Sept. 13, 2006
CLEVELAND - Brian Varsey, the Director of Instruction at Canterbury Golf Club in Beachwood, Ohio, has been named the head men's and women's golf coach at Cleveland State. CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed made the announcement on Wednesday (Sept. 13).
Varsey takes over for Tom Porten, who stepped down in early August after 15 seasons to take the head men's golf position at Akron.
"We conducted a national search for this position, but it turns out the person we were looking for grew up, went to school and works right in our own backyard," Reed said. "No only does Brian work for one of the preeminent clubs in the country, but he has experience at one of the top college programs in the nation in addition to learning the finer points of the game from a Hall of Fame instructor.
"Brian's knowledge of golf and his ability to teach every aspect of the game are outstanding, but it was his passion to coach our student-athletes that really caught our attention. We believe he's the right person to continue to grow both our men's and women's programs."
In addition to coaching the Vikings, Varsey will continue to maintain his duties at Canterbury -- which is rated by Golf Digest as one of the top 100 courses in the country. He is responsible for individual and group lessons as well as all instructional programs at the club.
In between serving as the assistant pro at Canterbury in 2001 and 2004, Varsey spent a year as the men's assistant coach at nationally-ranked Oklahoma. In addition to working on swing, short game and course management, he was involved with many other aspects of the Sooner program, including recruiting, managing the team's practice facility, coordinating the Sooner Invitational and fundraising.
A Class A member of the Professional Golfers Association of America, Varsey spent two years as the assistant director of the Golf Digest Schools in Sea Island, Ga. He assisted the Golf Digest Instructors in teaching at the schools, while overseeing the set-up and day-to-day operations of the schools.
Varsey has also worked very closely with Bob Toski, organizing and conducting golf schools and clinics with the renowned clinician and the first living member to be inducted into the World Golf Teachers Hall of Fame.
In addition to his stints at Canterbury, Varsey has also worked at The Country Club (Pepper Pike, Ohio), Sea Island Golf Club (St. Simmons Island, Ga.), The Windsor Club (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Sankaty Head Golf Club (Nantucket, Mass.)
Varsey was a first team all-conference selection and team captain at Baldwin-Wallace where he received his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1991. He currently resides in Mayfield Heights.
