UNLV’s record start is a reminder that a program’s culture belongs on your college list next to its results.
When your family sits down with a college coach, questions about scoring averages and tournament schedules matter. UNLV’s start this fall is a reminder to ask about something else, too: how a coach treats the people on the roster.
Per KTNV’s Taylor Rocha, the UNLV women’s golf team has opened its season with three straight tournament wins, a first in program history. The run comes alongside a personal milestone for head coach Amy Bush-Herzer: induction into the Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame.
Bush-Herzer has led the Rebels to six Mountain West championships since taking over in 2010. She told KTNV the honor was a reminder that people notice what she gives to her players and the community every day.
Her road to college coaching wasn’t direct. A Tempe, Arizona, native, she started playing at 11 when her uncle handed her a club, and she moved to Las Vegas as a golf professional expecting a short stay before heading back to Phoenix. That was 26 years ago. Then-UNLV coach Missy Ringler asked her three times to join the staff, and the third ask finally got her to visit campus, where the energy won her over.
That welcome is something she now passes on. “I treat my student-athletes like they’re my children,” she told KTNV. She described a program built around players feeling comfortable being themselves, with an eye on life after golf. Her favorite day of the year is graduation. She even tells anyone having a rough day to stop by the team’s golf excellence center, because they laugh a lot there.
The results back up the culture. Bush-Herzer said each of the three wins has featured a different player posting a personal best, and the Rebels are chasing another conference title and a spot at the national championship. Her plan for getting there is to take small steps now.
The Hub’s view, and this is our opinion: the most telling detail isn’t the three wins. It’s that a different player set a personal best in each one. That points to a program where the whole lineup is growing, not one player carrying the team. And a coach whose favorite day is graduation is telling you what she values beyond the scorecard.
So what does this mean for your family? As you build your college list, put culture on it next to results. Ask coaches what their favorite day of the year is, how players develop over four years, and what the experience looks like for someone not yet in the lineup. Then ask current players whether the answers hold up. The right fit is a place where you can play your best golf and still be yourself.
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PC: Las Vegas Golf Hall of Fame