CARLSBAD, Calif. – Ryan Hybl’s final round as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma came to an end Monday on La Costa’s front nine. The Sooners began the day in ninth place, just a shot outside of the top eight, but an eighth trip to match play wasn’t in the cards for Hybl’s program, which he returned to prominence over the past 17 years.
A week earlier, Hybl, 45, was officially announced as the new head coach at Georgia Tech and successor to legendary skipper Bruce Heppler. The tidal wave of noise had grown so big, Hybl choose to charge straight into the storm and tell his players ahead of the national championship. The news dump came on a Sunday afternoon.
“A lot of folks, when they go through stuff like this, they hide behind the curtains, and that’s not who I am,” Hybl told Golf Channel less than 24 hours after the surprise announcement. “I’m not usually a crier, but there were a lot of tears.”
More were shed just yards away from the ninth green, where nearly two decades of memories came flooding back. Hybl led Oklahoma to the 2017 NCAA Championship among 51 total team titles, including the NCAA Corvallis Regional this spring. His Sooners have made 15 straight national appearance, and he’s had at least one All-American in all but two seasons. Most importantly, though, Hybl revitalized the Oklahoma men’s golf program, building not only a world-class facility but great culture and young men as well.
“It’s never been about the championships; it’s been about the journey, and you never want that journey to end,” Hybl said. “We have a great life here. My wife is a beast, and she has built a great life for our family. My oldest is about to go play college basketball at Central Oklahoma. My youngest is about to become an incoming freshman in high school. So, there’s a lot going on. … And even though we’re going to be moving on, our journey is still going to be a part of Oklahoma.”
Hybl considers himself a builder, and so he relishes the opportunity to bring the Yellow Jackets their first NCAA team title in school history. While Heppler had tons of success and left the program in a great position financially thanks to an extensive donor network, that top prize forever eluded him at Georgia Tech.
“Not that we’re done building at Oklahoma,” said Hybl, who lauded the leadership qualities of incoming head coach Jonathan Moore. “But this is an opportunity for new challenges and a new climb. You know, the climb is a little bit of my drug. So, we’re going to dig back in at a new place and know that climb’s going to be real and super exciting.”
Added Heppler: “I believe we’ve just hired the best coach in Division I golf. All this that we built and all the work that we’ve done and the success, I don’t have to worry about it going away.”
Hybl dismissed social-media chatter that claimed Oklahoma’s athletic director was set to cut his salary as “nonsense.” The crux of Hybl’s decision was the desire to be closer to family in Georgia. Hybl’s brother, Nate, lives in Atlanta and has two young boys, ages 4 and 2. Hybl’s parents and in-laws are both less than two hours from Tech’s campus, as is his brother-in-law’s family.
“We’ve missed out on a lot,” Hybl said. “There’s no doubt family was a big part of the decision. Everybody’s getting a little older. These next 10 years are going to be pretty critical.”
Lastly, Hybl’s move to Georgia Tech was mostly shocking considering he played college golf and was an assistant coach at rival Georgia (Hybl also said goodbye to retiring Bulldogs coach Chris Haack after Sunday’s third round, watching Haack’s final hole before the two shared a long embrace). But Hybl revealed that when he was in high school, he walked into his living room and told his parents that he was committing to the Yellow Jackets. Heppler had watched more holes than any other coach by far. But Hybl ended up taking one more visit to Georgia and changing his mind.
“But I have always had a love for what that school meant and the brotherhood of Georgia Tech golf,” Hybl said. “A lot of supporters of the program are buddies that I grew up with, and we were talking earlier and were saying, well, after 27 years we finally figured it out. I also talked to Bruce’s wife, Traci, and told her, ‘You know, all those years that you hated your husband coming out and watching me play golf, and this is how it all ended up.’
“If he wouldn’t have done that, if he wouldn’t have watched me for all those rounds, I don’t believe that we would be here, heading back in that direction.”
