THE FLATS – Georgia Tech golf head coach Bruce Heppler has signed a five-year contract extension and the Yellow Jackets have officially named Jeff Paton and Evan Smith as assistant coaches, Tech announced on Monday.
Heppler’s contract extension runs through the 2028-29 season. In his 30th year as head coach, Heppler has led the Yellow Jackets to 14 Atlantic Coast Conference titles, 21 trips to the NCAA Championship finals and four national runner-up finishes – all unprecedented for any program at Georgia Tech. He has guided the Jackets to 26-straight NCAA regionals and 72 total tournament victories. In the last two years, Tech has finished second at the 2023 NCAA Championship and tied for third in 2024.
Individually, Heppler has coached three U.S. Amateur champions (Matt Kuchar – 1997, Andy Ogletree – 2019 and Tyler Strafaci – 2020, a British Amateur titlist (Christo Lamprecht – 2023) and two NCAA individual champions (Troy Matteson – 2002 and Hiroshi Tai – 2024).
“Bruce Heppler is one of the most decorated and successful head coaches in Georgia Tech athletics history,” director of athletics J Batt said. “His program has only gotten stronger in recent years, with back-to-back top-three finishes at the last two NCAA Championships, as well as three amateur major champions and an NCAA individual champion in the past six years. We’re looking forward to him continuing to lead our golf program to new heights.”
In addition to locking in Heppler to a contract extension, Georgia Tech has added two new assistant coaches in Paton and Smith.
Paton, who served as a volunteer coach at Tech since 2021, has worked as a self-employed PGA Tour coach since 2015, coaching top-level amateur players and touring pros at all levels. That followed a 32-year career as a golf professional at various clubs in the area, including two stints as director of golf at the Golf Club of Georgia in Alpharetta, Ga., the Yellow Jackets’ home golf course. The native of Lowell, Mass. has been honored as the Georgia Section PGA Teacher of the Year and Georgia Section PGA Merchandiser of the Year (twice). He has served as past president of the Georgia PGA Assistants division, the Georgia PGA North Chapter and the Georgia Golf Course Owners Association, and has served on the board of directors of the Georgia Section PGA. He is a certified PGA Tour instructor.
“Jeff has been part of our program in some way shape or form for almost 30 years and was instrumental in our getting a team membership at the Golf Club of Georgia in 1996,” Heppler said. “He was worked with many of our most successful alums through the years. It will be very valuable having his teaching skill set around our players on a full-time basis.”
With a decade of experience in the golf industry, Smith served as the head men’s and women’s golf coach at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, N.C. in 2018-19, following a two-year stint as an assistant coach at Point University in West Point, Ga. and director of golf at Point University Golf Club (2016-18). In between coaching stints and his appointment at Tech, the Kennesaw, Ga., native joined the U.S. Army in July 2019 and graduated from the Army School of Infantry, earning the role of class first sergeant and overseeing the well-being and training of fellow trainees. At Tech, he will be involved in coaching and recruiting, fitness development during competitions, assisting with practice design and setup, supervising technology at Tech’s Noonan Practice Facility, assisting with fundraising and all other daily compliance and reporting responsibilities.
“Evan brings great energy and experience to the program as a former collegiate player and coach,” Heppler added. “His experience as a head coach will be very helpful as he assists with all of the day-to-day administrative aspects of the program as well as our fund-raising efforts. His five-year military career will also be of a great benefit as we organize our coaching efforts.”
Georgia Tech golf opened its 2024-25 season this past weekend with an eighth-place finish among an ultra-strong field at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate. The 11th-ranked Yellow Jackets return six letterwinners in 2024-25, including defending NCAA champion Hiroshi Tai and three others who competed for the Yellow Jackets at the 2024 NCAA Championship, where they advanced to the national semifinals.
