By Brad Ziemer, British Columbia Golf

When Krysta Schaus was named interim head coach of the Simon Fraser University men’s and women’s golf teams in early September, her to-do list was rather daunting.

Her players were just returning to campus after the summer break and Schaus had to get both teams organized and ready to compete.

She also had a big event to organize — SFU’s own True North Classic, which will welcome 19 teams and 113 players to Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby on Sept. 23 and 24.

Schaus had to hit the ground running and she hasn’t stopped. She’s not complaining, mind you. Schaus is delighted to have been chosen to succeed longtime head coach Matthew Steinbach, who resigned last month.

“Obviously, it has been a quick transition and a pretty busy transition since I was appointed,” Schaus said in an interview. “But it’s a really exciting opportunity.” Schaus credits the support she has received from the SFU athletics department, including fellow coaches, with helping her make the transition from assistant coach — a role she took on last fall — to head coach.

“And then the foundation of the program that has been laid by John Buchanan and then Matt Steinbach has really helped me through this transition,” she said. “A lot of the groundwork has already been done. Now it’s just been about tweaking the program to make it my own a little bit. Other than that, it’s full speed ahead. There hasn’t been much time to sit back and worry too much about the changes.”

Schaus believes her history as a past NCAA Division II player helps as she transitions from assistant coach to head coach. She competed from 2012-2016 for Erskine College, a liberal arts university in South Carolina, and won four individual titles. It was at Erskine where Schaus, now 29, first started toying with the idea of one day coaching. She had fallen in love with the team concept of collegiate golf.

Schaus had only had a brief taste of it when she represented her home province of New Brunswick at a handful of events. “College golf is really the only time in golf that you are truly a part of that team atmosphere,” Schaus said.

“So for me as a player, that was the key to my success, having a team around me to be able to support me and push me to get better every day. And that’s why I really decided I wanted to get into college coaching, it’s because of that team environment and what you can build around a team.”

Schaus said her coaching style is very much a reflection of her belief that a strong team benefits all of the individual players. “When it comes to my coaching style, I keep everyone accountable,” she said. “Everyone on the team knows what our team rules and expectations are and we celebrate the small wins along the way.

“I really feel strongly about how NCAA Division II programs work. I am a strong believer in that balance between academics and athletics at the DII level. I think it is awesome that golf is a team sport at this level and as much as we work together as a team and push one another forward, I also really like working with individuals and developing not only their golf games but also setting them up to become leaders in the future.”

Schaus likes to think she has the makings of two strong teams this year. The women’s team, which opens its season this weekend at Saint Martin’s Grisham Memorial tourney in DuPont, Wash., has eight returning players and just one freshman in Richmond’s Cadence Ko. “I feel like we are actually now a more experienced team that are mostly upper classmen,” Schaus said of her women’s squad.

“We have a team full of players who have seen most of the courses that we play throughout the year already, we have our GNAC (Great Northwest Athletic Conference) player of the year Meera Minhas back again and Dana Smith who was GNAC freshman player of the year. So we have a lot of momentum going on the women’s side already and we are looking to build on that.”

The SFU men’s team has had plenty of turnover. Only three players — Denby Carswell, Justin Bjornson and Brendan O’Brien — are back from last year. A key addition is University of Hawaii-Hilo transfer student Danny Im. We have some fresh faces on the team this year,” Schaus said.

“Danny is a player who has already won at the collegiate level, so there’s four players right there who have a lot of experience and from there we have three players who are new to this team environment but from what I have seen so far they are really excited about the opportunity to be on the team. I am confident that we can have a strong team that will be competing for the GNAC championship and looking to go to regionals again this year.”

The SFU men will open their season at the True North Classic. Carswell, last year’s GNAC freshman of the year, will have a decided home-course advantage. The Burnaby native grew up not far from Riverway. “I have played there hundreds of time,” Carswell said. The True North Classic will feature 11 women’s teams and eight men’s team.

Fellow Canadian teams competing include the University of Victoria, University of the Fraser Valley, UBC-Okanagan and UBC, which is sending its women’s team and some members of its men’s team who will compete at Riverway as individuals. Teams from south of the border include University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hawaii Pacific, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, Saint Martin’s and Northwest Nazarene.

“It’s a unique opportunity to host a NCAA event in Canada,” Schaus said. “There are a lot of teams in the U.S. who haven’t had the chance to make it across the border, so we are super excited to host them here.”
As for organizing such a big event in her early days as head coach, Schaus said she has had great support from her new assistant coach Scott Kerr, a former SFU player. Schaus also has plenty of experience herself in organizing tournaments.

“In terms of the challenges of running an event, Golf Burnaby and Hal Eremko have been wonderful to work with,” she said.

“Luckily on my end, I spent a bit of time at the Toronto Golf Club as an associate professional. I ran a lot of golf tournaments during my time there. And Scott Kerr has hit the ground running and has been an unbelievable help in supporting me to help all these final pieces come together for the True North Classic.”