Bruce Heppler - Georgia Tech Men's Golf Head Coach On Serving, Honesty, & Pursuing Excellence

Building Excellence with Bailey Miles

#151: Bruce Heppler is the Georgia Tech head men’s golf coach.
As the 10th-longest tenured head coach in Division I at 29 years, he has guided the Yellow Jackets to an NCAA regional every year since 1998 (no NCAA championships were held in spring of 2020), while 19 of those teams advanced to the NCAA Finals. Twelve of those teams have finished in the top eight, with five of those teams reaching match play since that format was introduced in 2009. In 2023, the Yellow Jackets reached the finals of match play at the NCAA Championship for the first time, where they finished as national runner up.
During his tenure, Tech has won or shared 14 Atlantic Coast Conference titles. Only two ACC coaches have led their teams to more ACC titles than has Heppler. With victories in the last four years by Andy Ogletree (2019) and Tyler Strafaci (2020), as well as Matt Kuchar in 1997, three of his players have won the coveted United States Amateur Championship, which is tied for the most by any college coach.
He has been named ACC Coach of the Year 10 times, which is more than any ACC coach in conference history. He also is a member of the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in October of 2022.
Even more impressive is that his players have been just as successful in the classroom. Tech’s golf program has been recognized with a perfect Academic Progress Report score of 1000 for 19 straight years, and every senior has graduated.
On the show you will hear Coach Heppler’s story from playing at Dixie Junior College, becoming a CPA, to getting into college athletics at Amherst that ultimate led him into coaching collegiate golf at UNLV and Oklahoma State, and the principles that have helped him build and sustain excellence at Georgia Tech.
Enjoy the show!