Mike Grant has been a force of stability for not only the men’s golf program, but for the entire Radford Athletics program. The 2008, 2014, 2022 and 2024 Big South Coach of the Year will enter his 26th season at the helm going into 2025-26 after years of tournament victories, academic honors and the development of future pros. Prior to the 2008-09 campaign, Grant directed both the men and women’s golf programs.
During his tenure, Grant has coached 28 (26 men, two women) Big South all-conference players, one Big South Golfer of the Year (Bryce Corbett), one Big South Freshman of the Year (Conner Hayden) and guided his student-athletes to four individual medalist honors. His golfers have also garnered three Big South Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, three Big South Team Sportsmanship Awards, and one Big South Preseason Golfer of the Year.
Grant took over a men’s program that hadn’t finished higher than fifth in the Big South Championship since joining the league in 1984-85. Since then, Grant has directed his team to a program-best second place finish in 2021, third place finishes in 2008, 2023 and 2024, fourth in 2007, 2013, 2014 and 2022, and five fifth-place showings.
Among all-time Big South coaches, Grant currently ranks in the top five for Coach of the Year awards (4) and overall tournament victories (10). Among active coaches, Grant ranks either first or second in the aforementioned categories as well as most individual championships.
In 2023-24, Grant earned his fourth Big South Coach of the Year nod while guiding the Highlanders to a third-place finish in the Big South. Radford was led by another top-five and all-conference performance by Bryce Corbett. Nick Taliaferro also earned all-conference honors while the program garnered four weekly awards across the season.
During the 2022-23 season, Grant's team topped the team leaderboard during stroke play at the Big South Championships, led by Bryce Corbett who took home the individual champion title. He was named Big South Golfer of the Year and earned a bid to the NCAA Regionals - both firsts in program history. Corbett also received First Team All-Big South honors while newcomer Nathan Piatt earned an Honorable Mention.
In 2021-22, Grant was voted Big South Coach of the Year for the third time in his illustrious career. Corbett had a breakout season earning his First Team All-Big South recognition. The performance built on a fantastic 2020-21 season in which the Highlanders were runners-up at the Big South Championships for the first time ever.
The addition of Myles Creighton payed dividends in 2016-17 as he was named a Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-American, VaSID All-State Second Team, Big South Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Big South All-Academic Team and Big South All-Conference Team selection.
Creighton won the prestigious Rice Planters Amateur Golf Tournament in the summer of 2017 and won two career medals in 2016-17. He finished five-under (67) in the Wofford Invitational and finished four-under (68) in the Wexford Intercollegiate, where he garnered two Big South Player of the Week honors.
The outstanding golfers career ended in 2018, but not before he claimed the all-time scoring record at Radford. His 72.95 scoring average is the best of any Highlander. Not only did he claim the scoring title, but he is the first men’s golfer to claim the Big South Scholar Athlete of the Year Award in back-to-back seasons. His stellar career was capped off as he was named VGCA Second Team All-State and VaSID First Team All-State.
In 2013-14 Tanner Carbaugh secured a spot on the all-conference, all-tournament and all-academic teams, becoming the first Radford golfer to accomplish the “triple crown.” For the second straight season, RU was represented on the all-freshman team as Nick Brediger was selected to the group. The Highlanders concluded the season with eight Top-5 showings, including six straight to end the year. Radford produced a 291.7 scoring average, which is one of the best in program history.
In addition to 106 wins, the 2012-13 season was highlighted by Radford’s 12th all-conference men’s golfer (Weston Eklund), the Big South Freshman of the Year (Conner Hayden), the squad’s first team title since October 2007 and a team scoring average of 294.7.
Adding in their fourth-place finish at the Big South Championship, the Highlanders posted a 26-9 record against league competition. Led by Eklund’s 72.6 scoring average, RU used 24 of his 27 rounds, which included five top-10s. He tied for first at the ODU / OBX Invitational with a career-best 9-under-par 207 (73-64-70).
Radford peaked at the Bash at the Beach where it carded a three-day, 7-under-par 845 (281-274-290) to win its first team title since the Charleston Southern Fall Invitational in 2007. In addition, the Highlanders finished second at the Joe Agee Invitational and third at the Coca-Cola Invitational.
