Texas’ Fields gives Horseshoe Bay Sports Club look at marvelous career
Fresh from guiding the University of Texas men’s golf team to a national championship, head coach John Fields was the featured speaker of the latest gathering of the Rudy Davalos Horseshoe Bay Sports Club June 28 and sat next to the man who has meant so much to so many — Davalos himself.
Davalos, now a Horseshoe Bay resident and one of the founders of the local sports club, was the athletic director at the University of New Mexico when his counterpart at Texas, Deloss Dodds, offered Fields the Longhorns’ job.
“(Davalos) made it hard for me to leave, but it was the right time to leave,” Fields said.
He noted what the University of New Mexico meant to him; he was a four-year letterman for the Lobos and earned his degree in 1982. He joined the European Tour which provided a path to eventually join the PGA Tour with his wife, Pearl, as his caddie.
“We spent way more money than we made, so I became a PGA professional in south New Mexico,” he said.
He credits his college coach, Dwaine Knight, for hiring him at the University of New Mexico in the 1980s as an assistant coach. When Knight took the head job at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Fields took over the Lobos.
While at New Mexico, Fields guided the Lobos to three Western Athletic Conference titles and never finished worse than third in the league championships in his 10 years there. The Lobos finished in the top 15 five times at the NCAA Championships that included at No. 6 in 1996, their best showing since Fields was a Lobo golfer in 1979.
By the time Fields got to Texas, the Longhorns were part of the Big 12 Conference. And he hasn’t missed a beat. Under his direction, the Longhorns captured two national championships, in 2012 and 2022, had had nine top 5 finishes at the NCAA Championships that include 13 finishes in the top 10. Texas has won eight Big 12 titles and Fields has been named the national Coach of the Year twice.
When Texas was about to make its national championship run in the spring, Fields said he “tried to do everything we did in 2012.” He asked Ben Crenshaw to speak to his golfers before they left Austin, just like the legendary golfer did a decade earlier. The coach hoped Crenshaw would tell his current players how much he liked this team and why, just like he did in 2012.
Instead, Crenshaw helped the Longhorns with one trait teams in multiple sports must deal with – closing out an opponent. Fields asked Crenshaw if closing out opponents was talked about when he was member of the golf team when they won national titles in 1971 and 1972. Crenshaw said no. Instead, coach Harvey Penick talked to them about rhythm in everything they did – from the way they thought to the way they talked to the way they walked to their swings.
“When I could stay in rhythm, they weren’t going to get me that day,” Crenshaw told the golfers.
“That was an unbelievable moment,” Fields said. “That really spoke to my golfers. He did share with us that he really liked this team. We had multiple rounds on that course. When you have that kind of education on that course and you get our noses rubbed in it, I like your chances.”
Fields said he knew this team was poised to win a national title back in 2019. That year the Longhorns lost to Stanford 3-2 in the finals to finish as the runners-up. Stanford noted endurance was what led to victory, especially since the men in red trailed Texas at the turnaround. Last year, Texas finished tied for 25.
Fields’ teams have produced numerous golfers who have won on the PGA Tour, including Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler. Spieth was a member of the 2012 national championship team and left after three semesters to turn pro. Fields talked to the golfer right before he left.
“I want you to stay,” the coach recalled saying. “I know it’s the right time. You have six million reasons to turn pro. The money is always going to be there. Jordan said, ‘Coach, I’m a middle-class guy. It’s not about the money. I love to compete, I love playing golf, and I’m ready to go.'”
The one request Fields had was for Spieth to help him fulfill a bucket list item – to watch a Ryder’s Cup live with his wife. Spieth said he’d be there in two years and would make sure the Fields were there, too.
“And we were,” Fields said.
The coach noted the Texas golf program is 96 years old and has 96 PGA Tour victories and six major championships.
“There is no other school like that,” he said. “There is no competition for that.”
And Fields does it with 4.5 scholarships. That means that he gives partial scholarships to golfers who want to play at Texas where the university pays for parts of the education and the athlete pays the other parts. Name, Image and Likeness is one way the golfers have income coming to pay their expenses. Fields noted collectives, which are stand-alone start-up companies that create financial opportunities for athletes, are used to pay for Name, Image and Likeness to the athletes. The coach said the Texas golf team will soon have a collective.
“I have five guys (Longhorn golfers) who travel with us,” he said. “When we travel, three guys have agents and management groups, and all those guys are part of my team. NIL is here – you might as well love it. The biggest thing is to teach (my golfers) this is business and it can be a distraction. You have social media posts, you’re paying taxes and that sort of thing.”
As he looks toward the future (Fields said he’s still a few years away from retiring), he was very positive despite losing his top assistant, Jean-Paul Hebert, who was named the head coach at UNLV and replaces Knight.
The Longhorns are the new hosts of the NCAA Championships for 2024-26, and the tournament will be played at Golf at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, just north of San Diego. Fields credited current athletic director Chris Del Conte and Omni Hotels owner Bob Rollins, a Texas graduate, for Texas being named the hosts.
Fields noted the tournament needed to stay on the West coast because of The Golf Channel, which televises the event, loves the time difference for the East coast.
“They have the East coast time slot,” he said. “And you can count on weather. It’s not going to rain and force us off the golf course. The Texas staff is really excited about going out there. They’ve volunteered to work the event if we pay their expenses.”
As he thought about what’s coming, Fields didn’t keep his enthusiasm to himself.
“I’m excited about the golf team going forward,” Fields said. “I have a guy coming (to be my assistant coach) who was a three-time All-American at Clemson. He’s from Ireland. His name is Richie Coughlan. He was our volunteer assistant coach. The transition will be seamless. There’s no other state like this. I’m excited about Texas golf and Texas athletics.”
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