STARKVILLE — To see how collegiate golf has changed in Clay Homan’s 14 years at Mississippi State, all he needs to do is look out the back window of his office.
Homan’s office at the MSU golf facility in West Point, neighboring Old Waverly Golf Club, sits in the facility that remains state of the art, as it was the subject of over $2 million in 2014. The back of Homan’s office over looks the putting area with multiple greens.
One of them is built to resemble the greens at Pinehurst in North Carolina, where the famous No. 2 course has hosted three U.S. Opens since 1999. Another, the facility’s largest, is built in the outline of the state of Mississippi.
Therein lies how college golf is different from what it was in 2004: financial commitment.
That being the case, Homan feels continued success for the MSU men’s golf program is there for the taking as he retires after 14 years as its head coach.
“People are invested in golf now. People care about it,” Homan said.
His retirement comes now for two reasons, both family-related. First, for his children, all three of them under the age of 10.
“Competition times become four and five days away when you travel, play a practice round then play a 36- or 54-hole event,” Homan said, adding the year-round requirements of recruiting.
The other is his father, who has run Tri-State Lumber Co. in Homan’s hometown of Fulton for decades. With his father nearing the end of his working career, Homan thought this to be the best timing to get involved with the family company that sits on Homan Drive.
That being said, Homan is, “not disassociating with Mississippi State by any means.” Homan, a MSU grad, said he looks forward to coming back for football weekends and helping his successor however possible.
That successor will have a standard to live up to.
Homan’s teams appeared in the NCAA Tournament five times, getting through a regional to the NCAA Championships once in 2008. That was also the year MSU finished fifth in the SEC Tournament, its best showing in that event in the decade. The next year, MSU won twice in the spring before qualifying for the NCAA Tournament again, a two-year run Homan identified as one of his proudest moments.
That is, until he retired.
“When you have players calling you telling you they wouldn’t be where they are today without their experiences here, without what was done for them here,” Homan said, that’s the greatest feeling in the world as a coach.”
Homan also brought MSU its first host tournament, beginning the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship in 2013.
“Coach Homan is a prime example of success,” MSU women’s gold coach Ginger Brown-Lemm said. “He runs an incredible program and it’s just amazing how far it’s come.”
Such is evidenced in Homan’s final act as MSU’s coach: going with freshman Peng Pichaikool to the NCAA Tournament, where he qualified as an individual. Pichaikool will play in the Baton Rouge Regional beginning May 15.
As MSU announced Homan’s retirement, it also announced a, “national search,” for his replacement. Brown-Lemm is both hopeful and confident athletic director John Cohen will find, “as character-filled a man and leader,” as Homan.
Whoever it is, Homan has an idea of what can be accomplished at MSU.
“There is no ceiling.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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