Steve Desimone, who has been the men’s golf coach at the University of California for 37 years, will retire at the end of this season.
The Golden Bears are seeded third in the NCAA Regional at the Gallery Golf Club in Marana, Ariz., on May 16-18, and hopefully will extend Desimone’s career by advancing to the NCAA Championships on May 27-June 1 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Oregon.
“It’s hard to believe it’s (almost) over,” said Desimone, who graduated from Cal in 1970 and later received a Master’s degree in physical education. “It’s been my honor to be part of the university and athletic department over the last 37 years. I have a fairly unique perspective, as both a student-athlete and coach. I look back with pride on what the program has accomplished, but this has been an incredible team effort.
“When you look at where we were when we started–the program was really left for dead in 1979–nobody could have possibly dreamed this is where we’d be now. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be part of it.”
The 67-year-old Desimone raised the Cal golf program from a club program with no funding to varsity status and national prominence.
Cal won the national championship under Desimone in 2004, and the Bears also collected a modern-era, NCAA-record 12 tournament victories in 14 events during the 2012-13 season.
The Bears were widely considered the best team in the country that season, but lost to Illinois in the national semifinals of match play.
“I love what I do,” said Desimone, who has led Cal to a spot in the NCAA Championships 10 times and to 66 tournament victories. “I’m really going to miss the daily routine. Working with young people has been my life for nearly a half-century, and I’m really going to miss working with the student-athletes.
“I’ve also been a competitor all my life, and I’m going to miss the competition. When you get into this business, you get into it to win, and you get into it to compete for national championships and conference titles.”
Desimone was selected NCAA Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2013, was elected to the Northern California Golf Association’s Hall of Fame in 2014 and to the Golf Coaches of America Hall of Fame in 2010.
Before playing basketball and golf at Cal, Desimone was a basketball star at Arroyo High in San Lorenzo and led the Dons to victories over powerhouses Berkeley and McClymonds in the semifinals and final of the 1966 Tournament of Champions, which essentially was the Northern California championship.
