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Brad Rickel, men's and women's golf coach at Gonzaga University during the 1998-99 season, returned to the Bulldogs for the 2007-08 season as the women's golf coach after eight years in the same capacity at the University of Idaho. And the Bulldogs have made great strides in just two short seasons. In his first season back the Bulldogs won the UC Santa Cruz Invitational and freshman Sage Suffecool captured medalist honors. Freshman Rachel Sibbitt finished 11th at the West Coast Conference Tournament, the highest Bulldog finisher. Sibbitt tied for second in the 2009 WCC Championship and earned All-WCC honors, and Rickel's recruiting brought in two more top junior players for the 2009 season in Stephanie Corey and Jessica Howe. Corey won the 15th annual Washington State Golf Association Women's Amateur in the summer of 2008. It didn't take Corey and Howe long to prove their worth as they finished with the top two stroke averages on the team in 2009, Howe with a 77.6 and Corey with a 78.2. The Bulldogs set a school record with a 311.9 team average. Gonzaga set a 54-hole tournament record with its 896 at the CU Heather Farr Memorial and a 930 at the Bulldog and Eagle Invitational ranks sixth in school history. Rickel built the Vandals into one of the top programs on the West Coast. In 2007 the Vandal women captured the Western Athletic Conference title, placed 12th at the NCAA Regionals and had an individual advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Vandals qualified either an individual or a team for the NCAA Regionals seven of the eight years he was at the helm of the men's and women's programs. The women earned regional qualifying in 2001 and 2002, with the men advancing to the Regionals in 2000 after capturing the Big West Conference title. The women won the Big West crown in 2001. In his eight years at Idaho the Vandal women won 19 tournaments with 16 runner-up finishes, while the men captured eight tournament titles and were runner-up seven times. He had 21 women and seven men earn either first or second team all-conference honors. Off the course he had 29 conference all-academic selections and five academic All-Americans. And Rickel thinks he can raise Gonzaga to the same level. "My last year at Gonzaga was the year the men's basketball team went to the NCAA Elite Eight and the athletic department has taken off since. I left before it got going, but I've watched it grow. I've always been a Zags fan and it as fun to watch the department keep growing and growing," Rickel said. "It's a completely different place then when I left." Rickel has also taken his knowledge to the professional level as the instructor for Spokane-born Ryan Benzel at the PGA Championship each of the past three years. The native of Spokane who attended Gonzaga Prep, Gonzaga University for two years and graduated from Eastern Washington University holds a Class A PGA Professional status. He has golf course experience, working at Spokane's Manito Golf and Country Club as first assistant PGA Golf Professional from 1994-98 and at the Creek at Qualchan in Spokane as assistant PGA Golf Professional in 1999. His wife, Karen, is an assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Physical Education at Gonzaga. They are the parents of Darby (2002) and Madison (2005). |
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