Wake Forest Athletics
Chris Yoder Named Assistant Men's Golf Coach at Ohio State
7/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
July 7, 2009
Former Wake Forest standout Chris Yoder has been hired as the assistant men's golf coach at The Ohio State University as announced on Tuesday. Yoder has spent the last six seasons as the assistant men's golf coach for the Demon Deacons.
"I can't even express how much of great service Chris gave to not only our program but the entire university," said head coach Jerry Haas. "I recruited Chris so I knew him for about ten years and he is everything you could have wanted in both a student/athlete and a coach. He is one of the nicest guys I have ever met and to say that I am going to miss him is an understatement. We had a couple of good runs with him as both a player and a coach and he is going to be a hard guy to replace."
"This was a very tough decision to leave Wake Forest," said Yoder. "The people and the atmosphere here is what I'll miss the most about Wake. Coach Haas is the reason I came to Wake Forest and he's the reason I stayed on to coach. This is certainly a special place and I am grateful of my time here."
Yoder is returning to his home state where he will join the staff of Donnie Darr, who is starting his first season at the helm of the Buckeyes. Darr is taking over legendary coach Jim Brown, who served as Ohio State's head coach for 36 years.
"I am really excited for the opportunity to go work with Coach Darr at Ohio State," Yoder continued. "We are both Ohio guys and we're both excited about coming back home and working with a great program."
While coaching at Wake, Yoder assisted Coach Haas with the day-to-day activities of the team as well as helping to bring in some of the most talented recruits in the country, coaching three future PGA Tour players in Bill Haas, Kyle Reifers and Webb Simpson. Wake Forest qualified for five-consecutive NCAA Championships and won three NCAA Regionals during Yoder's tenture.
A native of Ashland, Ohio, Yoder was a four-year letterwinner and consistent member of the Deacon lineup from 2000-03 and served as an undergraduate assistant during the fall of 2003, while finishing up his bachelor's degree in Mathematics.
He helped Wake Forest earn high national rankings and three NCAA Championship appearances during his years on the team. He played in 37 career events, compiling a 74.3 stroke average and collected four top-10 finishes and a total of 11 top-20 finishes.
Yoder participated in all four ACC Tournaments during his four years, finishing as high as 11th in 2003. He was also in the lineup for three Deacon NCAA Championship appearances (2000, 2001, 2003), placing 34th in the 2001 event.
During his senior season, Yoder was named a Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-America Scholar. He also consistently appeared on the Wake Forest Dean's List and was named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll three years in a row.
