Zachary Toste and Cory Sciupider sign letters to attend Notre Dame
One of the nation's top golf teachers, Jim Kubinski completed his seventh season as head coach of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's golf team in 2010-11. Having assumed the post on Jan. 28, 2005, Kubinski is just the sixth head coach in the 80-year history of the Irish men's golf program. He inherited and subsequently added to a storied tradition that includes the 1944 NCAA national championship, 19 top-10 NCAA Championship finishes and 34 NCAA postseason appearances.
In his first seven seasons leading the Irish, Kubinski has won three BIG EAST Championships (2005, 2006 & 2011) and added two BIG EAST runner-up finishes (2007 & 2010). He also has helped Notre Dame to a total of nine tournament championships and his players have collectively earned five PING All-Midwest Region honors and 17 All-BIG EAST accolades.
It didn't take long for Kubinski to make his mark at Notre Dame. In his first tournament at the helm of the Irish, just one month after setting foot on campus, Kubinski guided Notre Dame to the championship of the 2005 NOKIA Sugar Bowl Tulane Invitational, winning the title on the first hole of a sudden death playoff against UNC-Wilmington. It was the first of two tournament crowns in the 2004-05 season for Notre Dame and made Kubinski the first Irish men's golf coach since 1961 to win the opening event of his career. That season, Rev. Clarence Durbin, C.S.C., led the Irish to a 23.5-6.5 dual-match win over Western Michigan.
That was the start of what has been a solid seven-year run for the Notre Dame skipper, who piloted the Irish to consecutive BIG EAST Conference titles in 2005 and 2006, and back-to-back NCAA regional appearances both years, before accomplishing the same feat again in 2011. What's more, Notre Dame has regularly collected votes in the Golf World Top 25 coaches' poll and has risen as high as No. 12 in the Golfweek rankings (Oct. 2, 2005) under Kubinski. He has an overall record of 497-464-17 (.517).
Under Kubinski's guidance, Notre Dame has registered 33 top-five finishes, including eight tournament titles, two of which came in sudden-death playoffs. The Irish also have carded the top-six single-season stroke averages in school history under Kubinski, including a 291.50 in 2010-11, the best mark in program history. In addition, Notre Dame has fired 11 of the top 12 single-round scores in school history, including impressive final-round postseason efforts at the 2005 NCAA Central Regional (282, +2) and the 2006 BIG EAST Championship (school-record 272, -16). The latter score highlighted a 12-stroke comeback victory over Louisville, the second-best rally in the storied history of the Irish men's golf program, and led to Notre Dame's selection as the Golfweek National Team of the Week (May 1, 2006) for the first time in program history.
Individually, Kubinski has produced impressive results with several Irish players in a short span of time. Cole Isban became the first three-time PING All-Midwest Region selection (2005-07) in program history under Kubinski's tutelage, and graduated in May 2007 as the school record holder for single-season stroke average (72.71 in 2006-07) and is still the program's career stroke average leader with a 73.76 mark.
Josh Sandman, a 2008 PING All-Midwest Region selection and two-time all-BIG EAST pick, took up where Isban left off. Working with Kubinski, Sandman posted a 73.90 career stroke average in 111 rounds for the second best mark in program history. He also broke new ground, becoming the first Notre Dame golfer ever chosen as an individual qualifier for NCAA regional play, earning a berth in the 2008 NCAA Central Regional. He came back from injuries to play an integral role with the Irish in 2009-10. Sandman won the 2009 Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic for his first career win and graduated with four of the top-30 single season stroke averages in the Irish record books.
Doug Fortner, a 2010 graduate, also experienced great success under Kubinski's tutelage. He played 117 rounds with the Irish, carded a 74.59 career stroke average (eighth-best since 1954) and saw 102 of his rounds counted towards team scoring. As a senior, Fortner was one of four unanimous selections to the 2010 All-BIG EAST team as he became just the third player in program history to earn all-conference honors on three occasions - joining Mark Baldwin and Cole Isban in that select group. He also fired a seven-under par 64 in the opening round of the 2010 FAU Spring Break Championship to tie Baldwin for the lowest to-par round in school history.
Even though Sandman and Fortner, staples of the lineup over Notre Dame's past few seasons, have graduated, Kubinski has proved adept at restocking the Irish roster with talent. Max Scodro, Chris Walker and Tom Usher became the top players for the Irish in 2010-11,highlighted by Scodro earning medalist honors at the 2011 BIG EAST Championship (212, -1) and earning BIG EAST Player of the Year, the first time any Irish golfer has received the honor. Along with Scodro, Walker and BIG EAST Freshman of the Year Niall Platt earned all-BIG EAST honors for the year. The trio played in every round for the Irish on the season. Usher was the other Irish player to earn medalist honors during the season, taking home the title at the St. Mary's Invitational. With the experience of Scodro, Walker and Usher augmented by the talent of Platt, Kubinski will look to lead the Irish to another historic season in 2011-12.
Kubinski was nominated for the 2007 GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teachers List, honoring the nation's preeminent golf instructors. Previous winners of the prestigious designation include Hank Haney (former teacher for 10-time PGA Tour Player of the Year Tiger Woods), Butch Harmon (swing coach for PGA Tour great and two-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson) and David Leadbetter (legendary coach for such PGA Tour luminaries and major tournament champions as Ernie Els, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman). After leading his team back to the NCAAs in 2011, Kubinski was selected as the BIG EAST Coach of Year for the first time in his head coaching tenure with the Irish.
Kubinski was a three-year golf letterman and two-year team captain at Springfield (Mass.) College before graduating in 1993. A two-time all-Northeast 10 Conference selection in 1991 and 1992, he also received the Springfield College Maroon Club Award for academic and athletic achievement in 1992. His playing experience continued on the North Atlantic Tour where he tied for sixth place at the `95 Boston Open, and he also competed in the Carolinas Section PGA.
Born May 4, 1970 in Springfield, Mass., Kubinski and his wife, Sarah, live in Granger, Ind. The couple has two children. Their daughter, Kelly, was born in September of 2007 and enjoys singing the Notre Dame Victory March. They celebrated the birth of their son, James, in May 2010.
