> GolfWRX Audio Chat Transcripts and Audio Download - Nike's Marlin "Cricket" Musch February 2007

[taylormadefan]

Collegiate and Amateur Golf Director Audio Download coming soon

GolfWRX, your all inclusive internet golf headquarters is proud to present an internet chat with Marlin “Cricket” Musch, college amateur golf manager for Nike Golf.

Part1

0:15 – GolfWRX: Welcome, we’d like to welcome Nike Golf, we’ve got Marlin “Cricket” Musch with us right now. Cricket, we’re going to get some general information out of the way from the start. I’ve got to ask you, first of all, about your nickname, how did that come about, Cricket?

0:31 – Cricket: The day I was born, I weighed less than five pounds and the doctor, who was a personal friend of the family, told my parents they had a son that was as little as a cricket and my parents never called me anything other than “Cricket” my entire life.

0:45 – GolfWRX: That’s a great story. Cricket, you’ve had a long and storied career throughout the golf industry, in just about every capacity imaginable. Can you give us a little run down of all the companies you’ve worked for and all the things you’ve done?

1:01 – Cricket: First off, I had the privilege to work in a number of terrific jobs in my career. One of the first ones was head golf coach at the University of Texas at El Paso – UTEP – and we started that program back in the early eighties and was there a little over nine years. I left that job and became the executive director of what is called the Sun Bowl, which is a college football bowl game and all the affiliated events that surround it, in El Paso, Texas. And by the way, that’s the second oldest bowl game in America behind the Rose Bowl. When I left the Sun Bowl after three years, I went to work at Karsten Manufacturing – people that make Ping golf clubs – started there in a similar role that I am here at Nike Golf, in charge of their collegiate, their amateur, and their junior programs. I did that for five years, and then I moved up to become the director of their tournament player division which ran their entire Tour program which included their college program and I did that for six years. I left Ping in 2003 and joined a group called Gaylord Sports Management to represent professional athletes. We had about forty golfers and when I left after three years, we had about twenty-five baseball players. I had the opportunity when I first started to recruit and work with a couple of terrific young players: Ricky Barnes who won the US Amateur in 2002 and Ryan Moore who is a terrific young player, and several other professional golfers and some instructors. Following that, I took about a ten month sidestep out of sports and went to work for a consulting company and insurance company in Albuquerque, New Mexico with one of my very best friends from college, the Manolo Pon Agency. Did that, and had the good fortune and luck to get a phone call a couple of months ago from the people here at Nike Golf. They asked me if I was interested in getting back into the business that I have pretty much spent my whole life in, and to be in Nike Golf Sports Marketing as the manager of their collegiate, amateur, and junior program, and that’s where we are today.

3:58 – GolfWRX: That’s absolutely amazing resume. How did this all get started Cricket? Were you a golfer that was always crazy about the game and wanted to get in the sport, or was there another reason why you started working in golf?

4:15 – Cricket: I grew up in a small town in Southern New Mexico, called Alamogordo, which actually has produced a number of terrific golfers over the course of time. My parents exposed me to the game when I was five, and I really, really enjoyed it. They had a very active junior program at this club, two guys you know very well came out of that junior program as well as I did. One of them is Brad Bryant who played on the PGA Tour 18 years and he plays on the senior tour now he won last year, and his younger brother Bart, who has made a name for himself recently. But all of us were part a junior program and a very good high school golf program where we won several state championships and had the pleasure to work with a couple of people who knew the game and taught us what working on our golf game is all about and that’s why we’re here today.

5:18 – GolfWRX: Now with collegiate kids with much experience and previous coaching and as a college coach, how did you find a balance when dealing with kids’ natural swings and still helping them improve and become better players?

5:35 – Cricket: As a coach, I never tried to change people’s golf swings too much. I think most of the kids that we recruited had teachers, or instructors, or people that they worked with. I always encouraged them to do that, I think most kids, when they get in trouble, their instructor can help them out and if there’s any issues, especially as good, that it’s more about ball position or alignment for the most part, and you could fix those things quickly.

6:10 – GolfWRX: What was the most rewarding thing about coaching college golf for you?

