While the main focus on sports at Arkansas State has historically been football, one of the most successful athletics stories comes from a lesser known part of the university: men’s golf. 

Coach’s arrival at A-State

The journey of this flourishing program started with the hire of head coach Mike Hagen. 

At the time, A-State’s play left it stuck in the middle of the pack in the Sun Belt Conference (SBC). Under previous head coach Steven Johnson, the Red Wolves never made the NCAA Regional tournament; their last appearance was in 2002. 

The time eventually came for a change in leadership in men’s golf at A-State. When choosing a candidate for the job, Hagen came along with a well-built resume.

Hagen began his golf coaching career at Ashford University, but the bulk of his accomplishments came from his time as head coach at Indian Hills Community College from 2005 to 2015. He led the university to four NJCAA national championships in 2011, 2012, 2014, and 2015. While winning the championship each of those years, Hagen also took home the NJCAA National Coach of the Year award.

His success at Indian Hills led to his induction into the NJCAA Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and the NJCAA Coaches Legacy Award in 2025. 

Wanting to make the jump from the NJCAA to Division I play, A-State gave Hagen his opportunity in 2015 with the head coach position for their men’s golf team. Initially, he saw a program with untapped potential that needed to be drawn out.

“Obviously, we needed to recruit better players,” Hagen said “That’s not a knock on anybody. I knew with my recruiting background and contacts, I figured if I can recruit at a similar level, if not even better, with the support and the program underachieving in my eyes, I knew I could turn it around.”

Although he was a fresh face at the university, Hagen used his background in the NJCAA to bring prospects to A-State.

“I sold me. I sold what I did in my ten year career already and what I accomplished,” Hagen said. “(I sold) what I saw this place possibly becoming and my vision for it.”

Hagen’s expectations for his team showed right away in his recruiting process. As with himself, he expected his recruits to have a decorated resume.

“They’ve got to play a high major tournament schedule,” Hagen said “They’ve got to travel different places, play strong events, and their games have to travel flat out.”.

Tying into his early recruitment attempts, Hagen saw another issue he needed to overcome to bring A-State into contention: scheduling opponents.

“We can travel all over the country and play the best tournaments that we can get in, and play the best golf courses,” Hagen said. “That’s going to obviously help with your strength of schedule and also what type of players want to come play for you.”

Hagen knew that joining high profile tournaments would be a task that required patience on his end but would have major benefits in the long run. 

“I have some friends that were at some good places that hosted some good events, and they took care of me early on to help me build my schedule strength,” Hagen said. “Then as you go through, people see your accomplishments, people see you do well, and you grow your program and start getting more invites.”

The turnaround begins

Fortunately, the success rolled in for Hagen and the Red Wolves almost immediately. Starting from his first season, A-State jumped from being ranked 192nd in the country to becoming one of the best 80 teams and never falling below the top 100 again. The team found regional success too, finishing third in the SBC during his first two years running the golf program. 

Hagen’s team really began thriving with the arrival of Zan Luka Stirn. 

Ranked as the 163rd best player in the country at the time, Stirn brought a new level of talent to A-State. In his first year with the team in 2016, he qualified for the individual competition at the NCAA Regionals, becoming the third player in school history to reach the postseason. 

Stirn became one of the centerpieces for the early parts of the golf program’s renaissance.

“(Stirn) chose us over a few other high major golf programs at the time, so that’s what really sparked everything,” Hagen said.

The third year of Hagen’s tenure saw the fourth A-State player reach the individual competition at regionals with Tanner Napier, but the biggest success at the time came in 2019. 

In spring 2019, the Red Wolves won their first-ever SBC championship, leading to their first regionals appearance since 2002. On their way to the postseason, the team broke multiple records, putting up the most season wins, most par or better rounds, most birdies, most eagles, and lowest stroke average. 

At the Simpsonville Regional, the team was unable to advance, but Julien Sale placed within the top 25 of the tournament, marking the highest individual finish in school history at the time. While they fell at regionals, A-State got a taste of the postseason as a unit and began to strive to reach that point again.

Despite falling to fifth in the SBC tournament next season, the Red Wolves made their way back to the postseason in the 2021 Noblesville Regional. The team fell just two spots out of contention for a championship appearance, but Stirn had a performance for the history books, recording the highest individual placement in regional play with a third-place finish. 

The 2021 season brought a close to the Stirn chapter of the golf program’s history and Hagen entered a rebuilding phase, but the next season brought about arguably the best player the team has ever had. 

Thomas Schmidt, the no. 360 ranked golfer in the World of Amateur Golfers ratings, made the voyage from Gelsenkirchen, Germany to come play for A-State. Winning multiple national tournaments in his home country, his resume followed Hagen’s recruitment trend of decorated players.

His draw to Jonesboro came from Hagen and his plans for the team.

“He had a pretty clear vision in mind of where this program has to be and he wanted me to be part of that program to accomplish all of that,” Schmidt said.

After a stellar freshman year, Schmidt rose to the top of the SBC golf rankings, winning back-to-back-to-back Player of the Year honors from 2023-26. Hagen said he saw a familiar fire within Schmidt as he grew into one of the greatest golfers in the conference. 

“Thomas is a fierce competitor, as fierce as it ever gets. Zan Luka was the same way,” Hagen said.

Schmidt took A-State to another level of success as a program, but his impact transcended the team’s ranking. Hagen said he noticed the techniques and aspects to Schmidt’s game rubbed off onto the other players around him. 

“People tend to gravitate towards successful individuals,” Hagen said. “Thomas is not the same as somebody else on our team, but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn something from him that’s going to help better them as a player.”

