Coach Austin Eoff leads Trojans to impressive year
June 2-8, 2025
By Jay Edwards
It was a great year for the Trojan golf team, in which they finished as the number one team in the state and swept every award at the OVC Championship, Freshman of the Year - Freddie Turnell, Player of the Year - Matteo Cristoni and Coach of the Year – Austin Eoff.
“To everyone who supported us this year,” Eoff said, “this season would never have happened without you—and from everyone on the team, thank you so much for your support.”
“Our seniors were great leaders and leave here as two of the best to do it in a Trojan uniform,” Eoff said. “Matteo leaves Little Rock as the all-time stroke average leader at 71.89, the lowest by 0.43 shots. Archie leaves Little Rock having played the most rounds as a Trojan at 132 rounds and the OVC Conference Champion in 2024. Both of these guys have had an impact on the course and off of it by really accepting the way I coach and embracing that style and culture this year.”
The challenge continues for Eoff as he works to replace players like Cristoni and Smith, striving to build on the success of this year, which began with the Trojans picked 38th in the country, the second highest ranking in school history.
“We’re lucky,” Eoff says. “We have a lot of support. Little Rock is a golfing community. They want us to do well and they really get behind us. That isn’t always the case.”
In recruiting, Eoff is able to tempt prospects with courses like the Country Club of Little Rock, Chenal, Pleasant Valley, and Maumelle Country Club. They also spend a lot of time at Eagle Hill, where they been given a first class practice area.
“I am a big believer that you don’t get better if you don’t play,” Eoff says.
That philosophy goes back to the days when he was being recruited out of Benton High School by Oregon and Purdue, eventually choosing the Boilermakers.
“I tell all the kids I recruit, to try and get them to understand that it’s not always about the bells and whistles,” he says. “In golf, if you don’t play, you can’t get better. I’m a big believer in that. It isn’t like basketball where you can sub in and play three minutes. With golf it’s different. If you’re not in the five traveling it’s difficult to get better. You have to be playing in the tournaments.”
Eoff looks for players who aspire to make it to the game’s highest level, the PGA Tour.
“If they don’t want to play professionally then Division One is probably not where they need to be looking,” he says. “Dreaming of being on TV is a self-motivator.”
He says that is important in the recruiting process, finding the kids who really want to turn pro someday. “It’s one of two things,” Eoff says. “They either say, ‘I’m going to do it regardless, because I have the means and the support.’ Or they say, ‘I want it really bad and I’m going to get do everything I can to get there. But I’m also going to develop a backup plan.’”
Becoming and remaining a golf pro is not an inexpensive undertaking. In a 2024 Golf Monthly article, then World number 91 Ben Griffin said (on TikTok) he budgeted around $500-$1500 for flights, $1200-$1500 for hotels, $500 for food, a whopping $2000 (plus % of earnings) for his caddie, and another $500 for other expenses like fuel and tips.
Outgoing senior Matteo Cristoni from Italy plans to begin his professional career back home in Europe.
“He’s going home to Italy and turning professional as soon as we’re done,” Eoff said. “He went back home in November and played the Alps Tour Q School. He’s very connected with the Italian Federation. That’s what you see in Europe a lot. Countries have a federation or a national team. Italy has a really strong one. Italians don’t always come to America because their Federation is so strong. Matteo has always played well, but this year, he’s taken a big step. He was the player of the year in our conference.”
Eoff’s other senior, Archie Smith, plans on playing as an amateur through the summer and then going to Q School in the fall.
“We had guys that graduated last year,” Eoff recalls, “they’ve tried and are trying to decide whether they want to keep trying to make it professionally or perhaps move on. It’s a lot of money and so they may decide to go into coaching or find a job in or out of golf. It just depends on the kid and their situation. I’m looking for the ones who want to turn pro, who will of course practice and work hard for the team but who have that desire for the tour. That’s the motivator and I know once they are here they will need to play well to reach that goal.”
Eoff relies on assistant George Scanlon, who is a Bolivian American and who played for the Trojans.
“George liked it so much here that he stayed,” Eoff says. He’s a very positive guy who really balances me out.”
Eoff’s roots are not far away. He grew up playing golf at Longhills in Saline County.
“I think I picked up my first club when I was four,” Eoff recalls, “and it wasn’t long before my grandmother was taking me and a few friends out to Longhills. It was a really good environment out there. There were a lot of kids. In the summer our parents would just drop us off and say, ‘I’ll pick you back up at five.’”
When he got older he realized he needed to learn to play out of bunkers and began spending a lot of time at Hurricane Golf Course in Bryant. “The GM there was great,” Eoff says. He let me come out whenever I wanted.”
He signed with Purdue and played there from 2013 to 2017 where the team advanced to the Nationals three out of four years. He went through some burnout near the end of his college career but knew he still wanted to be involved with golf and heard the coach at Rutgers was looking for an assistant.
“I was at Rutgers for a year,” Eoff says. “My wife, Shelby, and I loved it. We were just a 40 minute train ride to Manhattan. It was a lot of fun and if not for the cost we would have stayed longer.”
There was an assistant’s opening back at Purdue and Eoff went back, coaching there just a year after he’d been on the team.
“I was coaching guys that were my teammates,” Eoff said, “one of them was in my wedding. But it was great. They respected me because I had been team captain. So I had been in a leadership role, which was important. And so when I came back to coach, it was an easy transition.”
After four seasons Eoff felt like he was ready to be a head coach, a decision which led him back to Central Arkansas as the leader of UCA, where he coached one year before landing his current job as head coach at UA Little Rock, replacing Jake Harrington. A lot of things had to happen before he was offered the job,” Eoff says.
“The head coach at Missouri took the job at USC, then the New Mexico coach went to Missouri, and then Jake went to New Mexico. And then I left UCA and came here. But by the time all that took place, this was the third week of August, and school had already started. But I knew this was a really good job that would continue to be great for golf.”
Looks like his instincts were correct.
Thanks Coach Eoff, to you and the guys, for a wonderful season.
Photo Caption:
1. The 2024-25 UA Little Rock men’s golf team pictured after winning the Ohio Valley Conference championship. Pictured left to right – Head Coach Austin Eoff, Rhett South, Freddie Turnell, Archie Smith, Matteo Cristoni, Ed Featherstone, Alex Rowland, and Assistant Coach George Scanlon.
Photo Credit:
(lrtrojans.com)