6:15 – Cricket: One of the great things about being the golf coach at UTEP was - it was really starting that program from scratch because they did not have a golf program. They had what you would call a club team in the sixties, but for the most part, they didn’t have a competitive Division I golf program. When Title 9 came in and universities were required to have a certain number of sports, golf was a logical choice at UTEP. The fact that we started that program from scratch in 1981 and won a Conference Championship in 1985 and then had a chance to win the National Championship in 1988 – if it hadn’t been for UCLA in the final round making two twenty footers on the last hole – we would have won. That was probably the most rewarding thing was to take a program from scratch and bring in kids who really, really wanted an opportunity to play and to have success.

7:11 – GolfWRX: Sounds very rewarding. With all those rewards, do you still miss coaching and what is it that you miss most about it?

7:20 – Cricket: There’s a lot of terrific people in college golf coaching still today, and guys that I coached against, guys that I played against, Buddy Alexander being one, he and I used to battle as juniors and we played against each other in college. He’s still coaching, very successful with guys like David Toms, he coached him at LSU, Chris DiMarco and Camillo Villegas. Being around those people and being around young kids that have a vision of wanting to be a professional golfer, maybe, or someone who has grown up in the business. I could talk for hours about the kids who you’ve had an influence on their lives, and that’s the rewarding part of it.

8:12 – GolfWRX: Name one story for us?

8:16 – Cricket: One of the first real issues I had as a coach is that one of the rules was if you didn’t go to class, you didn’t play – end of story. I had a couple of guys when we started, I couldn’t just go out and recruit players, I had to go to junior colleges and find guys that were competitive enough so that we weren’t going to get our lunch handed to us every week. I had a couple of kids from junior college that once they got through their first year and the second semester of their senior year of their eligibility, decided they weren’t going to play golf, or they weren’t going to go to school. I found out about it after checking up on classes and stuff and called both of them into the office and told them they were suspended for three weeks and we would pick it up later on and they would still have an opportunity to qualify later on. Both of them told me that they’d had enough me and I said I’ve had enough of them and I kicked them off the team. About six years ago, I got a phone call from one of those guys and he said, “I want to thank you.” His name was Rod Stewart, he said, “I want to thank you because you made me think about some things and I didn’t think about it immediately.” But he went back and got a college degree and he started working for Toro selling golf maintenance equipment and has a real job and straightened his life up. He said, “If you hadn’t of done that, I probably would have never done that, I’d have been a knucklehead the rest of my life.” That was probably one of the most rewarding experiences.

9:54 – GolfWRX: Wow, that’s cool, there’s more to life than a paycheck. Next question, Cricket, what do you enjoy about being in the industry side of golf?

10:03 – Cricket: You know, it’s exciting because number one, you are around the best players in the world, but you’re also on the inside of club development and having some influence on what happens at a manufacturer. I’m really excited about the opportunity to be here at Nike Golf because it’s really the tip of the iceberg they have experienced so far. I think the world will see here in the next few years exactly what this company is capable of doing.

10:42 – GolfWRX: Along the lines between coaching and industry, what are the benefits working in industry you didn’t experience coaching? Anything additional to what you just added?

10:55 – Cricket: I just think it’s such a broader base of knowledge and you work with people at a much higher level when it comes to sophistication with developing golf equipment and the brands. I think from a business standpoint, I’ve learned a lot about the golf industry and how it works. As a college golf coach, you’ve dealt with people and players and parents, and you basically try to get them to shoot the lowest scores that they could and make sure that they graduated from college. And this is a much broader based experience from a business standpoint.

11:43 – GolfWRX: With your diversity of experience, I’m really excited to hear about what you have to say about this next question. How does a player know if he’s good enough to play college golf? What does it really take to get into a Division I, Division II, and Division III school?

12:01 – Cricket: In the last fifteen years, the talent in golf has been exponentially expanded across so many different areas of this country, and the world for that matter. I mean, you’re seeing a lot of kids coming from overseas to play and all of these kids are really talented. Obviously they’ve had better instruction; I think from a technology standpoint, the ability to gain knowledge, whether it’s through the internet or through the commitment that people like The Golf Channel and golf magazines and golf equipment companies, for that matter, have made and growing the game. The PGA of America, the PGA Tour, the First Tee, all those people have grown this game. But I think kids are just better. You know, when I first started coaching, if you could find a kid that could shoot 75 or lower, he could probably be your fifth or sixth persona on your team. That’s not the case any more. At the Division I level, if you’re going to play on a team like that, you’d better shoot in the sixties and I remember one of the first lessons I was told by a guy that’s probably been the most successful of all time, Mike Holder at Oklahoma State, is he said, “Son, if you find kids that shoot in the sixties you’re a pretty good coach, and if you can’t you’re not worth a darn.”

