By RICHIE HALL
After going west to start his golf coaching career, Vince Drahman has settled in to a nice run at IUPUI.
The Noblesville graduate became the assistant coach for the Jaguars in August 2018. Drahman has already been a part of IUPUI’s success, with the women’s team defending its Horizon League championship and both the women’s and the men’s teams having Players of the Year.
Drahman’s road back to Indy actually started in the city. He played his first two college seasons at the University of the Cumberlands, located in Williamsburg, Ky. In his junior season, Drahman transferred to Marian University in Indianapolis and had success there, earning Second Team NAIA All-America honors, playing in the NAIA championships as a senior, being named the Marian Student-Athlete of the Year and helping the Knights to a No. 11 national ranking.
After graduating from Marian in 2016 with an accounting degree, Drahman went to William Woods University in Fulton, Mo.
“They were a top five NAIA program at the time,” said Drahman. “I wound up getting a graduate assistant position there.”
Drahman received an MBA from William Woods, a General MBA with a focus in entrepreneurial leadership. While he was working on his MBA, Drahman helped coach both William Woods teams to top 10 finishes at the NAIA championship tournament – fourth place for the men and eighth place for the women.
The next year, Drahman made a big jump – he became the head men’s and women’s golf coach at the University of Jamestown, located in Jamestown, N.D., making him a 24-year-old head coach.
Drahman, now 27, helped the Jimmies to great success. Both teams won the North Star Athletic Association Conference championship, with Drahman named the Coach of the Year. That qualified the Jamestown teams for the NAIA championships, Drahman said getting the team exposure on the national level “was something I was super excited about.”
After completing the season, Drahman had interviews “for a couple different jobs at different places,” when he found out the IUPUI assistant job was open – “a player on the IUPUI team let me know the assistant coach had taken another job,” he said.
Drahman met up with the coach, Jamie Broce, talked with him, then had an official interview with IUPUI. After playing “the waiting game,” Drahman found out at the beginning of August that he had the job.
The Jaguars women’s team was the reigning Horizon League champion the season before Drahman came on the scene, so he helped the IUPUI women defend their title, led by Horizon League Player of the Year Marion Debove. The Jaguars also got to play the NCAA regionals, hosted by Michigan State.
“That was an amazing event,” said Drahman. “That was a really cool experience. Our girls had a really good year before things got canceled. They wound up winning four events as a team. Our No. 1 player had four individual wins and our No. 2 player was well on her way.”
The Jaguars men’s team struggled with injuries, but also had the Horizon League Player of the Year, Austin Crowder. Drahman said there were “a couple guys that got individual wins” on the team.
But beyond the wins, Drahman said he enjoys getting to cultivate relationships with his players.
“The best part is the trips you get to take, spend time with the kids on the plane, on the bus, you just really get the chance to connect,” said Drahman. “In my coaching experience as a whole, we really try to treat it as a family and you get to build those personal relationships, you get to know a lot more than just their golf game.”
Even while coaching, Drahman was able to continue to play competitively last year in several golf tournaments. In seven events, Drahman had three top 10 finishes, including second place at the IGA Tournament of Champions last September.
“I think one of the really good things about our coaching staff in particular is that we both still play competitively at a very high level, said Drahman. Both he and Broce are aware that the college experience has its own set of challenges, such as time management, academics and the social side of college. In addition, there is the understanding what it’s like to be in pressure situations and to be in the running to win an event.
“Coach Roche and I have experienced those things and still experience those things,” said Drahman. “Being a player has helped me be a much better coach and vice versa. I’m kind of detached from the personal emotion that you carry with you throughout a round of golf. It helps me when it comes to help them make the right decisions. Also as a player, it’s helped me quite a bit because you get to see a lot of things that happen to other people.”
Drahman may now be a coach at a Division I school, but he has not forgotten his NAIA roots, in either playing or coaching. He notes that much of golf is “very much self-driven” and about how far a golfer is willing to push him or herself.
Drahman said good news for prospective pro players is that “if you look at the professional tours, there’s kids and people from all over the place, all types of backgrounds that wind up making it,” he said.
Whether coaching or playing, no matter the school size, Drahman said the game of golf is about one thing, “how many shots it takes you to get the ball in the hole.”