Kit Grove

Hometown: Superior, Neb. Position: Head Coach (2007-2012) Alma Mater: Kansas, 1998

An NCAA Championship participant at Kansas during his college days, Kit Grove spent five seasons as the head golf coach at his alma mater (2007-2012), leading the Jayhawks to a tenure-best, sixth-place finish at the 2008 Big 12 Conference Tournament. Grove coached two different Jayhawks to four Cleveland Golf/Srixon GCAA All-America Scholar awards and his players claimed 11 Academic All-Big 12 individual honors, including nine first team selections.

Grove served as assistant coach to former KU coach Ross Randall for one season prior to becoming head coach in 2007 upon Randall's retirement.In Grove's first season he led a youthful Jayhawk squad to a sixth-place finish at the 2008 Big 12 Championship, the highest conference position Kansas would see under Grove's direction. The team recorded four top-10 finishes, including a tie for second place at the 2007 Kansas Invitational.

Grove worked to build his own foundation with a mix of veterans and promising young players in 2008-09, and saw his squad log three top-five finishes, including back-to-back third-place finishes at the Fairway Club Invitational and Kansas Invitational to open the season.

The 2009-10 team took another step forward while producing seven top-five finishes during the year and recorded three runner-up finishes. The team was led by Nate Barbee, who registered eight of the team's nine top-five individual finishes, including a victory at the Kansas Invitational - the first of two individual medalist honors Barbee notched in his Jayhawk career.

Grove guided the Jayhawks to a couple of firsts in 2010-11, including the team's first tournament title since it won the All-American Golf Classic Feb. 27, 2007. Three different Jayhawks shot 68 or better in the final round of the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate to overcome an 11-stroke deficit and claim the team trophy by one shot over UNLV. Grove also saw the team post its best scoring average for a season during his tenure with a three-round mark of 889.6.

In his final season at KU, a Jayhawk team with just one senior showed glimpses of promise with top-five finishes at the Kansas Invitational and Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate during the fall slate. However, outside a two-tournament stretch that saw Chris Gilbert tie KU's 54-hole record in the first of two straight top-10 finishes, there were few other highlights. Kansas finished last at the 2012 Big 12 Championship.

"I represented KU and carried a KU bag in two national championships, and it was a couple of the proudest moments of my life," Grove told the Lawrence Journal World. "I'm a Jayhawk, I'll always be a Jayhawk, and I appreciated my time here as a student-athlete and the opportunity to take over for my mentor in coach Randall. Obviously, we both wish it would've lasted a lot longer, but the thing about college athletics is you gotta have more W's than L's, and we've had a couple rough years."

Grove, a Superior, Neb. native, played three years for the Jayhawks (1995-97) under the tutelage of Randall. Grove stayed involved with the Jayhawk program even after his playing days were over, helping Randall with his annual junior summer camps and also serving as a volunteer student assistant coach during the 1997-98 campaign. Randall stepped down from his post as head coach at the conclusion of spring 2007 season to become the director of golf operations. Randall retired from KU athletics in 2009.

Grove began his Jayhawk career as a sophomore after playing his freshman season at New Mexico State. During his first season with KU, Grove competed in both the NCAA Central Regional and the NCAA Championship.

As a junior, Grove completed his best tournament as a Jayhawk, tying for fifth at the 1995 Kansas Invitational highlighted by his second-round score of 68. He competed in 12 tournaments as a junior and turned in two top-10 finishes.

Grove played a major role during his senior season, playing in all 12 events. He finished in the top 25 three times during his final Jayhawk season capped off by his ninth-place finish at the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate.

Throughout his career Grove excelled both on the golf course and in the classroom. In high school Grove was named the valedictorian of Southeast (Lincoln, Neb.) High School and maintained a 4.0 GPA. The academic honors continued for Grove while at Kansas where he was named Academic All-American in 1997. Grove's other academic honors included being named both Academic All-Big Eight and a Big Eight Classroom Champion in 1997.

Since graduating from Kansas in 1998, golf has led Grove all over the world, both as a professional player and golf instructor. After a quick stop in Bend, Ore., as an instructor at a local course, Grove settled in Phoenix, Ariz. at the 500 Golf Club where he served as both an instructor and assistant golf professional.

In 2001, Grove decided to once again take up the game of golf at the professional level. He began his professional career on the Arizona Professional Tour prior to dabbling on the DP Tour in Atlanta, Ga.

Grove decided to take his game to the international level in 2002 when he traveled to South Africa to compete on the Sunshine Tour. He spent one year on the Sunshine Tour before returning to the United States to compete on the Grey Goose Gateway Tour. Grove competed on the tour for four years prior to accepting an assistant coaching post at Kansas.