Michael Harbour, men's golf team head coach, has stepped down after only one year in the position. Harbour acted as Brown's director of golf since 2003 and, after his appointment to the head coach position last spring, he helped lead the team to second place in the Ivy League Championship that April.
Harbour has been offered a teaching position at a leading golf academy in Palm Desert, Calif. In his place, Michael Hughes, who has acted as assistant coach for the past year, will step in as interim head coach for the men's team.
Harbour has been an integral part of both the Brown men's and women's teams, acting as head women's coach for four years prior to his appointment to the men's team. He leaves behind a legacy of three tournament championships for the women, including the 2002 Princeton Invitational, the 2003 Bucknell Invitational and the 2005 Central Connecticut Tournament.
In 2007, he coached the men's team through its toughest and most important contest of the season, the Ivy League Championship, and helped it earn second place. The finish was the Bears' highest ever placement at the tournament. It was also under his instruction that two of his players, Larry Haertel '08 and Conor Malloy '09, earned All-Ivy status, with Haertel also becoming the only Brown player ever to win the New England Intercollegiate Golf Championship.
Hughes, his successor, has a long list of coaching experiences on his resume, including a stint as assistant coach at DePaul University. Hughes said the shift will have a minimal effect and that he and athletes are pleased for Harbour.
"Coach Harbour's departure at this point in the season shouldn't affect the team," Hughes said. "He recruited a lot of these guys, so obviously there is a strong sense of sadness amongst the players, but this was an opportunity he could not turn down, so he has the team's full support."
Chris Hoffman '09 echoed his new coach's sentiments.
"The team is very excited to welcome Coach Hughes as our coach for this spring," Hoffman wrote in an e-mail. "Hughes put together our spring break trip to Florida and our entire spring tournament schedule. Over the past year since joining the team as an assistant coach he has devoted his time to helping us on our games as well as helping Coach Harbour out with the behind-the-scenes work, such as tournament schedules, trip planning and recruiting."
With the Yale Invitational and the New England Championship on the horizon, the Bears will have plenty of practice prior to going to this year's Ivy League Championship. Hughes is looking forward to the challenge with confidence.
"Last year, we placed in second, with Haertel and Malloy performing brilliantly." Hughes said, "All of the same players that were there last year are set to return this year. Therefore I feel we are the team to beat."
The team looks prepared to bounce back from this set-back with full force and maintain an optimistic outlook on the rest of the season,
"Last spring we welcomed Coach Harbour as our coach and had a successful spring. This year is no different," Hoffman said. "Our team handles adversity well. Our goal is to win Ivy's, and Coach Hughes will do everything he can to help us reach our goal."
The Bears will kick off their spring campaign at the Towson Invitational in Towson, Md., on March 28.