13:40 – GolfWRX: That’s interesting that you’re throwing these numbers out because what I’m thinking is what if a kid’s good, but he’s not that good? Then he needs to be looking at a Divison II or a Division III? Because I also know I read somewhere that Lee Janzen went to a Division II school and I think he had a pretty good track record on Tour?

14:04 – Cricket: There’s been a number of stories like that – he and Rocco Mediate were on the same team at Florida Southern. Today, there’s a number of kids who don’t even go to college that are on the PGA Tour. And you’re going to find more and more of that as time goes on. There’s tremendous opportunity for kids to play at a collegiate level, but I would say the first thing is that if you shoot in the mid to low seventies, you’re going to be able to play at a Division III school, NAI school, a lot of kids still go to junior colleges to get better. The one thing I will say is that it’s important that wherever a kid goes that he has the opportunity to play, because if he sits on the sidelines, he’s not going to get any better – he or she will not get any better.

15:03 – GolfWRX: That makes sense. So, I’ve got you on record saying that, “Division I – you’ve got to shoot in the sixties, Division III if you want to play, mid – low seventies.” So Division II, at this point and time, what, somewhere in the low seventies, high sixties to get a chance to play?

15:25 – Cricket: I just think that kids are so much better today and I think that if you’re a scratch golfer, you’re going to have an opportunity to play at all levels.

15:38 – GolfWRX: Why are kids so much better? Is it the instruction? (laughing) Are we feeding them something different? What’s going on?

15:44 – Cricket: I do think it’s instruction, I do think it’s the growth of the game. There are so many avenues to get instruction. These kids aren’t just golfers any more, they’re athletes and that’s really important to our brand at Nike Golf, because we’re looking at athletes and golfers. These kids, they’re in better shape, I think technology from an equipment standpoint has really advanced, people of all different skill levels game’s and I think the game has grown so much and there are so many more people out there who are good instructors and good teachers, and they’re playing with better stuff.

16:33 – GolfWRX: You’re obviously very well known. I’m in state of Illinois, in the Chicago Illinois area, and I talked to a couple of coaches in the area – college coaches and the director of instruction at Olympia Fields – everybody knows you. You’re like a household name. With that in mind, Cricket, what do you think the best college programs are?

16:58 – Cricket: Historically, there have been some that have been able to be competitive year after year. Obviously Oklahoma State, the job that Mike Holder did after Labron Harris left. I think Mike won nine National Championships, they just won again last year after turning the program over to Mike McGraw and Allen Bratton. University of Florida has always been perennially one of the better teams. Wakeforest, Texas, University of Arizona, Arizona State, Stanford is back up there again. They had terrific teams in the sixties when Watson was there, of course Tiger went there, this year they’ve won four tournaments. There are so many good programs. When I was at UTEP in the eighties, there were probably ten or twelve programs that separated themselves. Now there are thirty-five or forty teams that are really, really good. If you look at for example, Cal, won the National Championship a couple of years ago at the Homestead. Now, Cal’s not known for golf, but they won a National Championship. Pepperdine – with Jason Gore, it’s just amazing, Minnesota – won a National Championship. So, there are so many good, young coaches and there are so many kids playing this game at a high level, that you can build a program, and these kids are coming form all over the world. It’s hard to pick the best ones, but the guy that still owns the school, well Yale has won I don’t know how many National Championships, but that was a long time ago. Houston won sixteen National Championships under Dave Williams, today their program is there, but it’s not anywhere near where it used to be.

Part 2:

0:13 - GolfWRX: You mentioned there are over thirty programs that are outstanding. What are these thirty programs doing that sets them apart from the rest of the schools? Obviously they’ve got good coaches, and they’re recruiting good kids, are they doing anything else that’s separating them from the other schools?

0:32 – Cricket: The first thing that has to happen is that the athletic department, the athletic director, and the university has to have a commitment to the program. There’s a lot more schools that are doing that and they’re realizing that golf is such a great vehicle for them to raise money, not only for golf programs but also for the entire athletic program and for that matter, the entire university. The relationship, and I don’t think this is any secret, the relationship that Mike Holder had at Oklahoma State with Boone Pickens, he just donated 165 million dollars to their athletic program, and he’s going to donate that much or more again, and that was through the relationship he had with the golf coach before he became the athletic director. I think the schools are doing several things: they’re making a commitment to the golf program and to the kids both men and women, they are also starting to realize the importance of having terrific facilities. So these schools, if they’re building their own golf courses, they’re building state of the art practice facilities. Some teams are going out and they’re buying time with these jet companies where these kids aren’t flying commercial any more, and they’re putting them on private jets and flying them to tournaments, they’re buying hours. And it has continued to step up, and up, and up and it’s full time business.

