The NCAA News - News and FeaturesJune 30, 1997
Great Scott!
Five years after nabbing a national golf title at Columbus State, Scott Clark repeats -- this time as the team's coach
Any way you look at it, winning an NCAA championship is heady stuff -- whether you are a student-athlete or a coach. But it is infinitely better from the perspective of a coach, according to someone who should know.
 Columbus State University head men's golf coach Scott Clark has had the unusual opportunity to view victory from both perspectives in a five-year period.
The second-year head coach relished watching his team win the NCAA Division II men's golf team championship in May -- and enjoyed it even more than when he participated on Columbus State's 1992 championship golf team as a student.
"It is much more exciting as a coach. I don't remember as many accolades that time as now. We have received so many faxes, so many phone calls. They're still coming. As a player, you don't see that," Clark said.
"And as a coach you are ultimately responsible for everything the players do on and off the field. You work with them all year."
Clark's association with Columbus State began in fall 1989, when the native Canadian selected the university after extensive consideration of Division II colleges and universities. Clark, as an older student, was ineligible to participate as a student-athlete at the Division I level, so he focused his search on Division II institutions.
"Columbus had a lot of things that I was looking for -- tradition, scheduling, golfing, academic reputation, size of the city," he said.
His choice turned out to be a good one. Except for two years working on a graduate degree at Georgia Southern University, Clark has made Columbus State his home.
When Clark enrolled at Columbus State, he was one of the first international student-athletes at the school. Since then, international student-athletes have become a tradition there.
Clark noted that this year's victory was a bit closer than the one in 1992, when he was one of the golfers in the final threesome. He said the closeness of the win is another reason the 1997 victory is so sweet.
"I don't remember the anticipation (in 1992). We knew we were going to win. We were the best team there," Clark said.
Columbus State won by four strokes this year. In 1992, the margin of victory was 32 strokes.
The school, which last won the title in 1994, has won the championship six times, three times in the '90s.
Other highlights of 1996-97 men's championships:
The University of Iowa won its third consecutive championship in Division I wrestling and its 17th overall before a record, sellout crowd in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The 90,064 attending the 1997 championships surpassed the previous high of 81,516 in 1995. Iowa scored a record 170 points in winning the championship.
In Division II wrestling, San Francisco State University took home its first title. The school's previous best finish was fifth place, and that was 22 years ago. In Division III, Augsburg College continued its habit of winning in each odd-numbered year of the 1990s, earning the school's fourth championship.
Pepperdine University earned its first title in Division I men's golf without the presence of coach John Geiberger. Geiberger missed all four rounds of the championships while quarantined at a nearby hotel with chicken pox.
Methodist College continued its dominance in Division III golf, winning its fourth consecutive team title and the seventh in eight years.
In men's soccer, two champions earned their first NCAA championships ever. Grand Canyon University took the title in Division II men's soccer and St. John's University (New York) took the honors in Division I. St. John's had been 0-4 in previous tournament appearances. In Division III, the College of New Jersey survived four overtimes to win its first championship in 12 tournament appearances.
New York Institute of Technology also won the school's first-ever NCAA championship when it went on a 7-1 scoring binge over host Adelphi University in the Division II lacrosse championship. In Division III, Nazareth College held on in overtime to win its second consecutive title and third overall. Princeton University ended its season undefeated, winning the Division I championship for the fourth time in six years.
In the 50th annual Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship, the University of North Dakota won its first title since 1987 but its sixth overall. The Division II championship went to Bemidji State University, which won the Division III title in 1986 before winning four Division II titles in the past five years. Middlebury College took honors in Division III for the third consecutive year.
The National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship went to the University of California, Los Angeles, for the second straight year -- only the second time a champion has repeated. The last time was in 1971 and 1972. UCLA showed its staying power after going 23 years without a championship before winning in 1995-96. UCLA has won five water polo titles overall.
LSU continued its dominance of Division I baseball, winning its second straight College World Series and the fourth in the decade. Not since 1988 had a team won back-to-back titles. A championship-game crowd of 24,401 set a College World Series single-game record. Overall attendance for the championship series passed 200,000 for the first time.
In Division II, California State University, Chico, won its first baseball championship. In Division III, the University of Southern Maine walloped Wooster College, 15-1, to win its second championship in six years.
Marshall University flexed its muscles one last time in Division I-AA football when it steam-rolled through the season and the championship undefeated in its last year before moving to Division I-A. Marshall avenged its 22-20 loss in the 1995 championship game with a 49-29 victory over a previously undefeated University of Montana team. Marshall outscored opponents, 193-57, through four games in the championship.
Division III football also produced an undefeated champion when Mount Union College won its second title in four years. Quarterback Bill Borchert won the passing-efficiency crown for the season after passing for 505 yards and seven touchdowns in the 56-24 win over Rowan College of New Jersey.
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