Baylor MG’s Mike McGraw Retiring from Coaching

WACO, Texas – Baylor men's golf coach Mike McGraw, who led the Bears to NCAA Championship berths in six of the previous nine potential championship seasons, announced on Wednesday that he is retiring from coaching, effective immediately.

A 42-year veteran coach who spent the last 28 years in NCAA Division I golf, McGraw said he was "stepping away from coaching to help (my wife) Pam with her health issues." Pam McGraw, his wife of 30 years, has to take dialysis three times a week for five hours at a time, "and I need to be there for her," Mike said.

The 65-year-old McGraw said he wanted to thank Oklahoma State, Alabama and Baylor for giving him the chance to coach golf on the collegiate level, where he has won three national championships.

"It's been an amazing journey," McGraw said. "Thankful to have been on it with so many great people."

In 12 years at Baylor, McGraw led the program to unprecedented heights, including 20 team championships, 13 individual titles and 11 All-America selections. Prior to his arrival, Baylor had advanced to the NCAA Championship five times in program history, with McGraw's teams topping that with six appearances in the last nine NCAA Championships.

"It is hard to overstate how blessed we are to have had Mike McGraw lead our men's golf program for over a decade and how thankful I am to get to call him a mentor and friend," said Baylor Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug McNamee.

"Any list of the most influential leaders in college golf for the past generation has to include Coach McGraw. And we saw that firsthand here in his dedication to excellence on the course, in the classroom, and in leading young men to successful careers in golf and beyond. We are deeply grateful for his service to the Baylor Family and wish him all the best as he enters this well-deserved next chapter."

Getting his start in coaching in 1984 as a voluntary assistant at Edmond (Okla.) Memorial after graduating from Central Oklahoma University, McGraw led Edmond North to three state championships in four seasons as the Huskies' head coach.

Joining the Oklahoma State coaching staff in 1997 as the men's assistant, McGraw helped lead the Cowboys to the 2000 national championship. He was the head coach for the women's team for one season, leading the Cowgirls to the 2005 Big 12 championship, before eight years as the head men's coach in Stillwater.

McGraw's OSU team won the 2006 national championship and finished as the national runner-up in 2010. In his eight seasons, the Cowboys won five Big 12 titles and advanced to the NCAA Championship five times.

Before coming to Baylor in June 2014, McGraw served as an assistant coach on the Alabama team that won a national championship.

A 2025 inductee into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, McGraw led Baylor to four-consecutive NCAA Championship berths, highlighted by a match play appearance in 2017 and the program's best finish with a tie for fifth, falling 3-2 to eventual national champion Oklahoma in a 19^th-hole playoff.

Johnny Keefer, a three-time All-American and the only three-time Big 12 Men's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year in conference history, became the latest of McGraw's pupils to make it to the PGA Tour. The points leader in the PGA Tour of Americas and Korn Ferry Tour in his first two professional seasons, Keefer earned his Tour card this year and is currently 46^th on the Official World Golf Rankings.

Ryan Murphy, who came to Baylor in January 2025 after 10 seasons as the head women's golf coach at the University of Texas, will serve as the interim head coach this spring. The Bears will play in the Brentwood Collegiate Feb. 9-10 in Montgomery, Texas.

For the latest news on the Baylor men's golf team all year long, follow its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorMGolf.

- BaylorBears.com -

Baylor MG’s Mike McGraw Retiring from Coaching

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