Amos named finalist for 2018 GCAA Jan Strickland Award

April 18, 2018

• GCAA Release

NORMAN, Okla. — Associate head men’s golf coach Jake Amos was named one of six finalists for the prestigious Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced Wednesday afternoon. The award is presented annually by the GCAA to the NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA or NJCAA assistant coach that has excelled in working with their student-athletes both on the course and in the classroom.

“Jake has done an outstanding job for us the past two years and it’s an honor for both him and our program that he’s been named a finalist for such a prestigious award,” said head coach Bill McDonald. “His work with our current players and his relentless recruiting will impact our team for years to come.”

The Leicester, England, native is the third assistant under McDonald to be named a finalist for the Jan Strickland Award. Alex Hamilton, currently the head coach at Wofford, was a finalist his final two seasons at Carolina (2015-16). Michael Burcin, the current head coach at Wisconsin, won the award in 2010 after being named a finalist twice. Amos, who has spent time at Augusta (alma mater), USF and Purdue, was a finalist in 2015 while on staff with the Boilermakers.

“It’s a great honor to be nominated alongside such a distinguished group of fellow assistant coaches who I have a lot of respect for,” said Amos. “Everyone on the list deserves to win it in my opinion. I’ve now been named a finalist for this great award at two different schools, and I’m very proud of that.”

Amos is in his second season with the Gamecocks and has enjoyed an abundance of success since arriving on campus. During his time in Columbia, he’s been instrumental in the development of All-American Keenan Huskey and junior Scott Stevens, two of the top players in the Southeastern Conference. This year, he’s helped guide the Gamecocks to five top-five finishes in the team’s 10 events, including a win at the 2017 Camden Collegiate Invitational that was followed up by a runner-up finish at the 2017 Ka’anapali Collegiate Classic in Hawaii.

The duo of Huskey and Stevens earned All-SEC and PING All-Southeast Region Honors a season ago after posting the third and fifth lowest single-season scoring averages in program history. They each rank No. 1 and No. 3 currently on the Carolina career scoring average list.

Academically, all 10 Gamecock golfers were on the fall honor roll. Juniors Ryan Stachler and Will Miles each landed on the President’s List with 4.0 GPAs. Five more golfers landed on the Dean’s List (3.5 GPA or higher). Last year, Carolina took home another GCAA Team Academic Award and was one of 21 schools to earn President’s Special Recognition (3.5 GPA or higher).

In Amos’ first season (2016-17), a young Gamecock team made its 10th NCAA appearance in the last 11 seasons at the NCAA West Lafayette Regional. The Gamecocks finished in the top-five in eight of their 12 events (T-5th in program history), including the program’s third straight title at the Hootie At Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. The team took fifth in the stroke play portion of the SEC Championship, advancing to the first ever SEC Match Play. Carolina finished the year with the second best single-season team scoring average (286.51). Huskey and Stevens had standout individual seasons, and freshman Jamie Wilson came on strong in the spring, starting every tournament and winning SEC Freshman Golfer of the Week twice.

The Gamecocks tee it up at the 2018 SEC Championship next week in St. Simons Island, Ga. (April 25-29) at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course. First round action begins on Wednesday afternoon. The teams will play 54-holes, and the top-eight after stroke play advance to the second ever SEC Match Play to determine the conference champion.