Not only did his level of play teach the team to improve small parts of their performance, Schmidt proved to be a source of inspiration for others as they continued developing. Jake Lile, a fourth year golfer for A-State, said competing with Schmidt gave him an indicator of his progress. 

“If I go out and I’m able to beat Thomas consistently, then my game’s in a really, really good spot,” Lile said.

With an extreme high-level player like Schmidt joining the roster, the team obtained a centerpiece to build a championship-caliber team around. To create this team, Hagen said he sought out additional firepower to back up his star while adding a variety of skillsets.

“I just recruit the best players I can get,” Hagen said. “If you look at them they’re all a little bit different. Those guys that were at finals all have a different story.”

After winning their second SBC title and making their third regionals appearance in 2024, the newest group of A-State golfers got their first taste of success and worked to make a tournament return the following season. 

Lile said the regionals trip gave the team an idea of what to expect for their next appearance in the postseason.

“Having that experience and knowing what it’s like to play against teams that are just as good if not better and having some form of success there was so beneficial,” Lile said.

While missing out on regionals in 2025, Hagen’s crew regrouped for the following season along with two new international additions to the team. 

One for the history books

Going into their history-making season in 2025-26, Hagen said his expectations were lofty but not the highest. 

“(We wanted to) win a conference championship. I don’t think anyone can say ‘Hey, I expect to get to a regional,’” Hagen said. “(We wanted to) redeem our loss from the year before because that one stung. We had it in our grasp.” 

Schmidt sought to bring A-State to uncharted territory for his final collegiate season. 

“The team never had an NCAA national championship appearance, so that was the big goal,” Schmidt said.

The journey to the tournament ended up being the most successful year in the program’s history, breaking nearly every season record. From his perspective, Schmidt said the major factors behind their performance was their training and confidence.

“The overall body of work we had during the year where everyone worked their butts off definitely helped,” Schmidt said. “Knowing that we’re good enough to make (regionals) combined with the work ethic we all had.”

The dream of nationals became closer to reality in the latter half of the season. 

At the Cowboy Classic in Maricopa, Arizona, the Red Wolves found themselves falling behind early on in the tournament. At the time, Hagen said he could not see them climbing back to regain a top position, but the team proved his doubts wrong as they finished runner-up to Southern California.

“That’s when I really knew we might have something here because we never gave up,” Hagen said.

Championship bound

Following the closing of the regular season, Hagen said A-State approached the SBC tournament with confidence, treating it as just another golf tournament.

“We knew we had guys that were good enough and could get through,” Hagen said. “We also knew it was going to take a lot of luck.”

The players especially saw Hagen’s vision, having high hopes to advance through the final competitions of the year.

“We knew we had a pretty good shot at making it to nationals,” Schmidt said. “The motivation was always high because we knew we’re able to win every golf tournament if we played our best.” 

With the drive to win powering the team, Hagen said the conference and NCAA tournaments churned out the best performances from A-State’s players. 

“That’s when things started really clicking for us as a unit because other people were (playing) just as well,” Hagen said. “We had all five guys that were capable of going out and doing something special.”

After finishing second in SBC championship opening play, A-State snatched victory in the final two rounds to take home the conference title while punching their ticket to the NCAA Marana regional. 

From there, success kept rolling in for the Red Wolves. 

Two members of the team hit career bests in the NCAA tournament while hitting program highs. Cole Kirby set a record lowest round at any regional in their opening action in Arizona before Lile immediately rewrote that mark the following day. 

In the face of adversity, Lile put up an incredible performance as he said the fruits of his work came together.

“Everything started clicking, which was a little bit late, but definitely better late than never,” Lile said.

With Schmidt, Milan Reed, and Jake Wallis backing up those two performances, the team placed fourth in regionals and finally reached uncharted territory: the national championships. 

While their finals trip was cut short with a 22nd place finish, Schmidt advanced through the individual competition. As a rousing finale to his decorated Red Wolves career, he rounded out the top 20 golfers in the tournament with a 16th place finish.

What’s next to come

When everything was said and done, A-State recorded one of the greatest seasons in school history, climbing to heights never seen by the program. The impact of the year fell upon each member of the team, changing their perspective and development trajectory. 

Following his departure from Jonesboro, Schmidt’s performances en route to the championship gave him a jumpstart to his professional career. He received an invite to the 2026 BMW International Open, a competition in the DP World Tour golf series. While opening doors for future tournaments, Schmidt said his final collegiate season pushed his confidence even further.

“With a performance as solid as that, I was able to keep my mindset, just knowing I’m good enough to compete on that level,” Schmidt said.

For Hagen and his returning players, he said it paved a way for future success from A-State.

“(Our success) shows that programs like us can be competitive in other sports at a high level like golf,” Hagen said.

On an individual level, Lile said his expectations of himself greatly increased following his record-breaking play at regionals.

“I definitely know what I’m capable of and I’ve seen myself do it,” Lile said. “So (now I’m) just trying to go out and play shot-by-shot and see how good I can play.”

While losing Schmidt was a huge blow to this team, Hagen said he believes this team is poised for similar success for the 2026-27 season. 

“We’re not just relying on a few guys that carry us the entire time,” Hagen said. “I think we’re deeper than we’ve been in a long time and hopefully that translates to good finishes and some tournament wins.”

No matter what the future holds for this program, the level of success over the past decade skyrocketed the Red Wolves’ men’s golf to the top of A-State’s athletics. This past season acts as a shining achievement for the university and will push the team to achieve even more.

“It was an unbelievable ride and something I will always be proud of, but now it’s time to build upon that,” Hagen said.

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