Fresno State's Matt Ryan and Nevada's Taylor Coffman were named Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars as announced today by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
To be eligible for Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar staus an individual must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 70-percent of his team's competitive rounds or compete in the NCAA Championships, have a stroke-average under 76.0. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university. A total of 108 players in Division I earned the honor.
Senior Matt Ryan earned the honor in his final year while graduating with a Bachelor's in Communications.
Ryan finished his academics as he often finished golf tournaments bringing it in strong at the end. In his last semester, Matt had a 3.46 GPA which raised his total cumulative GPA to 3.22. That GPA along with his 73.20 stroke average was more than enough to qualify him for the award.
"I've coached fewer All-American Scholars than All-Americans because it is tough to excel in both areas at the same time," said head coach Mike Watney.
"The combination of requirements for stroke average, GPA, and percentage of tournaments participated in is very difficult."
"I admire Matt for sticking with the academics even after he broke his finger during the season and I congratulate him for a great career and a job very well done," said Watney.
Coffman, who holds a 3.47 cumulative GPA in mathematics, is the fourth student-athlete in school history to earn the honor from the GCAA and the first since Darren Fletcher in 2005. Other Wolf Pack All-America Scholars including Sprague Kolp in 2002 and James Watt in 1998.
Coffman will be a senior for the Wolf Pack in 2009-10 and has turned in 16 top 20 finishes in his time at Nevada, including the first win of his career at the La Tech Squire Creek Classic in October. He is a three-time Academic All-WAC selection and was named the WAC Player and Freshman of the Year in 2007.