Head coach Matt Terry wrapped up his ninth season at the helm of the Louisiana Tech Golf program, guiding the Bulldogs through another competitive year highlighted by strong individual performances and continued program growth.
The 2025-26 season featured several notable milestones for the Bulldogs, highlighted by a final-round 280 (-8) at the Conference USA Championship to tie the program’s lowest single-round score at the event. The strong finish allowed LA Tech to climb two spots on the leaderboard and finish eighth at the championship.
The Bulldogs also opened the season with a tie for seventh at the Argent Financial Classic, their home event, marking their best finish at the tournament since 2022. LA Tech shot 854 (-10), tying the program record for lowest 54-hole total at the event. For the first time in program history, the Bulldogs posted all three rounds at or under par in a single tournament.
Individually, the Bulldogs totaled eight top-20 finishes on the season, led by Riley Hnatyshyn, who tied for fifth at the Louisiana Classics in a field of 92 golfers.
The 2024-25 season produced 15 team rounds at or under par, shattering the previous program record of nine. The Bulldogs also set program records for the lowest team round (-15) and lowest 54-hole total (-24) at the Ka’anapali Classic in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Terry coached Niilo Maki-Petaja, a Second Team All-Conference USA selection, who earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional, extending the program's streak to four consecutive seasons of having a Bulldog compete as an individual in the postseason. Maki-Petaja, who was ranked as high as No. 97 in the country, set the single-season program record for most rounds at or under par with 22, and tied the low 54-hole total for a Bulldog by shooting 14-under (202) at the GMAC Invitational.
LA Tech also made program history during the 2023-24 season as the Bulldogs finished first in stroke play at the CUSA Championship after shooting 280-294-286=860 (-4) to finish three strokes better than the second-place team. The Bulldogs’ 860 was its lowest 54-hole total in a league championship in school history, earning them the No. 1 seed for match play.
That season, Maki-Petaja became the most decorated freshman in program history. The CUSA Freshman of the Year and First Team All-CUSA selection was ranked as high as No. 200 in the country after registering five top-five finishes, including an individual title at the Aggie Invitational. He competed at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional where he tied for 27th among a strong field.
After signing a contract extension in the summer of 2022, Terry went on to become just the third LA Tech head coach in program history to earn conference coach of the year honors and the first in 40 years after being voted CUSA Coach of the Year.
Terry’s Bulldogs reached the match play portion of the 2023 CUSA Championship for just the second time in program history, including a win over No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee to reach the finals. One of the highlights of the postseason was James Swash capturing the CUSA individual title, the first Bulldog to earn individual medalist honors since 1980. In doing so, the First Team All-USA honoree earned an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Norman Regional where he tied for 21st, the second-highest finish by a LA Tech golfer at a regional.
It was the second straight season Terry coached an individual to an NCAA Regional, having guided Sam Murphy in 2022. As a team, LA Tech registered four top-five finishes. The season began with a fourth-place finish at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate, a home event where the Bulldogs shot 854 (-10), their lowest 54-hole total since 2015 and fourth lowest on record. Murphy claimed individual medalist honors after firing a 203 (-13) and was named a Second Team All-Conference USA selection, later finishing tied for 23rd at the NCAA Norman Regional.
In the 2020-21 season, Terry was named LSWA Louisiana Coach of the Year after LA Tech recorded three top-five finishes, including a win at the LaTour Intercollegiate (-12), as well as fourth-place finishes at both the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate (-4) and Linger Longer Invitational (-4). The Bulldogs finished the LaTour Intercollegiate 18 strokes ahead of second place Jacksonville State, posting a combined 564 (288-276). Mac Murphy earned Third Team All-CUSA honors.
In the COVID-19 shortened 2019-20 season, the Bulldogs placed in the top 10 at five of six tournaments and consistently outperformed higher-ranked teams. In 2018-19, LA Tech recorded five top-10 finishes, including a victory at the Jerry Weeks Match Play event. Terry also coached Swash, who earned CUSA Freshman of the Year honors.
Along with athletic success, LA Tech has maintained excellence in the classroom under Terry. The program has registered a perfect 1,000 single-year APR for five consecutive seasons (2019-24) and produced 17 GCAA All-American Scholar selections along with six Academic All-District honorees.
Prior to coming to Ruston, Terry spent 15 years building highly successful men’s and women’s golf programs at Troy University. He served as head coach of the Troy men’s program for 15 seasons and also guided the women’s program for 11 seasons, the final four as Director of Golf. Under his leadership, Troy reached its pinnacle in 2015 when both programs competed in NCAA Regionals.
That success launched a three-year stretch in which Troy qualified for NCAA Regionals in 2015, 2016, and 2017, while the women advanced three times in four years (2014, 2015, 2017).
The Troy men won the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship, earning an NCAA Regional bid as the league’s automatic qualifier, and also received an at-large selection in 2015 to the New Haven Regional. The 2017 team earned its third straight NCAA Regional appearance and finished sixth at the College Grove Regional, narrowly missing NCAA Championship qualification.
Individually, Troy sent two players to the NCAA Championships as Tolver Dozier (2015) and Cam Norman (2017) advanced through regional play.
Six of Terry’s former players are currently competing professionally: James Swash, Sam Murphy, Mac Murphy, Ryan Alford, Karsten Green, and Sofia Björkman (Nordea Tour).
Prior to Troy, Terry served as head coach at Shelton State Community College (2000-02), where he led the program to three national tournament appearances, finishing third twice before winning the national championship in 2002.
A native of Moulton, Alabama, Terry has been an avid golfer since shifting from baseball in high school. He served as director of the Tuscaloosa Junior Golf Tour, overseeing up to 175 junior golfers ages 8-18, and also worked as an assistant professional at Turtle Creek Golf Club in Florida.
He has competed professionally on the Hooters, Central Florida/Tommy Armour, and North Florida PGA Winter tours and played in the 1988 PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.
Born in Augusta, Georgia, Terry earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Alabama in 1996. He is married to the former Dixie McCreless and has three children: Mya, Alyssa, and Sawyer.
