While serving as an assistant golf professional at Crane Creek Country Club in Boise, Idaho more than two decades ago, Dan Brooks received a flier from the Boise State men's golf coach regarding a job opening at Duke.
The Duke athletic department sent the advertisement to all Division I programs searching for an "assistant golf professional and women's head golf coach."
Paying little attention to the flier, Brooks quickly shrugged off the opportunity.
"'I don't want to move to Texas,'" Brooks said, unknowingly, "[The Boise State head coach] said, 'you won't have to, it's not in Texas.' The rest is history."
Brooks, now in his 22nd year as the head coach of the Duke women's golf team, has brought the Blue Devils to the top of the collegiate golf world. Brooks became the winningest coach in Division I women's golf history Sunday, after notching his 92nd tournament title at the Stanford Intercollegiate.
He surpassed Mark Gale, who retired in 1996 after coaching at San Jose State for 18 years.
In his tenure at Duke, Brooks transformed the Blue Devils into the team to beat in women's golf, compiling 12 ACC Titles-winning the past 10 years-and three NCAA Championships to complement his 77 other tournament victories.
This year's Blue Devils have won their first three tournaments and are the top-ranked team in the nation.
Brooks came to Duke in 1984 at a time when collegiate women's golf was in its infancy. The NCAA Championships had been played only three times, and the ACC Tournament just once. By 1988, Brooks had guided the Blue Devils onto the national scene with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
"What's interesting is I talked to [men's golf coach] Rod Myers in 1988 after we'd finished fifth in the country," Brooks said. "We were talking about what I should do as far as my career, and he was leaning toward the idea that the team had gotten to fifth in the country, and that --was a quite a lot to attain that quickly, and that maybe it would be time for me to move on and get a job in men's golf."
Although he appreciated Myers' "fatherly" advice, Brooks decided to remain at Duke for a few more seasons, and eventually found tremendous success.
"He's been a mentor for me in a lot of ways," Brooks said of Myers. "I stuck pretty close to Rod for the first decade that I was involved at Duke. He introduced me to a lot of people in the golf world-he's very influential."
In the 10 years following his decision to continue coaching women's golf, Brooks and his Duke teams averaged slightly more than two victories a season and qualified for the NCAAs six times, while winning four ACC Titles. In 1994 the Blue Devils topped their 1988 performance at the NCAAs by finishing fourth and repeated the feat in 1998.
The Blue Devils, however, made their biggest strides toward becoming the national powerhouse they are today in the 1998-1999 season.
That year, freshmen Beth Bauer and Candy Hannemann joined a Duke squad that already featured Jenny Chuasiriporn. The senior had finished fifth individually at the NCAA Championships the previous year.
While Chuasiriporn did not repeat the success from her junior year, Hannemann and Bauer paced the Blue Devils, leading them to a team-record seven victories entering the NCAAs.
At the NCAA Tournament at the Tulsa Country Club, in Tulsa, Okla., Hannemann finished in second place and sophomore Kalen Anderson placed 12th, as Brooks captured his first of three national titles.
"That was a really good year," Brooks said. "We had won a lot of tournaments that year. I would say that was a significant difference, between the '98 season finish and the '99 finish."
Since 1999, Duke has averaged a staggering 8.3 victories per season, has won every ACC Championship and has taken home two more national championships.
"Dan has found a way to be amazingly successful," Myers said. "I've been extremely proud of the success he's had. The men's team has been trying our best to catch up with him."
After Bauer and Hannemann helped solidify Duke's position in women's golf, Brooks' talent at recruiting has kept the Blue Devils on top. The four-time National Coach of the Year said that while winning has played a big role in attracting the best young golfers in the world, the character of his players and the quality of Duke University have made his accomplishments possible.
"We had some really great characters on these teams, and that's what recruits for us," Brooks said. "I've always believed that character attracts character. All I needed to do was get them here. If I could get them to come take a visit, then I had a team that presented enough character and fun, that I think we came across as very attractive."
Over the last few years, Brooks has carried fewer golfers on his team than he used to. With just a five-person roster, Brooks has sculpted close-knit teams that continue to win.
"Coach Brooks is a very caring person," current captain Liz Janangelo said. "We have a small team, and he gets to know us all on a personal basis, not just as golfers. I feel like that's why he's been so successful in his time at Duke."
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