Today on Better Than I Found It we welcome back long-time Georgia Tech head coach, Bruce Heppler. Bruce recently announced that he would be retiring after the 2025-2026 season, ending his 31 year tenure at Georgia Tech. In those 31 years he made 22 trips to the NCAA Championship, had 13 top-8 finishes, and was runner-up to the national champion 4 times. He has won 14 ACC-Championships, and is 10-time ACC Coach of the Year and a National Dave Williams Coach of the Year. He is in both the GCA Hall of Fame and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. He coaches and recruits the right was and should be a model for any young coach getting into the industry as to how to conduct yourself and succeed while doing so. The collegiate golf world will miss him, but he has one last ride in 2025-2026 with his Yellow Jackets and I hope you all tune in to his season as I will. Thank you for joining the podcast Bruce!

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It.Last week Coach McGraw interviewed Willie Wood, one of five people entering the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame this year, along with “Duffy” Martin, Labron Harris Jr, Andrew Magee, and Coach McGraw himself. Recording this episode right before the Hall of Fame Banquet, Coach McGraw takes the time to pay homage to those who have helped him get to this point. He discusses his start to his career with his siblings encouraging the development of his golf game, fellow Oklahoma Golf Hall Art Proctor suggesting he get into coaching, and Mike Holder hiring him to be his assistant at Oklahoma State in 1997. He also discusses his later career at both Alabama and Baylor following his departure at OSU and the amazing assistant coaches and players he has had over the years. Finally, Coach McGraw thankshis wife Pam, who has supported him through the highs and lows over the past three decades at OSU, Alabama, and Baylor. I hope you enjoy listening to this recap of Coach McGraw’s career.

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Welcome back to another Episode of Better Than I Found It! Today we welcome former Oklahoma St. All-American and long time PGA Tour Player, Willie Wood. Willie is one of the five members of the 2025 induction class for the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, along with our very own Coach McGraw, Oklahoma club pro legend "Duffy" Martin, four-time PGA tour winner Andrew Magee, and 1962 US Amateur Champion Labron Harris Jr. This episode focuses on Willie alone, particularly on his complete dominance on the American junior golf tour. As Mike Holder once said, Willie Wood was the Tiger Woods before Tiger Woods was Tiger Woods. In this episode we talk about his entire career, from his junior career to playing the Masters with Arnold Palmer. Willie is truly a great guy, and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode. Thank you for joining the podcast Willie!

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Today on Better Than I Found It, we welcome the head coach of both the men's and women's golf team at Dallas Baptist University, Kenny Trapp. Coach Trapp's record at DBU, especially in the last 10 years, is nothing short of remarkable as the coach has won three national championships and produced over 40 All-Americans. His women's team just pulled off their 93rd team title under his leadership, a D2 national record. Now in his 21st year at DBU, his women's team is ranked 2nd in the country while his men's team is ranked 25th. An amazing person and coach, I hope you enjoy the listen as much as I did. Thank you for joining the podcast Kenny!

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Today we welcome longtime head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, Trey Jones, to Better Than I Found It. In 23 years at FSU, Jones has lead the program to heights never before reached. He has led the program to four top-five finishes at the NCAA Championship, including the 2024 NCAA Runner-Up. He has coached a total of 14 All-Americans including Brooks Koepka , Daniel Berger, and the most recent Ben Hogan Award winner, Luke Clanton. As great of a coach he is, he's a better person, and I hope you can see that shine through in the interview today. Enjoy the listen.

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It. After the first few tournaments of the year, Coach McGraw uses the break in the schedule to recap how the season is going before diving into the thesis of this episode: Gratitude. Drawing inspiration from both his storied career and his autobiography,likewise named Better Than I Found It, Coach McGraw demonstrates the effectiveness and importance of maintaining gratitude in one’s life. From showing gratitude to Mike Holder, the man that both originally hired Coach McGraw in 1997 and let him go from Oklahoma State in 2013, to the gratitude that current PGA and Korn Ferry tour players Cooper Dossey, Ricky Fowler, and Johnny Keefer have shown for their collegiate careers and experiences, Coach McGraw encourages the listener to be grateful for the gifts and support they have been given in life. The episode can be best surmised with a quote by Daniel Makepeace: “you only get so many times to put the uniform on; don’t ever take it for granted.” I hope you enjoy the listen.

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It, where today we welcome Eddie Brescher, the head coach of the University of Southern Miss, to the podcast. Having just started his eighth year at Southern Miss, Eddie's team is off to a hot start winning two of their first three events. His strong communication skills and enthusiasm for his work, two features that have helped him immensely in his career, are evident in this interview. Eddie has a great approach to coaching, and it's no surprise he's seeing the success he is right now. I hope you enjoy the listen. Thank you for joining the podcast Eddie!

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Today on Better Than I Found It we welcome former Sam Houston golfer Bret Gray. A multi-sport athlete growing up, Bret was undersized and under-recruited before going to play for Brandt Kieschnick at Sam Houston State. He turned into a highly competitive player at Sam Houston State, winning 3 tournaments and leading the Bearkats to a conference championship his senior year. Bret stopped by Waco for this interview on his way to the Korn Ferry tour school. I hope you enjoy the listen. Thank you for joining to podcast Bret!

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Welcome back to another episode of Better Than I Found It!As the Bears prepare for the 19th annual (notwithstanding the Covid year) Fighting Illini Invitational, Coach McGraw decides to share some of the history behind Olympia Fields Country Club, the home course of the Fighting Illini. Since being opened in 1923, Olympia Fields has hosted the Western Open five times, the BMW Open, the US Open twice, the PGA championship twice, a US Amateur Championship, a US Senior Open, and an LPGA Championship. The tournament itself is known as meeting ground of future professionals; as 71 tournament players have gone on to hold a tour card and eight of those have collected 18 major wins. I hope you enjoy listening to some of the rich history of this challenging course.

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Welcome back to Better Than I Found It! Today, Coach McGrawperuses his storied career and dives into his book (the original Better Than I Found It) to discuss qualifying: the process by which the players for new tournaments are selected. A sentiment reiterated to Coach McGraw by several hall of fame coaches, qualifying is “your job to get the best five players on the van, regardless of how you go about that”.  From caddying for a teammate, to only getting one ball to play, to reducing bogeys by a stroke if you birdie the next hole, Coach McGraw has used dozens of strategies to pick players for upcomingtournaments. With the addition of Coach Ryan Murphy to the team, new and interesting qualifying strategies have been added to the Bears’ playbook, with more to come. I hope you enjoy the listen!

Subscribe to the podcast for future episodes. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook —> @BetterThanIFoundItPodcast

Associated social media accounts:

Coach McGraw - @BearCoachMcGraw

Baylor Men’s Golf - @BaylorMGolf

Produced and Edited by Will Greene

Music: DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/betterthanifoundit/message