In the college athletics world of today, it is rare for a coach to spend even 10 years with the same program, let alone spend their whole career at one institution. This is just one of the many reasons why Richard Sykes’ tenure with the NC State men’s golf team is all-the-more commendable. After 46 years with his alma mater, the Hall-of-Famer is calling it a career.
Sykes, who is now 72 years old, became the head men’s golf coach at NC State just three years after his graduation from the university in 1968. During his time as a student, Sykes was a member of the varsity golf team coached by Al Michaels. When Michaels was promoted to be NC State’s head football coach, Sykes stumbled upon an opportunity he just couldn’t pass up.
What came next was unforeseen, even by Sykes himself. Through a period of almost a half-century, the legendary coach has led the Wolfpack to 23 NCAA regional appearances, 12 NCAA Championship appearances and the program’s first ACC title in 1990.
“[NC State] made [Michaels] the interim football coach when Earle Edwards retired,” Sykes said. “They [told me] to go ahead and take the [men’s golf] job. I thought it was just going to be that year. Next thing you know, another year and another year.”
Sykes has coached 47 All-ACC golfers and 34 All-Americans, six ACC individual champions, two ACC Players of the Year and a 2009 NCAA individual champion, Matt Hill. Although the Hall-of-Famer has modeled plenty of champions, what is even more impressive is the impact he has had on the lives of the young men he has coached. Many of these impacts have been felt for generations to come.
In 1983, Nolan Mills won three tournaments and the 1983 ACC Championship by a conference record nine strokes as a member of the Wolfpack. In 2017, his son, sophomore Nolan Mills Jr., took home first place to help NC State secure a win in the Wolfpack Spring Open, Sykes’ last ever home event.
“I grew up a State fan,” Mills Jr. said. “I made my first visit here and met with Coach Sykes and saw what he was like, and that was my decision right there. [My dad] said [Sykes] was just a lot of fun and said the right things at the right time. My dad had a very special relationship with Coach Sykes and wanted me to have the same.”
Only two members on the men’s golf team at NC State will have been in the program for their entire four years coached by Sykes. For those players, there have been countless takeaways, on and off the golf course. Senior Jacob McBride finished the Wolfpack Spring Open in second place overall, just four strokes behind his teammate, Mills Jr.
“I think it’s one of those things where at the moment you don’t necessarily realize it,” McBride said. “But in 10 years, looking back on it, you’re going to be like ‘Wow, it’s amazing everything he’s accomplished.’ I got to play for one of the most well-respected coaches in college golf history.”
Although it was hard for Sykes to close the page on his illustrious career, he finds comfort in knowing he has left the men’s golf program in a good place.
“Knowing that the resources are going to be here next year,” Sykes said. “It was time to stop. I thought [by next year] we would have a really good team. I knew what recruits would be coming in. You want to walk away with a good team — you don’t want to walk away with a bad one. You don’t want to work all that time and leave here and leave someone else in shambles to start off with.”
Sykes made sure that the NC State men’s golf program he raised and nurtured would be strong enough to sustain success without him at the helm. His legacy, as an all-time great ACC golf coach, and developer of young men will lead Sykes to go down as a Wolfpack legend.
