By RICHIE HALL
Chard Reid is back as the Carmel boys golf coach.
The Greyhounds announced Reid’s return to the program earlier this month for what will be his second stint as head coach. Reid coached Carmel from 2014 to 2019, a period when the Greyhounds won two state championships (2018 and 2019) and finished runners-up once (2017).
Reid replaces Josh Shelton, who resigned to take a new position at Indiana University. He will be teaching sports marketing at IU.
“I was excited to step back into it,” said Reid. “Whenever I was in administration, they don’t allow administrators to coach. That role, that life is not for me. I just missed the boots on the ground, working with kids and I really miss coaching. That was part of the reason that I wanted to get back into a teaching role.”
Reid is a work-based learning coordinator at Carmel High School. He said it’s “kind of like a college major,” where students take a career-focused slate of classes for three years in a row, then Reid gets them an internship.
An example includes students that take three years of business classes receiving an accountant internship. Companies such as Reynolds Farm Equipment, Heartland Food Products Group and IU Health are among those that participate in work-based learning.
“IU North is our biggest partner,” said Reid, noting that IU North pays $16.50 per hour with students “working tons of hours” and making meaningful contributions to patient care.
“We try to make sure all the experiences are meaningful and authentic,” said Reid. “We don’t want them running to get coffee.”
While Reid has been taking time away from coaching, he is keeping up with the Carmel golf program. His daughter Karis, soon to be an eighth grader, won the Girls 12-13 Drive, Chip & Putt national championships last April at Augusta, Ga.
Reid hugs his daughter Karis Reid after she won the Girls 12-13 Drive, Chip & Putt national championships last April at Augusta, Ga. (Photo provided)
“I’m constantly watching online, keeping track of how the boys are performing,” said Chard Reid. He said there are Carmel players that are “really active, playing in the two-day events, doing the things they need to do to get better.”
The Greyhounds have kept their expectations high, even while playing in the Westfield sectional at Ulen Country Club, which is consistently the toughest in the state. All three of the teams that advanced from Ulen this year placed in the top six, with Zionsville the state champion and the Shamrocks the runners-up for the third year in a row. Guerin Catholic won the previous two state titles also coming out of Ulen.
“One positive of being in the toughest sectional of the state is, you can’t ever be complacent,” said Reid. “We preach to the kids all the time, the sectional is usually decided by one stroke or less.”
Carmel’s sectional score this year was 298, but the Greyhounds finished fourth. They were tied for third place with Westfield, but the Shamrocks got to advance on the fifth-man score.
“I think that wins every sectional in the state except one or two,” said Reid. “Ulen’s a tough golf course.”
Carmel did take all three individual advancing spots, which included a 70 from the now-graduated Noah Husk. But the other two advancers are back: Ethan Hoagland will be a senior and Noah Johnson will be a junior.
“We got great kids, man,” said Reid. “I’m really excited to work with them.”
Reid also was looking forward to seeing what the future Greyhounds will bring to the team.
“There’s a lot of promise there, for sure,” said Reid. “I’ve been watching a lot of middle school kids. I’d say the future’s bright for the Greyhounds. We’ve got four sixth graders who can really play. We’ve got a really strong eighth grader coming in and there may be more that I don’t even know about.”
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