2:07 – GolfWRX: Heading in a different direction, can you describe your tenure with Ping? And continuing further down that, how’s working at Ping compared to working at Nike, which one is better?

2:28 – Cricket: The’re two totally different companies, Karsten Manufacturing is still a family owned company, it’s privately held by the Solheim family. They do a terrific job at building quality golf equipment, and it was a pleasure to work there. But I’ve found some similarities to it – it was very much a family atmosphere at Ping – and I’ve only been with Nike Golf for a little over a month, but I can tell you it’s very much a family atmosphere here and the two businesses Nike incorporated, you know, it started as an idea with Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight – those two guys putting their heads together and coming up with a better mouse trap, if you will, for running shoes and the same way with Karsten when he started building putters that were more forgiving than anything that was ever done and heat treating those on a stove in his house. From a standpoint, it was people with an idea for how to build something better for the athlete, or for the golfer. That’s the similarities. I will tell you at Nike and at Nike Golf, we are outside the box compared to Ping and we look at things a lot differently.

4:00 – GolfWRX: How so? What do you mean by “outside the box?”

4:03 – Cricket: I just think that our approach here at Nike Golf and the way we have looked at building brands, I don’t think it’s any secret, when we make up our mind we want to be number one at something, we’re gong to do it. One of the things that I think I’ve really learned quickly here is how important it is that we listen to our athletes and what it means to take that feedback and put it into action. So, I’ve been learning a lot, I can’t get any more detailed that that, but I promise you, in a year, I’ll be able to expound on that a lot more.

4:46 – GolfWRX: Well, we’re looking forward to it Cricket. In your opinion, Cricket, what separates top collegiate players from Tour players, and the best players on the Tour? What’s the missing link, is it putting, is it ball striking, is it mental, is it maturity, is it experience? Going from collegiate player to Tour player to the best players on Tour, why is there so much difference between these guys? What is it?

5:14 – Cricket: Well, maturity is a big factor. I think the way that Tour players play, the really successful ones know how to control their golf ball and they do not rare back and let it rip all the time. I think players, when they learn to do that, I don’t think any of these kids that are in college these days are afraid of playing with the better players – in fact, I think they look forward to that – but I just think it’s a maturity factor, and I think that the experience of playing on Tour for a couple of years is a huge advantage. You just learn how to get around; traveling on a week to week basis is a tough deal. Learning how to manage your time - it is a circus at times on Tour, and I think that sometimes these younger kids get caught up in that, and it’s those that are mature enough to deal with that and really play the game to go try to win, those are the ones that are really successful.

6:24 – GolfWRX: With instruction getting so much better these days, with these kids, these Division I schools shooting in the sixties, do you see a big difference between the top college kids and Tour players talent wise?

6:43 – Cricket: No, I just think the Tour players are more refined. They’re all really talented, and there are some kids in college that have come out recently that really can play.

7:04 – GolfWRX: Cricket, what are the differences working with these Tour players and college players and the amateurs? What difference personality wise, what do you notice?

8:31 – Cricket: You know, there’s not a lot of difference honestly. I think the college kids are more of a sponge, if you will, they rub it in. But a lot of them have been exposed to what it’s like to be treated like a Tour player, that there’s not a ton of difference. I think Tour guys for the most part have a better feel for what they want, and college players are probably a little more open. But the gap is narrowing, if anything, the difference between them.

7:56 – GolfWRX: Do us a favor Cricket, describe, because I know you’ve got a pretty interesting title, could you describe your current position with Nike, what exactly you do?

8:11 – Cricket: Well, I’m in Nike Golf Sports Marketing and I manage their collegiate, their amateur, their junior golf programs. We work with a number of universities, in that program, we also work with some of the more elite junior players, we’re involved with junior golf at several levels, and then again at amateur golf, with some of the better amateurs. It all is based around trying to grow our brand, but also grow the game itself.

