The 2020 National Coach of the Year and the head coach of the 2021 NCAA champions, Michael Beard has restored the Pepperdine men’s golf program to elite status and has the Waves poised for postseason success for years to come. He begins his 14th season as head coach in 2025-26.
Beard, a six-time West Coast Conference Coach of the Year and a two-time GCAA West Region Coach of the Year, took the Waves to the pinnacle in 2021 when Pepperdine captured its first national championship since 1997.
During his tenure, the Waves have won 22 tournaments and had 23 medalists, which includes six WCC team titles and five WCC individual champions. Twelve different Waves have been named All-Americans, and Sahith Theegala was the unanimous National Player of the Year in 2020, winning the Fred Haskins, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus awards.
With Beard in charge, there have been 38 All-WCC honors (31 on the first team) and 16 WCC All-Academic recipients (11 on the first team).
Under Beard, the Waves have posted 17 of the top 18 18-hole team scores in program history, and the program’s 10-best 54-hole scores. He’s been the head coach for nine of the top-10 players in career scoring average at Pepperdine.
Pepperdine has made nine consecutive NCAA Regional trips since 2015 and has made it to the NCAA finals six times, most recently earning a 12th place finish at the 2025 NCAA Tournament in Carlsbad, Calif.
The Waves won their program-record sixth tournament of the season at the 2021 NCAA Championships, held at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Pepperdine came in third place in stroke play to advance to match play for the first time in program history. The Waves beat the three highest-ranked teams in the country – Florida State, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma – to win the title.
The year prior, Beard guided the Waves to the nation’s #1 ranking in both the Bushnell Golfweek coaches poll and by Golfstat when the 2019-20 season was canceled in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After leading the Waves to three team titles over the course of the season, Beard received the Dave Williams Award as the Division I coach of the year (he was also a finalist for the award in 2021).
At the NCAA Championships under Beard, the Waves also finished 13th in 2017 and 11th in 2019. Both were the best finishes since 2004. Following the national championship season, the Waves returned to the NCAA finals in both 2022 and 2023. The program finished sixth in stroke play before reaching the national semifinals in 2022 and ended fifth in stroke play with a quarterfinal finish in 2023.
Beard’s first tournament title as head coach came at the 2015 WCC Championships, as the Waves rallied to edge Pacific by three strokes at Saticoy Country Club. That qualified Pepperdine for its first NCAA Regional appearance since 2011. He won another WCC title in 2018 at Carlton Oaks Golf Club, then picked up back-to-back titles in 2019 at the Reserve at Spanos Park. After the 2020 WCC Championships were cancelled, he’s won two more in 2021 and 2022 (both at Reflection Bay Golf Club).
He was rewarded with WCC Coach of the Year honors in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 (no award was given in 2020). He’s the only WCC men’s golf coach ever to earn the award in as many as three consecutive seasons. He and Gonzaga’s Mark Few are the only coaches in WCC history to earn six consecutive WCC Coach of the Year awards. Beard received the GCAA’s West Region Coach of the Year award in 2020 and 2021.
“I am extremely excited to be returning to Pepperdine as head coach,” said Beard at the time of his hiring in December 2012. “This program has great potential to be one of the best in the country. I’m looking forward to recruiting top-notch players, developing the talents of the current players and connecting with the program’s former players. It’s a privilege to coach at a university that has had such an impact on my life and the lives of many others. I truly believe in everything Pepperdine stands for. I am grateful for this opportunity at such a special place.”
“I am very excited that Michael Beard will be leading our men’s golf program,” Director of Athletics Steve Potts said at Beard’s hiring. “He has an intense passion for Pepperdine golf and the ability to return our program to national prominence. We have high expectations for our men’s golf team and Michael is committed to meeting those expectations. Most importantly, Michael is committed to the academic success of our student-athletes as well as the Christian mission of our institution.”
Beard competed for the Waves between 1999 and 2002 (earning Golf Coaches Association of America All-American honorable mention status in 2000 and 2002). After graduating, he played professionally for several years before going into coaching. Beard joined Pepperdine for one season (2010-11) as assistant coach before departing to be an assistant at Arizona State, where he served for a year and a half.
During his one season as an assistant at Pepperdine, Beard helped the Waves qualify for the 2011 NCAA Championships, where they finished 25th. It was Pepperdine’s first trip to the NCAA Championships since 2006. The squad also placed second at the West Coast Conference Championships and tied for fourth at the NCAA Southwest Regional.
Beard then left Pepperdine in August 2011 to join Tim Mickelson at Arizona State, where he stayed a little more than a year before his return.
“From the moment I hired Michael I knew he would someday become a D-I head coach,” Mickelson said. “He has the makeup to be a very successful head coach and I’m sure he will do just that at Pepperdine. While I am sad to see him go, I could not be happier for him and his family for the opportunity to return to Pepperdine where they have so many fond memories. We wish Michael all the success in the world in his next endeavor as head coach of Pepperdine.”
As a player for the Waves, Beard was the medalist at the 2000 NCAA West Regional and the 2002 WCC Championships, and was a four-time All-WCC first teamer between 1999 and 2002.
He is well-represented on Pepperdine’s career records lists. At the time of his graduation, he was the school record-holder in scoring average (72.72), below-par rounds (55), rounds played (162) and top-10 finishes (22). He averaged 72.07 strokes per round as a 2001-02 senior, which at the time was also a school record.
Pepperdine won WCC titles all four of his seasons and went to the NCAA Championships twice, including an eighth-place finish in 2002 where Beard tied for eighth in the individual standings.
After graduating from Pepperdine in 2002 with a degree in organizational communications, Beard turned professional and went on to play on the Gateway Tour (2003), Nationwide Tour (2004) and Canadian Tour (2005) as well as other various mini-tours. He played in two PGA Tour events: the 2004 Bob Hope Classic and 2005 Buick Open.
From 2008-10, Beard spent time teaching golf at Pronghorn Golf Club in Bend, Ore., and the Palms Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif.
He had the opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in the game, including Butch Harmon, Phil Rodgers and Stan Utley.
He and his wife Susannah have two sons, Clark and Graham. Beard attended Palm Desert (Calif.) High School. His father, Frank, is a former PGA player.
