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Now in his sixth year as Northern Illinois' head men's golf coach, John Cleary is coming off a season that saw the Huskies earn their first MAC Freshman of the Year award (Andrew Frame) and host the NCAA Central Regional at Rich Harvest Farms. Cleary's tuteledge of Frame, the Mid-American Conference's top rookie, was part of the prestigious honors collected by Northern Illinois golfers in 2006-07. In addition, Zach Jecklin earned Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar accolades, becoming the fifth such award and third different Huskie recipient for the honor since 2005. During the 2007 fall season, Cleary saw another pupil earn an award when Alex Wagner claimed the MAC's Golfer of the Week honor in November. Wagner also gained national prominence when he qualified for the U.S. Amateur Tournament in San Francisco during the summer of '07. Under Cleary, Nick Schenk became Northern Illinois' first All-MAC first-team selection in two decades when he earned accolades in the spring of 2006.
Cleary also guided his 2006 squad to its best conference performance in nine years with a sixth-place finish at the MAC Tournament. During the league tournament, Jecklin finished fourth and earned All-MAC Tournament honors. Throughout Cleary's tenure, his Huskies have performed well off the course as well by garnering several academic awards. Cleary's squad produced a 3.28 grade point average during the Fall 2006 semester. Following the 2005-06 campaign, Ethan Roush and Nick Schenk each earned Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar accolades for the second consecutive season while Jecklin claimed an Academic All-MAC nod. In 2004, Cleary mentored senior Joe True to a runner-up finish at the MAC Tournament, marking the highest individual finish for an NIU golfer at the MAC Tournament since 1978. Just the second head coach in the 50-year history of the program, Cleary's impact was felt immediately in his first season of 2002-03. During that initial campaign, the Glenview native helped lower Northern Illinois' scoring average by more than eight strokes. The Huskies posted top-ten finishes in seven of their ten tournaments and came home with titles from the Bradley Fall Classic and the Illinois State Intercollegiate. A 1991 graduate of the University of Kansas with a bachelor's degree in personnel administration, Cleary, 41, began working at the Glen View Club under NIU golf alum Bob Dickman. His coaching career began in 1997 as an assistant coach for the Loyola (Ill.) men's and women's teams. He started his association with Northwestern University first as an assistant women's golf coach. In his three seasons with the Wildcat women, Cleary's teams scored a runner-up finish in the Big Ten Conference Championships (2001) after the Wildcats garnered their first NCAA Championships berth (2000). In 2001-02, Cleary moved over to take on the assistant role for the Northwestern men's golf team, and the Cats appeared in the NCAA Central Regional that season. In addition to his coaching duties at Northwestern, Cleary assisted with the coordination of the Windon Memorial Classic, a tournament which annually showcases the best talents in collegiate golf, with past tournaments including Stanford alums Casey Martin and Tiger Woods, and also served as the director of the Wildcats' golf camps. Not only is Cleary proving to be a coaching prodigy, but he has shown to be an apt student of the game. He has been a Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Class A-8 member since 1991. He was named the 1998 Illinois PGA Assistant Professional of the Year and in October 2000 was elected to a second term on the Illinois PGA's Board of Directors. In addition to his work with the Illinois PGA, Cleary also has a competitive game. He played in the PGA Tour's 2000 Advil Western Open at Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont, after finishing in second place at the Illinois PGA Championship. He has been a three-time member of the Illinois PGA's Royal Cup team and a three-year representative on the state's Radix Cup squad. CLEARY'S CAREER HIGHLIGHTS |
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