UW Golf Legend, O.D. Vincent, Elected to GCAA Hall of Fame

O.D. Vincent, the current Washington Senior Associate Athletic Director, has been elected to the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame.

As noted in the full press release (included below), Vincent is a Seattle native who played on UW's 1988 Pac 10 Championship golf team.  He coached at his alma mater before giving way to current UW Head Coach, Matt Thurmond, in 2001.

Vincent's contributions to UW Golf and athletics are numerous.  On the course, O.D. is one of the most decorated of all UW Men's golfers in history, he mentored some more of the greatest golfers in UW history and he won a myriad of honors including recognition as an All-American and multiple coach of year honors for both the Pac 10 and the NCAA.  He is the only person in Pac 10 history to both medal as a player and earn conference Coach of the Year honors.

Off the course, O.D. was instrumental in the design and construction of Washington National Golf Course, the home of Husky Golf, he landed the naming rights deal for Alaska Airlines Arena, and he supported UW's participation in negotiations to assign Pac 12 multimedia rights.

Vincent, who is a Sociology grad Class of '91, remains an active supporter of the GCAA and is involved in several golf activities outside of the UW.  He lives in Issaquah with his wife (former UW All American swimmer Jana Ellis) and thier two children.

Here is the full press release from the University of Washington.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Former Husky player, coach and administrator O.D. Vincent was elected to the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame on Wednesday. He and five others will be honored on the December 8 at the GCAA banquet in Las Vegas.

Vincent, the 1988 Pac-10 Champion for the Huskies went on to coach at Washington, UCLA and Duke. In his career, he coached 30 individual medalists, 35 team champions, 11 PING All-Americans, four Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars, two Conference Championship teams, two NCAA Regional titles and five NCAA top-10 team finishes, including the Huskies fourth-place finish in 1999, the best in program history. His teams qualified for the NCAA Championship in all 12 season he coached, advancing to the finals nine times including five top-10 finishes.

As a player, Vincent led the Dawgs to the 1988 Pac-10 title when he won the individual medal. He went on to finish 19th at the NCAA Championships after leading the tournament at the end of two rounds. He also earned All-America honors that season.

Vincent became head coach of the Huskies in 1996 and coached for six seasons. He was named the College Golf Association's National Coach of the Year, an honor selected by his peers for the 1999 season. Prior to the national honor, he was awarded District VIII Coach of the Year and Pacific-10 Conference co-Coach of the Year honors. He is the only person to win a Pac-10 individual title as a player and a Pac-10 title as a coach.

After stints as head coach at UCLA and Duke, Vincent returned to Washington in 2008 as Senior Associate Athletic Director, a position he served for four years.

Vincent's influence on the Husky golf program extends beyond his work as a player and coach. He was instrumental in the development of Washington National, the Husky home course that opened in August of 2000. The 18-hole course, located in Auburn, Wash., is branded with a Husky theme thanks to a sponsorship agreement with the Washington athletic department. It has quickly become a favorite course for northwest golfers and a welcome home for the UW men's and women's teams.

He was also a mentor to current Husky coach Matt Thurmond, who was an assistant for Vincent back in 2004.

"O.D. was an absolutely incredible mentor to me," said Thurmond. "He was just amazing and I look up to him so much. One year of working under him would be like 20 years of working under others. So I did get a crash course in coaching as I worked for him my first year at UW when I was an Assistant Coach."

For his career, Vincent was named Conference Coach of the Year three times, twice honored as NCAA District Coach of the Year, and received the 1999 Dave Williams Award presented by Eaton Golf Pride as national coach of the year. He served as the International Team coach for the 2004 USA vs Japan Collegiate Golf Championships and the 2006 USA China Friendship Cup.

He was also instrumental in the development of two practice facilities, created three team support groups, and started six different collegiate events. Vincent served on the GCAA All-America committee and continues to serve on the Byron Nelson Award committee. He remains the only golfer in Pac-12 history to win medalist honors as a player and later earn the league's coach of the year award.

Vincent was elected to the Washington Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012. He is currently in his second year as Executive Director of the PGA TOUR Northern Trust Open.