The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Hall of Honor
- Induction:
- 2024
- Class:
- 1982
Leadership. Class. Integrity. Player development. Championship culture. These all define John Fields, who will begin his 28th season at the helm of The University of Texas men’s golf program in 2024-25. Fields became the Longhorns’ head coach in August 1997 and has guided Texas to 22 NCAA Championship appearances in his 26 opportunities (no NCAA tourney in 2020 due to COVID-19). Under Fields’ leadership, UT has posted 10 top-five finishes and 15 top-15 showings at the NCAA Championship, including NCAA team titles in 2012 and 2022 and runner-up showings in 2016 and 2019. The Longhorns have reached the NCAA quarterfinals (the ‘Match Play’ portion of the national championship) a total of seven times in their last 12 opportunities, the second-most nationally in that time window behind Illinois (eight). UT owns the nation’s-longest current streak of consecutive Division I Men’s Golf NCAA Championship appearances at 17, dating back to the 2007 season. Fields was selected as Golfweek’s Men’s National Coach of the Year in 2022. He earned the prestigious accolade for the third time during his tenure at Texas, as he previously received the honor in 2012 and 2016. Fields has been voted the Big 12 Coach of the Year a total of nine times in his time in Austin (2002, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2022). Texas has claimed a total of nine Big 12 Conference team championships under Fields. The Longhorns have won Big 12 team titles in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2024. In addition, seven different UT players have captured individual medalist honors at the Big 12 Championship, including David Gossett (1999), Jason Hartwick (2004), Matthew Rosenfeld (2006), Brandon Stone (2013), Scottie Scheffler (2015), Doug Ghim (2018) and Cole Hammer (2021). Fields has also been instrumental in developing a culture of individual success. Beau Hossler claimed the Fred Haskins Award in 2016, and Doug Ghim received the Ben Hogan Award in 2018 – both awards recognizing the National Player of the Year in men’s collegiate golf. Fields has helped four Longhorns earn the Phil Mickelson Award as the National Freshman of the Year: David Gossett (1999), Brandon Stone (2013), Scottie Scheffler (2015) and Cole Hammer (2019). In addition, Dylan Frittelli was named the winner of the 2012 Byron Nelson Award, given to the nation’s top graduating senior scholar-athlete in men’s collegiate golf. Fields, who has produced 27 All-Americans during his tenure at Texas, has the distinction of developing two players who have gone on to reach the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking in Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler, and that duo has won a combined five majors with Spieth capturing the 2015 Masters, the 2015 U.S. Open and the 2017 Open Championship and Scheffler claiming the 2022 Masters and the 2024 Masters. Fields came to Austin after leading the University of New Mexico to nine NCAA Championship appearances in 10 years (1988-97). While at the helm of the New Mexico men’s golf program, the Lobos won three Western Athletic Conference titles and never finished lower than third in the league championships during Fields’ 10 seasons. At the NCAA Championships, New Mexico placed in the top-15 a total of five times, including a sixth-place finish in 1996, the school’s best showing since 1979. He tutored four WAC Players of the Year, three WAC individual champions, nine All-Americans, 24 all-conference players and six Academic All-Americans. Fields earned four WAC Coach of the Year honors (1989, 1993, 1995 and 1996) and four NCAA District VII Coach of the Year honors (1993, 1995, 1996 and 1997). A native of Las Cruces, N.M., Fields was a four-year letterman at the University of New Mexico before earning his bachelor’s degree in 1982. He was a member of Lobos golf teams that finished fifth and seventh at the NCAA Championships. Fields and his wife, Pearl, a 1982 graduate of New Mexico, have two children, Marshall and April.
