New UW golf coach Jim Schuman has been a lot of places throughout his golfing career, but in 2003 he appears to have returned home for good.

The light-hearted Madison native headed toward a professional career in golf when he won back-to-back high school state tournaments in 1980-81 as a student at Madison-Edgewood. In 1986 he became an All-American at Florida University, and from 1988-94 he played on three separate golf tours.

It was a tough decision for Schuman to leave the state of Wisconsin upon high school graduation, but he always remained humble and loyal to the place he called home.

“Most people think that you go to Florida because of [its] great reputation,” Schuman said. “One of the biggest [factors] for me was the fact that I was going to have the opportunity to play immediately when I enrolled in school.”

As the head coach of UW’s men’s golf team, Schuman looks to carry this belief with him. Schuman also believes that as coach he needs to be not only a teacher, but also a pillar of support for his athletes.

“Hopefully I’m there for them. I think that’s one of the biggest things for a coach to do,” he said. “You have to remember that they’re not tour professionals, they have a life outside of golf: there’s academics, there’s girlfriends, there’s a lot of outside factors, and I think one of the most important things for the coach is to be there for them in whatever capacity [they need].”

As a coach, Schuman believes the chance to play far outweighs any experience an individual can gain from merely watching someone else. He hopes to inspire his players by providing them the chance to make an immediate impact at UW.

Coming from a position in which he was the head golf professional at Hawks Landing, Schuman’s decision to become a college coach wasn’t one filled with reluctance, but rather one filled with challenges.

“It was just an opportunity for me to share some of the experiences I had through playing and through some of the teaching I’ve been able to do,” Schuman said.

After playing in Australia and on the Nike Tour, Schuman won back-to-back state tournaments in 1996 and 1999, bringing to fruition a dream he had growing up.

“If you grew up in the state of Wisconsin and you’re any kind of golfer, or aspire to be a golfer, the state open is a feather in your cap,” he said.

A criminal-justice degree from Florida University provided Schuman with a backup plan in case golf didn’t work out, but that degree, like the numerous awards and accolades he has accumulated since, may serve more as a mantelpiece than a résumé builder. With his professional golf dream fading and a desire to raise his family in the Midwest, Schuman moved back to Madison to get involved with the Hawks Landing golf club.

“I have two boys that are eight and six years old, and I’m ecstatic about the fact that they get to grow up in the Midwest,” Schuman said. “For this job to come open and [for] me to be here at the time that it’s open doesn’t happen very often, and it’s a great opportunity.”

A family man at heart, Schuman plays golf with both of his sons on occasion but realizes they still enjoy driving the cart more than driving the ball. It’s this type of perspective that should provide the first-time college coach with an accurate vision for the future.

“I think the thing I’ve learned the most [from having children] is to not take yourself so seriously and really to enjoy life a little bit more,” Schuman said. “I think sometimes being in the golf profession you can get caught up [in it] … I get home and I look at my kids and we’re either playing basketball or throwing the football out in the yard, and it just reminds me of the fact that golf is a game and it affords you a lot of opportunity and it’s just a matter of what you make with those opportunities.”

If his work ethic and desire to win didn’t impress UW’s athletic department, than his sheer ability to teach would have been plenty to land him the job. Schuman expects more than just low scores out of himself and his players. His golf team will be held to a higher standard than raw athletic ability.

“I expect us to perform in the classroom, as well as on the practice tee as well as on the golf course,” Schuman said. “If we’re doing all those things, then that’s all I can ask of our players, and I feel like if we do those things, we are going to perform pretty well.”