8:49 – GolfWRX: Taking it a step further, can you give us an idea of an average day in your life, and an average week in your life? What are they like? We know you get up, and you shower, and you eat breakfast, what happens after that?

9:05 – Cricket: Do you know that for a fact?

9:07 – GolfWRX: (laughing) No, I don’t, I was taking an educated guess, Cricket.

9:13 – Cricket: I spend a lot of time on the phone with coaches, talking about their players. I will be spending a lot of time going to see teams and working with their players getting feedback on our equipment. Some of the newer things in our line and exposing them to our equipment and getting their feedback because I think it’s important. We also work with some of the younger juniors, talk with a lot of the parents. I’ll watch a lot of golf. We use these programs for a couple of different reasons which we can get into. Obviously one of it is a proving ground for our Tour staff down the road, but that’s not always the case, a lot of these players that come through the college program and play competitively at the junior level, never see the PGA Tour. What they do is – they will be good golfers for the rest of their life for the most part, and they will be influencers and have a buying decision to make at some point along the way and I think it’s a grass roots approach on our part to grow the Nike Golf brand and also to grow the sport itself.

10:42 – GolfWRX: Now, Cricket, how did the changes with regards to free equipment and retaining amateur status change the landscape of amateur golf?

10:55 – Cricket: Well, I think it put it, for the most part, put it on top of the table. Which I think is a good thing because I think there was always some grey areas. When we provide equipment to colleges, it’s the property of the university. It’s not given to the kids, and as a matter of fact, it is the property of the university and in order for them to be eligible, we can’t give it directly to the kids. Now, when they’re out of school and they’re not playing competitively and they’re seeded and it changes and you can send stuff directly to them – that’s what the USGA says. So you can see that it gets a little sticky, so you really have to play by the rules and be up front so you don’t jeopardize anybody’s eligibility. One of the things we will always do at this company, is we will always make sure we do it the right way. We will not jeopardize anybody’s amateur status or the eligibility as a collegiate golfer.

12:11 – GolfWRX: Cricket, how does Nike plan on developing the next generation of golfers? What is your marketing plan or goals to help develop these kids?

12:26 – Cricket: Well, because I’m so new, and the reason why I’m in Beaverton this week is to learn some of that stuff. But I can say that the fact that we are going to make a commitment to junior golf and amateur golf and collegiate golf, the fact that we’re going to continue to develop innovative product across all different lines, that we will develop the next generation of golfers. Because, as I said earlier, I think we’re looking for athletes as well as golfers, I think that will be a huge step in that, but I’m sure there’s other things that I’m not aware of that will contribute to that.

13:17 – GolfWRX: My next question kind of ties into that a little more specifically. I know you’re new at Nike, and I’m going to ask this anyways to see how far we can get into this. I’m curious as to who is your real competition, what is your market share now, what is your goal? What are your target numbers on market share in the college industry?

13:41 – Cricket: I will tell you we have made a commitment to get into that arena and I think we have made tremendous strides with our golf brand, especially in the equipment side in the last five years, I think people are dumbfounded at our ability to build quality stuff so quickly. To be honest with you, that is one of the reasons why I came here, because I was so impressed with the progress that Nike Golf has made from that standpoint. But, we’re going to put our nose in it, and we’re going to get after it, and it will be a rifle shot approach, I think, in the beginning and we’re going to see what happens.

14:31 – GolfWRX: Now getting to the high school kids, what does it take for a high school kid to get recognized by an OEM as an up and comer? Should he play in as many AJGA tournaments, are certain tournaments a must play? Is his high school ranking important? And also, is there something proactive he can do as far as contacting your company and shooting a resume, is there anything these guys can do?

15:09 – Cricket: One of the great things about golf is they’re going to put a number next to your name when you play. And that has a lot of influence on what happens for the kid. If kids have the opportunity to play in golf events and they shoot good scores, they’re going to get recognized and they kind of filter themselves up. We have a sales force out there that sees kids all the time at clubs. The more opportunity they have to play and the better they play, eventually they’re going to find themselves at a program and they’ll get recognized.

15:56 – GolfWRX: Getting to some of your goals now, does your company have a fitting program for amateurs? Titleist started the TPI, TaylorMade’s got the Kingdom, just kind of curious do you guys have anything in the works, is this something on the table with you guys now?

16:25 – Cricket: We do have a custom fitting program, but I think as was mentioned earlier, we’re in the process right now of really creating something new and innovative, and stay tuned because there’s a lot more to come and I think you’re going to hear about our plans, as far as custom fitting is concerned, in the future.

