McMakin a Finalist for National Coach of the Year

May 29, 2026

NORMAN, Okla. – For the second time in his career, Arkansas men’s golf coach Brad McMakin is a finalist for the NCAA Division I Dave Williams Award, presented by Golf Pride Grips, the Golf Coaches Association of America announced today. McMakin is a finalist with Nick Clinard (Auburn), J.C. Deacon (Florida), Chris Malloy (Ole Miss) and Bowen Sargent (Virginia).

The Williams Award honors the National Coach of the Year in NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, NJCAA Division I and NJCAA Division II men’s golf. The recipients will be announced on Tuesday, June 9.

McMakin, who was a finalist for the award for the 2010-11 season, has led Arkansas to a historic season in 2025-26. Part of that included Razorback associate head coach Gustavo Morantes being a finalist for the Jan Strickland Outstanding Division I Assistant Coach Award.

In addition to leading Arkansas to its 18th-straight NCAA Regional and the program’s 27th NCAA Championship, McMakin and Morantes landed the #8 recruiting class in the nation for 2026-27.

For Arkansas in 2025-26:

is ranked 6th, which is the program’s highest ranking entering the NCAA Championships.
was 1 of 17 teams from the nation’s top 20 to advance to the Championships.
was 1 of 12 SEC teams to reach the field of 30 for the Championships – the SEC has 7 of the top 10 seeds.
has posted a record of 117-25-3 (.823).
had a winning percentage of .823, the best since 2011-12 (.885).
faced 24 of the 30 teams in the 2026 Championships and posted a 34-14-2 (.690) mark versus the Championships field.
is 28-12-2 (.571) vs current top 25 teams and was 71-25-3 (.732) versus the 81 teams that played in a Regional.
won three times, the most since 2011-12 (7), the program’s best since 2011-12 (.885).
in 11 events so far, has seven top-3 finishes, five top-five finishes and has finished among the top 8 in all 11.
posted a stroke average of 280.28, the best by nearly three strokes over the current UA record (282.97 in 2023-24).
Fortlage set a school season record with 25 rounds at par or better.
Fortlage and Gomez have 13 rounds in the 60s and are tied for third on the school’s season list, with the record being 16 by Jacob Skov Olesen (2023-24).
Fortlage ranks third on the school’s season stroke average list at 70.51 and Gomez ranks fourth 70.60.
Fortlage ranks third on the school’s career stroke average list at 71.60, Gomez ranks fourth (71.69), John Dally II ranks sixth (71.87) and Thomas Curry ranks 10th (72.16).

McMakin and the Razorbacks will look to add to their impressive resumes starting Friday at the NCAA Championships.

For more information on Arkansas Men’s Golf, follow @RazorbackMGolf on Twitter.