Terp Q&A: John Phillips

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With the 2022-23 season underway and many new faces on campus, we recently sat down with the new leader of Maryland men’s golf, head coach John Phillips, to learn more about him and why he chose to join the Terrapins.

Why did you decide to come to Maryland?

That's an easy and challenging question for many reasons. For starters, to be in the DMV area, the nation's capital, the amount of talent that's from this area, not to mention the fact that we have excellent academics here at the university. I said this early in the process: if you drew a circle 50-miles around College Park and kept all the talent from that area, you could win a national championship. So, we are right in the middle of some of the best golf in the country.

What is your recruiting philosophy?

To me, it's all about getting the right players. It’s maybe not necessarily picking the best player; it's about who will fit our culture of hard work and passion for the game. The most successful college players, who ultimately make it professionally, are the most passionate, not necessarily the most talented players.

How would you describe your coaching style?

I consider myself a player's coach. I’ve been very fortunate that the two head coaches I worked for, Matt Ball at VCU and Bowen Sargent at Virginia, are in-tune with their respective teams. Matt was a very ‘rah-rah’ motivational guy while technically proficient in teaching the game. Bowen is a very tenacious recruiter. I would say that I’m a mixture of the two of them. What got me into coaching was seeing young people achieve things that I couldn't in this game. So bringing in players who want to make it professionally while getting a good degree is important to me.

What makes college golf so special?

It's probably the one time in a golfer's life where they are really competing as a team. So this is a point in time when you have seven or eight teammates where you can practice, live, compete against them, and pick their brains. You can’t get that on professional tours. But your teammate may have other strengths that you don't have and vice versa. So it's an excellent time for you to learn as a player and learn from others, compete against others, and have your teammate's support.

What’s one word that best describes you?

Passionate. As a college coach, obviously, there's a lot of other things you have to do. But just in terms of the game, I love every aspect of golf. If I wasn't coaching, I would still be in golf no matter what because I love it so much.

What’s the vision for this next era of Maryland men’s golf?

First, the lifeblood of every program is recruiting, so for the past few weeks, that's been most of my focus since arriving in College Park. You can win a national championship if you retain the talent from this area. Secondly, engaging with the community. There are tons of golf courses in the area that are high caliber and engaging with the community, being a partner with the community will start to give us access to these golf courses. Lastly, with scheduling, with UCLA and USC joining the conference in a few years, are we going to be able to go out west? That's my goal. I've already reached out to schools out west to tee it up in the spring of 2024. So, it is about creating more of a national schedule, because Maryland is a national brand. I don't think we have to be confined to this little geographic region. That's where we want to retain our talent from, but then we're going to take them across the country to compete.

What should Maryland fans know about you that they don't already know?

I'll say that, first and foremost, I'm a total golf guy and a golf junkie. It's something that I asked recruits and I’m trying to find who else is a golf junkie because if the student-athletes that are coming in are golf junkies, we're going to get along fine. We're going to communicate well, we're going to understand the game together. So, I eat, sleep, and breathe golf.