16:50 – GolfWRX: Now, in the grand scheme of things, and this gentleman affects just about everyone’s life, how does Tiger Woods affect your job? Does he make it easier, harder, any type of influence on you at all?

17:08 – Cricket: You know, when you have the best player in the world, he will in my opinion be the greatest of all time, I don’t know if there’s another one out there or not, but he definitely makes all of our jobs easier here, but he also demands a lot. Which I think is great for both of us because he forces us to come out with better stuff, innovative stuff because all the guy wants to do is win and be the greatest. and if you look at the staff we’ve put together from a Grace Park and Michelle Wie to Chad Campbell, to Stewart Cink, Justin Leonard to David Duval, Trevor Immelman. We just recently signed a kid named Lucas Glover. That alone tells us, and you look at K.J. Choi, you look at Stephen Ames, Jason Gore – all of these guys play the game because they want to win and they play it at an incredibly high level. We had more wins with drivers and fairway woods and irons than any other company on Tour last year, and I think we tied for first in wedges. We have a lot of depth. To validate our equipment with all those players, is making it easier for us when it comes to these collegiate kids and junior kids.

Part 3

0:14 – GolfWRX: Speaking a little further along the line with the kids, with academies popping up like Leadbetter, Harmon, etc. – and I’ve been to both of them and I’ve seen kids there – it almost seems like a lifestyle for these kids, a way of life. Is the family unit still an intricate part of supporting today’s top level collegiate players?

0:37 – Cricket: Well, you know parents are involved more and more these days with their kids – some unfortunately to the detriment of the relationship at times, but that’s for another day. There are these academies out there I went and watched a junior tournament last week at Scottsdale and there were a number of kids from the Leadbetter Academy there and they’re there for one reason, they want to play professional golf. End of story. A lot of these kids will never see a college golf program. Some of them want to go directly to play golf, unfortunately for them, I think they’re going to miss four years of an incredibly exciting time in their life for those that choose to do that. But I do think the family is still the best support system for these kids coming up. I had, as I said earlier, the privilege to work with a couple of young come out of college to play professional golf when I was managing players. And Ricky Barnes and Ryan Moore came from families that did nothing but support their kids: they kept them grounded, they never made golf any more important than what it was, they just gave them opportunities to play, I think that is the rule and not the exception.

2:12 – GolfWRX: You mentioned something about these kids going to these academies and skipping college, and I agree with you 100%, I think it was one of the best experiences of my life. Do you guys feel challenged at all to approach these academies to try and change their philosophies, or try to get them to work more with colleges? Or is that and issue, or is that something that’s on your plate?

2:40 – Cricket: If we get involved in something like that it will be for the growth of the game, or the growth of the brand, and really not focusing on that necessarily, anything more than that.

2:56 – GolfWRX: With Grace Park, Michelle Wie, and recently signed Paige Mackenzie on staff, is Nike making an effort with women’s collegiate golf?

3:09 – Cricket: Well, we’re involved in women’s collegiate golf with several programs. Our team sports programs are involved at universities and we certainly get involved from the golf side there. I think our approach has been, with women’s golf, is like our approach with professional golf period – more of a rifle shot approach. We can’t be all things to all people, but we will try to find the best athletes we think best represent our brand and we’re very selective, I think, in how we do that.

3:46 – GolfWRX: Earlier you mentioned some of the top schools – top colleges in the country. Are there any schools that surprised you with the quality of their program that aren’t ranked up there, aren’t ranked very high, but you visited and were just blown away with?

4:05 – Cricket: I haven’t been out a whole lot, but if you look at, there’s a couple of real household names here in college golf: Costal Carolina. When I saw that they were one of the higher ranked teams out there, I was like, wow, I didn’t even know these guys had a golf program. Georgia State, they’re sandwiched right between Georgia Tech who’s had terrific golf programs where Duval came out, Bryce Mulder, the University of Georgia, and here’s Georgia State that’s right there in almost Downtown Atlanta and they have a terrific program. So there’s a lot of them out there, that they just made a commitment and they found players. Augusta State, where Vaughn Taylor went – Augusta’s famous for obviously the Masters and Augusta National, but Augusta State University there has a terrific golf program.

5:04 – GolfWRX: Cricket, what do you believe is the most telling tournament for amateur golfers? Is it the Publinks? Is it the Am? What’s the top dog?

