss, New Mexico’s Jake Harrington and Eastern Florida State College’s Jamie Howell.
“I’m humbled and honored to be chosen to the GCAA Hall of Fame,” Clinard said. “To have my name alongside the best coaches in the history of college golf is quite an honor and privilege. Thank you to all my former players at UCF and Auburn University for being part of this journey. Thank you to the Hall of Fame Committee for this prestigious honor and I’m forever grateful for your kindness.”
Clinard, a three-time SEC Coach of the Year and 2024 National Coach of the Year, is in his 26th year overall as a head coach and 18th season with Auburn. Entering the 2026-27 season, Clinard and the Tigers are coming off one of the most decorated three-season stretches in NCAA Division I Men’s Golf history, bookended by two NCAA Championships.
Auburn has won 64 tournaments with Clinard at the helm with the 2023-24 season seeing the Tigers secure 10 tournament victories, including seven in a row to close out the year.
In addition to his two national championships (2023-24; 2025-26), Clinard has led the Tigers to three NCAA Regional crowns (2023 Auburn, 2024 Baton Rouge, 2025 Auburn) and two SEC championships (2017-18, 2023-24).
Clinard has had the opportunity to coach many outstanding student-athletes during his tenure, including the highly decorated Jackson Koivan, who turned pro following this past season. Koivun captured all three National Player of the Year awards (Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Fred Haskins) in 2024 and 2026, becoming the first golfer to do so twice. He was the first men’s golfer in its 51-year history to win the Roy F. Kramer SEC Male Athlete of the Year, earning the honor following the 2025-26 season. Koivun finished his career as a three-time SEC Player of the Year, a five-time All-American and the 2024 Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award winner.
Koivun capped his career on the Plains with six wins in 2025-26, setting an Auburn record with 11 career individual victories. In addition, Koivun averaged 68.20 strokes per round, breaking the NCAA record by more than four-tenths of a stroke.
Overall, Clinard has coached his student-athletes to 25 All-America honors, 51 PING All-Region selections, 56 All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman accolades and 64 tournament victories. Four student-athletes have earned three All-America honors during their time on the Plains under Clinard’s guidance – Jovan Rebula (2018-20); J.M. Butler (2022-24); Brendan Valdes (2023-25 and Koivun (2024-26).
Three Tigers have been selected to represent the United States at the Walker Cup – Blayne Barber (2011); Jackson Koivun (2025); Josiah Gilbert (2026) – and Clinard has 14 Palmer Cup selections. In addition, Clinard served as Walker Cup head coach for Team USA in 2025, leading the Americans to a win.
Prior to his time at Auburn, Clinard spent eight seasons as head coach at UCF, winning 10 tournaments with the Knights. That included the 2004 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship, the Conference USA Championship in 2009 and the 2009 NCAA Southeast Region, advancing to the NCAA Championship for the first time in 17 years.
With the Knights, he coached Barber (an eventual Auburn Tiger) to Conference USA Golfer and Freshman of the Year selections in spring of 2009. Current Auburn assistant David Johnson also competed for Clinard at UCF, winning 2008 Conference USA Newcomer of the Year.
While at the helm of the UCF program, Clinard captured two conference Coach of the Year honors and one Regional Coach of the Year award.
Prior to coaching, Clinard played professional golf for five seasons from 1996-2001 on the NGA Hooters Tour as well as several Nike Tour and Canadian Tour events. He was also the assistant tournament director of the Jim McLean Future Collegians World Tour from 1998-2001.
The Gastonia, North Carolina, native graduated from Wake Forest in 1995 with a bachelor’s in speech communication. He played one year of collegiate golf at SMU before playing his final three years at Wake Forest, where the Demon Deacons were ranked in the top 10 in the nation all three seasons.
Clinard selected for 2026 GCAA Hall of Fame class
