CARPENTER TO RETIRE AT SEASON’S END; SWAFFORD TABBED TO LEAD SKYHAWK GOLF PROGRAM IN 2020-21
9/19/2019 8:00:00 AM | Golf
MARTIN, Tenn. – Jerry Carpenter, who has led the University of Tennessee at Martin golf program to unprecedented heights over his 18-year head coaching career, has announced he will retire at the end of the 2019-20 season.
Austin Swafford, who is in his third season as an assistant with the Skyhawk golf program, will take over as head coach at his alma mater following Carpenter's retirement.
"Coach Carpenter is a true UT Martin treasure," Skyhawk athletic director Kurt McGuffin said. "His Hall of Fame career includes 55 combined years of service on campus – I cannot imagine a better representative of this university and our athletic department. Jerry approached me with his visions for the golf program moving forward and Austin came very highly recommended. He has great recruiting ties in the state of Tennessee and knows this program in and out. We wish Jerry all the best in his retirement and are excited about Austin's future as our head coach."
Selected as the program's second head coach following the retirement of longtime head coach Grover Page, Carpenter has lifted the UT Martin program to a multitude of success in recent seasons. Coinciding with the addition of the state-of-the-art Rhodes Golf Center on campus, the Skyhawks won their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference golf championship in 2016.
In addition, UT Martin also produced three consecutive OVC medalists, as Brendon Caballero (2015) and Hunter Richardson (2016-17) earned those honors. Caballero's title was the first for the Skyhawk program as UT Martin became just the third school – and first since 1998-2000 – to tally three straight individual OVC winners.
Carpenter is a two-time recipient of the OVC Coach of the Year award (2014, 2016), becoming the first Skyhawk representative to garner the league's top coaching accolade. He recruited the OVC Freshman of the Year in three straight seasons (Ben Reeves in 2013, Swafford in 2014, Richardson in 2015) as UT Martin became the first program in OVC history to account for three consecutive Freshman of the Year honorees.
"I am most thankful to all my players for their dedication to our program and seeing them develop into young men that have grown to be good family people, plus being leaders in their communities," Carpenter said. "It has been a great rewarding experience."
There have been 31 instances of a Skyhawk golfer ever earning All-OVC, All-OVC Tournament or All-OVC Newcomer accolades and 26 of those have come in Carpenter's tenure.
That impressive All-OVC list includes Richardson, who is the only UT Martin golfer to earn All-OVC honors in all four seasons. In 2017, Richardson became the first Skyhawk to bring home OVC Player of the Year accolades and he followed that with a repeat of that major award in 2018. He concluded his spectacular collegiate career as just the sixth player ever to earn All-OVC accolades on four different occasions. This past July, Richardson became the first-ever Skyhawk to play in a PGA Tour event when he took part in the Barbasol Championship held in Lexington, Ky.
In addition to its accomplishments on the links, UT Martin has earned the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award on seven different occasions, including an active six-year stretch from 2014-19. Carpenter's teams often excel in the academic forum as well as Reeves and Swafford each tallied Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar accolades from the Golf Coaches Association of America in back-to-back seasons. The Skyhawk golf program additionally earned a public recognition award by the NCAA for its continued academic excellence in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
A native of Newbern, Tenn., Carpenter graduated from UT Martin in 1966. He is married to the former Linda Scates and they have two children – daughter Dana Evans and son Scott Carpenter, who has spent the last 12 seasons as a Skyhawk volunteer assistant under his father.
"I wish to thank our former athletic director Phil Dane for giving me the opportunity to coach golf at UT Martin and to coach Grover Page for his expertise and guidance through the years," Carpenter said. "I also want to give a big thanks to my wife and family for supporting me over these 18 years. Our program would not be in this position without the Rhodes Golf Center, which is first class. Bill and Amy Rhodes helped make the facility a reality and helped make the 2016 OVC championship a reality. I will always be thankful to the late Jerry Gresham for his support and giving us our current location on campus. Dr. Wesley Totten has been most valuable for his expertise and knowledge of growing grass and facility management – he is a very tireless worker. Our former golf alumni, former players, parents and booster club members helped raise the bar financially for our team to compete in the OVC. UT Martin has been great to me and my family for many years and I thank everybody from the bottom of my heart."