5:20 – Cricket: Oh, there’s a handful of really, really good tournaments that I think will tell you how good you can be. If you win the US Amateur it doesn’t always guarantee success on the PGA Tour, there’s been people who have won the US Amateur who have never seen the PGA Tour. If win the NCAA and the US Amateur, then all of a sudden, you start to get into a realm that very few have been in. The Western Amateur, which is a terrific tournament up in Bent Harbor, Michigan is 72 holes of stroke play and then they go down to the sweet sixteen and then they play match play. If you win that, you win the NCAA, and the US Amateur, you’re almost guaranteed you’re going to be a millionaire on the PGA Tour. So, I would say those are the ones that really stand out, but any more these kids that are coming from overseas: the Adam Scott’s, the Paul Casey’s, and those guys, Luke Donald’s heck they’re fabulous players and they didn’t play in many of those.

6:45 – GolfWRX: Well, college basketball and football seem to be the only collegiate sports that make colleges money. How do you see that working with collegiate programs and golf? Do you see that ever being an issue with golf where they can do the same thing other sports do?

7:05 – Cricket: I think maybe I answered this before. I think golf has real relevance when it comes to athletic programs from the fundraising aspect. I think there’s people that would never get involved when it comes to giving money to universities, whether it’s from an academic standpoint or an athletic standpoint, if it wasn’t for their involvement with golf and the fact that they were golfers and got involved that way. I think that’s where the real benefit came from. As an example, when I was at UTEP, there was a guy who built a business out of his garage to be a fifty million dollar a year business, he did prepared meats. The guy would have nothing to do with the university, but he loved to play golf and I met him one day at the golf course and he ended up building a weight room for UTEP and donated millions of dollars to the university because he and I had a relationship and he got involved in the golf program.

8:10 – GolfWRX: With such a professionally dominated sport, how does Nike see the college market influencing retail?

8:20 – Cricket: I think one of the things that is really important to our brand is the fact that the grass roots approach. Like I said before, if you have a hundred kids playing college golf, one or two of them might make it to the PGA Tour. Those other 98 or 99 will still be really good golfers for the rest of their life and they will have an influence and they’ll be an influencer at their club. Some of may be golf professionals or instructors, some of them will be doctors or lawyers or insurance guys, or gals, or whatever and they will have a buying decision they will have to make at some point. If their experience with Nike Golf was a good one, and they felt like we played some part in their development, that we like our chances that they’ll be fans of Nike Golf for some time.

9:18 – GolfWRX: Touch on Michelle Wie for a few seconds. Can you give us your perspective?

9:22 – Cricket: She’s an incredible talent and I don’t know if there’s any woman on the planet that hits it like she does. We’re really excited about what the future holds.

9:35 – GolfWRX: She’s an exciting talent, she always brings a lot to the game for the sponsors. Has the First Tee helped to level the playing field, or are the majority of accomplished golfers from affluent backgrounds primarily?

10:45 – Cricket: I think the game has grown in all different directions. I don’t know if the first tee has leveled the playing field, but I think it’s grown the game. I think it’s exposed kids from all different backgrounds to the game of golf itself and it’s probably too early to tell whether it’s leveled the playing field, but I think there will be stories to come from kids who got their start who will be successful at the game that came from the First Tee.

10:29 – GolfWRX: You guys are getting a good bird’s eye view of the new crop of college kids coming up. Do we have a good group of guys and gals coming up? We need somebody to help us win this Ryder Cup thing. Do we have any good chances, any good players coming up?

10:49 – Cricket: You know, there are a ton of talented kids out there and time will tell whether or not they’ll be able to do it. I do think that the kids that come form overseas probably have more experience from a professional level and a lot of the kids that have had success have been able to play on the European Tour, or play on the Japanese Tour, or the Asian Tour and have had great experience, you know the Immelman’s who came up through the South African Tour. These kids get experience and they’re playing on Tours where they have an opportunity to compete and have an opportunity to win right away and I think that’s been a huge benefit to those kids. But again, I do think you’re going to see, like Charles Howell who’s taken a little longer, Vaughn Taylor, the Chad Campbell’s, those guys have grown into it. But these guys that are coming from over there are doing it at a younger age because they’re maturing quicker because they’re playing against better players at a professional level.

12:11 – GolfWRX: Since you’ve been in the collegiate side for so long, what do you make of the contingent of Korean players on the LPGA Tour? Do you have any insight into how this came about?

