Jan Strickland Award presented by TaylorMade Finalists Named

NORMAN, Okla. – Jake Amos of South Carolina, Florida State’s Robert Duck, Auburn’s Corey Maggard, Garrett Runion of LSU, Wake Forest’s Dan Walters, and Florida Southern’s Lee White have been named finalists for the 2018 Jan Strickland Outstanding Assistant Coach Award presented by TaylorMade as selected by the GCAA. The Strickland Award is presented to the NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA or NJCAA assistant coach that, among other things, has excelled in working with their student-athletes both on the course and in the classroom.

Amos is in his second year as associate head coach at South Carolina. This season the Gamecocks won the Camden Collegiate Classic and placed in the top five in four other events. Individually, Keenan Huskey won the All-American Intercollegiate while South Carolina golfers tallied 11 top 10 individual finishes. Academically, all 10 Gamecock golfers were on the fall 2017 honor roll with two on the President’s List and four on the Dean’s List. Amos previously served on the coaching staffs at Purdue, USF, and Augusta State.

Duck is Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development at Florida State. The Seminoles have won three tournaments this season and finished in the top five of three others. Four different Florida State golfers have claimed individual titles. Last summer Harry Ellis won The Amateur Championship and competed in the Masters Tournament. Prior to his time at Florida State Duck was assistant coach at Augusta State.

Maggard is now in his fourth season at Auburn under head coach Nick Clinard, and his second as Associate Head Coach. He was a finalist for the Strickland Award in 2017. The Tigers have posted three tournament wins this season and have placed no worse that tied for sixth in 11 events. Trace Crowe claimed medalist honors at the Gary Koch Intercollegiate and is one of nine Auburn golfers to place in the top 10 individually this season. Previously Maggard was head coach at Guilford and assistant coach at Transylvania.

Runion is in his sixth season as LSU assistant coach. He was a finalist for the Strickland Award each of the last two seasons. LSU has won three times this season and has six additional top five finishes. Individually, two Tigers have claimed medalist honors with three others posting top five finishes. Six LSU golfers were named to the honor roll with two earning Dean’s List recognition Additionally, Runion serves on the GCAA National Advisory Board as the assistant coach representative. Previously he was both head and assistant coach at Nova Southeastern.

Walters is in his ninth season at Wake Forest and fourth as Associate Head Coach. The Demon Deacons opened their season with two-straight wins and have posted four other top five finishes. One Wake Forest golfer this season has an individual victory and five others have top 10 finishes. Academically, five Wake Forest golfers were named to the Dean’s List in the fall. Prior to Wake Forest Walters served as an assistant coach at Rollins.

White is in his fourth season as an assistant coach at Florida Southern. The defending NCAA Division II NCAA Champions, the Mocs have three team victories this season and have not placed outside the top five in nine events. Individually, John VanDerLaan has claimed five titles while John Coultas has won once. Academically, Florida Southern posted a 3.35 GPA in the fall of 2017.

TaylorMade has sponsored the Strickland Award since its inception in 2003.