The 2011-12 campaign featured three top-5 team showings and several individual top-10s. Radford posted three consecutive top-5s as a team at the Wendy’s Challenge, Battle at the Beach and C&F Bank Intercollegiate. The first two were third-place finishes, while the Highlanders came in fifth at the C&F Bank Intercollegiate. The Highlanders posted a 97-54-1 overall head-to-head record.
Under the direction of Grant, Eklund blossomed in his junior year. The Charlottesville native was the top finisher in all six spring events and in the fall opener. Eklund boasted the Big South’s sixth-best stroke average at 72.3. He had the lowest round (66) of any Highlander and tied for a team-best with 15 rounds at-or-under par. In addition to concluding three tournaments in the red, Eklund had four top-5s -- a new school record. He finished fourth at the Spring Hill Suites Intercollegiate (-6) and Bash at the Beach (-3). The redshirt junior entered the clubhouse in fifth at the Wexford Intercollegiate (+6) and C&F Bank Intercollegiate (+3).
Grant’s 2010-11 squad produced one of the most successful campaigns in program history. Radford finished eighth or better in the team standings in all 10 tournaments played. His group went 20-7 in league play and accumulated 95 victories overall.
A runner-up showing (580, +4) at the C&F Bank Intercollegiate stood as the best finish for Radford since 2008. At the Big South Championship, the Highlanders were only five strokes out of second place and their round-two score of 291 (+3) was the second-lowest 18-hole score in team history in regards to Championship play. Grant’s group of four combined to card an 892, the second-lowest 54-hole Championship total in program history.
Grant guided Eklund to an outstanding season as a redshirt sophomore. Eklund, Big South Men’s Golfer of the Week for Oct. 22, led the team with a 73.2 stroke average, sixth-best in the conference. Eklund also took the overnight individual lead after the first round of the Big South Championship, a first in Grant’s coaching career.
In 2009-10, Grant led the men’s club to three top-5 finishes, including a season-best, second-place showing at the Frank Landrey Invitational. To go along with their finishes near the top of the leaderboard, the Highlanders also tallied six Top-10 showings.
During that season, Grant directed senior Kyle Bailey, who recorded the seventh-best scoring average (74.37) in the Big South and Weston Eklund, who tallied a 75.33 average, was 20th in the league.
In 2007-08, his Highlanders placed a school-best third at the conference tournament, earning Grant his first Coach of the Year honor. Along with his coaching accolade, Nick Little, Chris Dillow and Hampton Ballard were selected to the Big South all-conference squad, marking the first time in school history three members of the men’s golf team had received league recognition the same season. Little also finished first in the Big South in stroke average (73.39).
Along with his club’s successes on the golf course, Grant’s programs have excelled in the classroom as 19 Highlanders have been named to the league’s all-academic squad during his tenure. Creighton and Blevins have been selected the conference’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Terebey also garnered Academic All-America honors in 2004 and was awarded the Big South’s Christenberry Award, the most prestigious academic award the league bestows on an individual.
A 1991 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a B.S. Degree in Community and Public Affairs, Grant competed professionally on the PGA Tour, Canadian Tour and Nike Tour from 1995-1998. The highlight of his playing career came in 1994, when he competed in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
In the summer of 2005, Grant made another qualifying run at the U.S. Open, getting as far as Sectionals before falling just shy of making the field.
Before assuming his position as the head coach at Radford, Grant was a teaching professional at Thorn Springs Golf Club in the New River Valley, a position he held for a year. He also spent three and a half years (1998-2001) as the Assistant Golf Professional at Boonsboro Country Club in Lynchburg, Va.
Prior to turning pro in 1995, Grant served as the Assistant Professional at Flossmoor Country Club in Chicago, Ill. and as the Assistant Golf Coach at VCU.
Grant and his wife Tara reside in Radford and have three kids: Jake, Haley and Thomas.
The Grant File
Degree: B.S. Community and Public Affairs
Wife: Tara
Children: Jake, Haley, Thomas
Playing Experience
Virginia Commonwealth, 1988-91
PGA, Canadian, Nike Tour, 1995-98
Coaching Experience
Radford University Head Men’s Coach, 2003-pr.
Radford University Head Women’s Coach, 2003-08
Virginia Commonwealth Assistant Coach, 1992-93
Coaching Honors
Big South Coach of the Year, 2008, 2014, 2022, & 2024