12:25 – Cricket: You know, I really don’t, other than I would only be making assumptions on that. I don’t really have a good answer other than I think they must have really good instruction and they’re very disciplined and they’ve certainly stepped up and played well.

12:47 – GolfWRX: Who’s our next Tiger Woods, is he out there?

12:53 – Cricket: I don’t know. I don’t know, Tiger’s not going anywhere any time soon.

13:02 – GolfWRX: That’s the truth. He still has a few years left in him. Cricket, do you yourself play the school courses, or have played them, and if so, what schools have you found to have the best courses?

13:19 – Cricket: There’s a number of really, really good college golf courses out there. Traditionally there have been some that have stood out – Yale has a great golf course, they’ve played the NCAA there time or two, they’ve had a US Junior there, Ohio State the Scarlet Course is a fantastic golf course, Stanford University’s golf course. But there are some new ones two where they’ve built some really, really good ones – Carston Creek in Stillwater which is a Tom Fazio golf course is fabulous, Purdue who’s going to host the NCAA Championships in a couple of years has a very good golf course. University of Texas is in the process right now of completing a golf course they built, the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque has hosted, I think, three or four NCAA championships. So, there’s a lot of good ones out there and I’m old enough to have played most of them (laughing).

14:35 – GolfWRX: Of course I’ve got to ask you, what’s in your bag?

14:40 – Cricket: You know, I’m excited because I’m waiting on one of the new Sumo drivers, I’ve got an SQ fairway wood I hit some when I was in Ft. Worth. I’ve got a new set of the CCI forged irons, the new SV Tour wedges, and I found a putter last week, it’s one of our new models, it’s a Unitized putter and it’s called the Neo, so I’ve got a whole new bag of tricks.

15:11 – GolfWRX: Well, good luck, it sounds like you have a lot of fun with those clubs. We wanted to wrap things up here guys. Two areas I wanted to hit: the first area was talking about kids entering into college, what do you recommend for kids to have the best chance to get into college? For example, how important are good grades?

15:39 – Cricket: Well, they’re incredibly important because it’s getting tougher and tougher to get into some of the better universities. More and more, there are so many kids wanting to go to school and you just have to have really good grades, so that’s important. And have a resume that has, obviously, success in golf but also has some diversification to it – that you were involved in a lot of different activities besides just golf.

16:15 – GolfWRX: Is there anything else they can do to maximize their chances of getting accepted? Specifically, can they go do some direct talking, selling with a coach?

16:27 – Cricket: Well, I don’t think things have changed too much, I think obviously technology has changed some of that with the internet and other things, but there’s so much different information out there and there’s a number of resources where kids can go and do some investigation online of schools and their golf programs. There’s a number of golf camps around the country that kids can go to and the schools have. So there’s a lot of different ways to get recognized, but good grades and kids that shoot in the sixties have a tendency to get in.

17:01 – GolfWRX: Funny how that works, huh? Lastly, I’d like to cover your goals and I’d like to talk briefly what your plan is to reach those goals? Specifically, I’d like to start off with recruiting, what are your goals for recruiting high school kids, college kids, and how are you going to go about it?

17:33 – Cricket: Well, one of the things that I’m here this week, in fact as soon as we hang up I’m going to go sit in on some meetings and I’m going to get an education on what our strategies are all about, and I think all of us recognize that there’s some talents here we all have, so I really don’t have an answer for you. I would have one as we move forward, but I’m going to go find out exactly what my tasks are and what’s expected.

18:07 – GolfWRX: I don’t know if this is allowable or not, but I’d like to know it. Have you guys thought about having a special events like for the top college kids, high school kids, like a week long – call it Tiger camp – bring these kids in, get them exposed to your product, get them exposed to custom fitting, get them exposed to a lot of different things they might not be exposed to. Is that anything that might be on your plate?

18:43 – Cricket: Again, I think that falls in the same bucket we just talked about is, that there are some strategies that I’m going to find out exactly what the people I work with have in mind.

19:57 – GolfWRX: Well, Cricket, it was an absolute pleasure talking with you and thank you for sharing with us and we’ve enjoyed your comments and insights immensely, and we wish you the best of luck in your start-up again with Nike and thanks again.

19:17 – Cricket: Well, we appreciate your time as well and the opportunity.

19:20 – GolfWRX: Thanks, take care guys.