Swafford was a four-year starter for Carpenter, bookending his illustrious career with OVC postseason honors. His OVC Freshman of the Year mention in 2014 was just the second such award in school history while he became just the seventh golfer in UT Martin history to tally All-OVC accolades when he accomplished that feat as a senior in 2017.
"Austin will be an outstanding coach for UT Martin golf and will elevate our program to new heights," Carpenter said. "He grew up in a golf family with his father as a teaching pro. Austin has the leadership and teaching skills that will make our team very competitive in the OVC plus he knows our current landscape for support. This was an excellent choice by our athletic director Kurt McGuffin."
A Lebanon, Tenn. native, Swafford was an integral piece of the 2016 OVC championship squad who advanced to the NCAA Franklin Regional hosted by Vanderbilt University. He posted the best OVC Tournament score of his career during that season, placing 17th in the field.
Overall, Swafford played in 47 events in his Skyhawk career, carding a 74.6 stroke average over 134 rounds. He accumulated three top-five finishes, six top-10 efforts and 14 top-20 finishes. His career-best 73.4 scoring average as a senior ranked eighth in the OVC.
"First off, I want to congratulate Coach Carpenter on all he has accomplished over his 18 years," Swafford said. "Everything that's been accomplished on the course as well as off the course with academics and our facilities is because of his passion for the program. He goes above and beyond for this program every day and it's been a pleasure to play under and coach alongside him."
Swafford was responsible for a combined 3.45 Grade Point Average over in his collegiate career, receiving OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll accolades in each of his first three seasons. He graduated from UT Martin in 2017 with a degree in finance and earned his Master's degree from UT Martin in 2019.
"I am humbled and honored to be the next golf coach here at UT Martin," Swafford said. "To be able to begin my coaching career where I played is very special. This university and community has given me so much over the last seven years and I couldn't be more excited to get to stay and continue being a part of it. Lastly, I haven't gotten to this point by myself. Many people have helped me along my journey and it's because of their guidance and generosity that I'm able to be in this position."
Austin Swafford, who is in his third season as an assistant with the Skyhawk golf program, will take over as head coach at his alma mater following Carpenter's retirement.
"Coach Carpenter is a true UT Martin treasure," Skyhawk athletic director Kurt McGuffin said. "His Hall of Fame career includes 55 combined years of service on campus – I cannot imagine a better representative of this university and our athletic department. Jerry approached me with his visions for the golf program moving forward and Austin came very highly recommended. He has great recruiting ties in the state of Tennessee and knows this program in and out. We wish Jerry all the best in his retirement and are excited about Austin's future as our head coach."
Selected as the program's second head coach following the retirement of longtime head coach Grover Page, Carpenter has lifted the UT Martin program to a multitude of success in recent seasons. Coinciding with the addition of the state-of-the-art Rhodes Golf Center on campus, the Skyhawks won their first-ever Ohio Valley Conference golf championship in 2016.
In addition, UT Martin also produced three consecutive OVC medalists, as Brendon Caballero (2015) and Hunter Richardson (2016-17) earned those honors. Caballero's title was the first for the Skyhawk program as UT Martin became just the third school – and first since 1998-2000 – to tally three straight individual OVC winners.
Carpenter is a two-time recipient of the OVC Coach of the Year award (2014, 2016), becoming the first Skyhawk representative to garner the league's top coaching accolade. He recruited the OVC Freshman of the Year in three straight seasons (Ben Reeves in 2013, Swafford in 2014, Richardson in 2015) as UT Martin became the first program in OVC history to account for three consecutive Freshman of the Year honorees.
"I am most thankful to all my players for their dedication to our program and seeing them develop into young men that have grown to be good family people, plus being leaders in their communities," Carpenter said. "It has been a great rewarding experience."
There have been 31 instances of a Skyhawk golfer ever earning All-OVC, All-OVC Tournament or All-OVC Newcomer accolades and 26 of those have come in Carpenter's tenure.
