For the 14 members of the Irish golf team, the long wait is finally over.
The school announced Friday it had named former Duke assistant Jim Kubinski as the new head coach of the Irish, ending close to a two-month ordeal for the team that began when then-head coach John Jasinski resigned for personal reasons on Dec. 7.
Kubinski becomes just the sixth coach in the 76-year history of the program, ending a year-and-a-half long tenure assisting both the men's and women's squads at Duke. During this time he helped lead the men's team to No. 13 ranking in the Golfweek polls and played a large part in the lady Blue Devils' third-place finish in 2004 and their rise to the top of the polls at the close of the fall season. Because of these accomplishments, he was nominated for the 2004 Golf Coaches' Association of America (GCAA) Assistant Coach of the Year award.
Members of the Irish squad have expressed satisfaction at the decision to hire Kubinski.
"He comes from a pretty storied program, and he knows how to win," sophomore Cole Isban said.
As part of a subcommittee of Irish golfers with senior co-captain K.C. Wiseman and teammates including junior Scott Gustafson and freshman Greg Rodgers, Isban worked actively alongside the hiring committee and the athletic office in the hiring process, which included conducting interviews alongside his teammates of the final four coaching choices.
"We got to give our opinion [on coaching candidates]," Isban said. "We didn't have a large say, but we were kept enlightened as to what was going on [in the hiring process]."
Entering his first head-coaching job, Kubinski comes to the Irish with a desire to succeed both on and off the golf course.
"It's my desire to make Notre Dame a top-10 program on a year in, year out basis, both on the golf course and in the classroom," Kubinski said. "That's what Notre Dame expects and what Notre Dame deserves, and I know we can achieve that goal," Kubinski said in a release.
Before his coaching career, Kubinski, who has been a member of the PGA since 1999, was a three-time letterman and two-time team captain at Springfield (Mass.) College, and is a 1993 graduate of the college.
With the coaching issue resolved in Kubinski, the Irish can now focus on what comes next.
"This [hiring] is definitely a unifying piece for us," Isban said. "It's good to have everything settled so we can focus on the golf."
