Fifth-year senior standout Fred Biondi (left) and his UF teammates had the steadying hand and passionate guidance of a true "Gator Great" in assistant coach Dudley Hart at their remarkable run to the NCAA title.
Hart of a Champion
Tuesday, June 6, 2023 | Men's Golf, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In the aftermath of clinching the program's first NCAA title in 22 years, Florida men's golf coach J.C. Deacon found himself facing a lot of microphones and cameras last week. With each sound byte, Deacon's gratitude and humility were on display, especially when it came to sharing the crowning achievement with his close friend, confidante and assistant coach Dudley Hart.
"When Dudley got here, that's when we went from good to great," Deacon said.
In 2021, the Gators finished ninth at the Southeastern Conference tournament, were the last team to make the cut at their NCAA regional and finished 22nd at the national championships, failing to reach the match-play portion for the 12th time in as many tries since the NCAA instituted the format in 2009.
It was after that season that UF assistant Mark Leon left to become head coach at Florida Atlantic. Hart, a nearly 30-year veteran on the PGA Tour and one of the greatest players in UF history, was in his fourth year as a volunteer assistant for the team. Hart let it be known he was very interested in the assistant coach vacancy, with Deacon pushing back with some real talk about the demands of the job, specifically the grind of recruiting.
"Duds," as he's know around the clubhouse, was undeterred. This is what he wanted. This was his true passion.
Florida coachJ.C. Deacon shares an embrace of a lifetime with assistant coach Dudley Hart in the moments after the Gators clinched the 2023 NCAA Championship on May 31 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
"Every job has responsibilities that you just have to understand and accept. That's just part of the deal," said Hart, now 54, who in 2002 rose to the No. 21 ranking in the world. "You want to be a great program, you have to get guys who are talented and then you have to mold and shape them because you don't just come out of the womb knowing how to play golf. I didn't and I don't know anybody who has. I'm still learning at my age and I tell all these guys you have to have an open mind and be ready to have conversations about different things with regard to golf. There are infinite scenarios this game can throw at you."
And it was with those conversations — whether on the practice range or on the golf course — that Hart, with his more than $12.6 million in career earnings and those three decades of professional experience, excelled and helped Deacon and his team navigate some choppy waters on the way to the program's fifth NCAA title and first since 2001.
Mere moments after Fred Biondi's par on No. 18 secured Florida's 3-1 victory over Georgia Tech in the match-play final at Scottsdale, Ariz., Deacon and Hart had an emotional embrace on the green, with The Golf Channel microphone catching Deacon telling his friend, "Thank you for this."
Fitting words, absolutely, but making these kinds of memories all the more special were Hart's deeply sincere intentions when he first reached out to the Gators in 2014 when Coach Buddy Alexander, after 27 years, announced he was stepping down. Hart, a four-time All American at Florida from 1987-90 and part of a team that finished two shots off a NCAA title (behind Arizona State and Phil Mickelson) in 1990, wanted to be considered for the head job. And if he did not get the job, Hart reiterated, he wanted to somehow get involved with the program again.
"Of all the guys that played for Buddy, he was the one I could always call and ask for advice," recalled UF senior associate athletics director Mike Spiegler, charged with administrative oversight of golf. "When he called us and asked about the job it wasn't because he needed the money. He wanted to give back to the program."
The UF search committee eventually landed on Deacon, the assistant at Nevada-Las Vegas, and he eventually connected with Hart.
When Leon bolted seven years later, that connection went next level with Hart being hired as the full-time assistant.
How It Started:Dudley Hart, UF All American in 1990 (left) How It's Going:Dudley Hart, UF assistant coach and NCAA champion in 2023 (right)
His imprint on the program was instantaneous, but not necessarily in a way the team (Deacon and the players, including the star-studded trio of Fred Biondi, Ricky Castillo and John DuBois) were ready for.
"We obviously had a lot of talent, but the structure Dudley brought to our program changed everything," Deacon said of Hart, who was inducted in the UF Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003 and whose image (as well as collegiate and pro exploits) already was prominent throughout the clubhouse. "I think I fought him on it early [and] some of our players fought him on it early, but he just wanted to get in a routine and know what you need to do on a daily basis to get better, Dudley is everyday, double-down, double-down, double-down. Every day he takes preparation and practice seriously."
Personal too. The job and the relationships.
"He just really cares about each and every one of us," Castillo said. "He's the first one to get here in the morning and the last to leave; not just once a week, but he does that every day. And when we see him do it, it makes us want to be out here and working harder."
It's not unusual to see Hart hopping into the ball-picker for a drive to clear the driving rang or straightening up the players' lounge or even doing maintenance work around the place ("I can be pretty impatient sometimes," he said. "Even a little OCD."). Like when Deacon found him time installing new cabinets and painting the baseboards in the club offices before a big recruiting visit last year.
The Gators matter deeply to him, the program matters deeply to him, because he lived it, excelled in it, benefited from it and wants the same for the current players.
"I'm a pretty laidback guy, but this, right here, is where you get better. I've gotten mad three times in two years at these guys and two of them were back there on that range, for whatever the reason. I think once because someone's phone went off," Hart said. "No. This is where we get better. We take it really seriously back there, then we go on the road to play and have fun, and see what happens. Then we come home, work on what we have to do, and go on the road again. Rinse and repeat."
Redshirt sophomore Ryan Hart (left) with dad Dudley at the championship last week.
What he brought to the program proved a perfect compliment for Deacon and the relationship — already pretty good from those volunteer assistant years — took off. For Hart, the opportunity also allowed him to unite with his son, Ryan, who joined the team in 2020 as a freshman, played in five tournaments during the '22-23 season and figures prominently in the coming seasons.
Being together to raise a trophy made for quite a unique father/son moment in Arizona last week.
"I have so much respect for J.C., as a human being and a coach. He's been super gracious with me, even when I was a volunteer assistant who wanted to come up here and help a school that did so much for me when I was in college and helped put me on a path to live my dream of playing on the PGA Tour," Hart said. "We've just gotten closer and closer. We talk multiple, multiple times a day, even when we're not in season. Our wives make fun of us, like's it's a bro-mance kind of thing."
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