That impressive All-OVC list includes Richardson, who is the only UT Martin golfer to earn All-OVC honors in all four seasons. In 2017, Richardson became the first Skyhawk to bring home OVC Player of the Year accolades and he followed that with a repeat of that major award in 2018. He concluded his spectacular collegiate career as just the sixth player ever to earn All-OVC accolades on four different occasions. This past July, Richardson became the first-ever Skyhawk to play in a PGA Tour event when he took part in the Barbasol Championship held in Lexington, Ky.
In addition to its accomplishments on the links, UT Martin has earned the OVC Team Sportsmanship Award on seven different occasions, including an active six-year stretch from 2014-19. Carpenter's teams often excel in the academic forum as well as Reeves and Swafford each tallied Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar accolades from the Golf Coaches Association of America in back-to-back seasons. The Skyhawk golf program additionally earned a public recognition award by the NCAA for its continued academic excellence in both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
A native of Newbern, Tenn., Carpenter graduated from UT Martin in 1966. He is married to the former Linda Scates and they have two children – daughter Dana Evans and son Scott Carpenter, who has spent the last 12 seasons as a Skyhawk volunteer assistant under his father.
"I wish to thank our former athletic director Phil Dane for giving me the opportunity to coach golf at UT Martin and to coach Grover Page for his expertise and guidance through the years," Carpenter said. "I also want to give a big thanks to my wife and family for supporting me over these 18 years. Our program would not be in this position without the Rhodes Golf Center, which is first class. Bill and Amy Rhodes helped make the facility a reality and helped make the 2016 OVC championship a reality. I will always be thankful to the late Jerry Gresham for his support and giving us our current location on campus. Dr. Wesley Totten has been most valuable for his expertise and knowledge of growing grass and facility management – he is a very tireless worker. Our former golf alumni, former players, parents and booster club members helped raise the bar financially for our team to compete in the OVC. UT Martin has been great to me and my family for many years and I thank everybody from the bottom of my heart."
Swafford was a four-year starter for Carpenter, bookending his illustrious career with OVC postseason honors. His OVC Freshman of the Year mention in 2014 was just the second such award in school history while he became just the seventh golfer in UT Martin history to tally All-OVC accolades when he accomplished that feat as a senior in 2017.
"Austin will be an outstanding coach for UT Martin golf and will elevate our program to new heights," Carpenter said. "He grew up in a golf family with his father as a teaching pro. Austin has the leadership and teaching skills that will make our team very competitive in the OVC plus he knows our current landscape for support. This was an excellent choice by our athletic director Kurt McGuffin."
A Lebanon, Tenn. native, Swafford was an integral piece of the 2016 OVC championship squad who advanced to the NCAA Franklin Regional hosted by Vanderbilt University. He posted the best OVC Tournament score of his career during that season, placing 17th in the field.
Overall, Swafford played in 47 events in his Skyhawk career, carding a 74.6 stroke average over 134 rounds. He accumulated three top-five finishes, six top-10 efforts and 14 top-20 finishes. His career-best 73.4 scoring average as a senior ranked eighth in the OVC.
"First off, I want to congratulate Coach Carpenter on all he has accomplished over his 18 years," Swafford said. "Everything that's been accomplished on the course as well as off the course with academics and our facilities is because of his passion for the program. He goes above and beyond for this program every day and it's been a pleasure to play under and coach alongside him."
Swafford was responsible for a combined 3.45 Grade Point Average over in his collegiate career, receiving OVC Commissioner's Honor Roll accolades in each of his first three seasons. He graduated from UT Martin in 2017 with a degree in finance and earned his Master's degree from UT Martin in 2019.
"I am humbled and honored to be the next golf coach here at UT Martin," Swafford said. "To be able to begin my coaching career where I played is very special. This university and community has given me so much over the last seven years and I couldn't be more excited to get to stay and continue being a part of it. Lastly, I haven't gotten to this point by myself. Many people have helped me along my journey and it's because of their guidance and generosity that I'm able to be in this position."
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