MAAC Coaching Spotlight – Rider’s Jason Barry
Edison, N.J. (June 30, 2020) – Rider University Men’s Golf Head Coach Jason Barry sat down with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to provide insights on the Rider program, the canceled season, and some of the best courses he and his team have been to. Barry, a two-time Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, took over the Rider program in August of 2013 and has improved the program by 24 strokes per round. This fall the Broncs averaged 294.9, with a 61-16-2 overall record, going 14-1-1 against MAAC conference competition, earning the program’s first win since 2006. The Broncs were picked as Preseason favorites to win the MAAC Championship.
Q: Last season was a good one for Rider, a third-place finish just a few strokes back of second. What’s the extra step that your team needs to take to win a MAAC Championship in the future?
A: We need to play a lot of golf like we did in the fall, this past fall we probably had our best season ever. As far as fall goes, we averaged just under 295. We just played great and we had a chance to win basically every tournament we played in. So, basically trying to follow that formula. We had some great ball strikers in our lineup every week, we gave ourselves a bunch of chances to win. In the spring we had a great preseason, a great off season and a great first six weeks leading up to spring, and our guys were playing great. We knew that if we were playing like that, we would have a chance to win.
Q: What were your thoughts on this season before it was canceled? Did anybody stand out?
A: My thoughts in general were that we were playing great. It’s tough to get five guys playing great at the same time in the same lineup, but we had all the guys on our roster playing really well. For the first time, we were able to play outside almost every day. Usually, in the spring, we are inside half the time. Our guys though wanted to get out there and play in 36-degree weather, it didn’t really matter to them. By the end of those six weeks, just before everything shut down, we were playing some of the best golf we’ve ever played. We were ready. We were going into spring break and had a whole week down in Georgia to get ready, and as were getting ready to start competing, everything was canceled. For me, it was the most prepared I’ve ever been for a spring, all the guys were playing well.
Q: What does it take to play for the Rider golf program? What attributes do you look for in a student-athlete?
A: I’m looking for players who are averaging right around par, and I’m looking for guys who are going to be coachable, good student-athletes who are looking to get better and really enjoy the game. It’s not a good fit to come to Rider if you don’t love golf and don’t want to get after it every single day. I want guys to have the passion to get better, that’s a big thing for me. I want everybody to get a little better every day, and for them to want to do it. I don’t want guys that I have to motivate to want to get better. The guys I have now, and like I said with earlier this spring, they wanted to go out there in 36-degree weather. That wasn’t something I made them do, they wanted to go out there and practice. We were practicing inside, and we normally don’t go outside unless it’s 41 or 42 degrees out. They wanted to be out there with the cold, they wanted to be out there because they wanted to get better. That’s what I’m looking for. Self-motivated, coachable athletes who want to win.
Q: How does the pandemic affect your recruiting effort?
A: I do a lot of stuff online, especially now. I look at playing resumes, swing videos, and trackman and launch monitor data. That gives me almost all of the information that I need. Obviously, I don’t get to watch them play, which is a big thing because I want to see how a potential student-athlete carries himself on the golf course, how his attitude is. But I can get most of the information virtually.
Q: Does Rider have a “home” course? Where is it and what are your thoughts on it?
A: This year we got a membership at Jericho National in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It’s an awesome place, great practice facilities, and an amazing golf course. The back nine is pretty hard, so it’s a very good place to train on. We started practicing there last fall, and coincidentally we had the best fall we’ve ever had. That’s our home course, that’s where we go. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to do that. Normally, we bounce around between a bunch of different golf courses.
Q: About how many different courses does your team play on in a season?
A: We go to about five to seven different courses in our area once or twice a semester. The professionals at those clubs are great about getting us out. In the fall, we played at Springdale Golf Club, where I am the teaching professional, Old York Country Club, TPC Jasna Polona, Bedens Brook, Cherry Valley Country Club, Mercer Oaks, and Mountain View golf course.
Q: In your opinion, what are some of the best courses you’ve brought your team to?
A: We are fortunate enough to play some amazing golf courses. Bull’s Bridge is a great course; we play in Harford’s event there each year. This year we were in contention going into the final round after shooting our program-low 278 in the second round. We had the opportunity to play alongside TCU and UCF in the final round. We didn’t get it done but it was an awesome experience for our guys. Greathorse is an amazing facility; we play UCONN’s event there each year. Dave Pezzino, the UCONN coach, sets that up and he just does an amazing job, he provides an amazing experience for our players. Saucon Valley, Lehigh’s event, is a major championship venue. Probably the hardest test we face all year. It’s really a treat to play there. I think they’ve hosted a couple majors, I’m not sure which ones. We play Springdale in Princeton’s tournament and that’s the course that I teach at in Princeton. Amazing track, always in good shape with a great field. Will Green, the Princeton coach, does an incredible job each year with that tournament.
Q: What are your thoughts on the Disney Magnolia Golf Course?
A: I like the Disney Magnolia course. They used to have a PGA Tour event there and Tiger Woods, who is by far my favorite player, won one of his first events there. I think it is a very fair, scorable setup. If you’re playing well, you can shoot some really good scores down there. If you get a little wild off the tee, it will penalize you. So, I think it is a good setup. It’s a good course to decide the best team.
Q: On a perfect day, what is your longest drive?
A: 290 yards. I’m not long, and I don’t play much. Working on it though!
Q: Have you ever hit a hole in one?
A: I made a hole in one on a 55-yard hole at pitch and putt if that counts (laughing).
Q: Who would win in a match, you or your student-athletes?
A: First, I hope that I would lose. It depends if it were match or stroke play. Match play I may be able to hold some of them off to 16 or 17, but stroke play, if they are playing well and I’m playing average, they are going to beat me by a good amount.
Q: What was your personal reaction to the canceled season? How were student-athletes informed and what was their reaction?
A: Personally, I was devastated. Again, I’ve never had a team more prepared to play in the spring. Partially because we were able to play outside every day, the weather permitted that, but we just rode the momentum from the fall into the spring. We were just playing really well. We were shooting the scores that I know would have been in contention to win tournaments. So, I was disappointed because I know how much work we put into those six weeks, and it wasn’t easy in the cold and wind, and these guys wanted to be out there. They wanted to get better and they were motivated. I was very disappointed. As soon as I heard about it, I called all of my players individually and told them, and they were all devastated. Jake [Sollon] and Nathan [Bazant], our seniors, they wanted a chance to go and play for a conference championship just as much as all the other guys. It’s very much a family environment here, we are all super close. We were going to go to Reynolds Plantation in Georgia, we had an amazing spring break trip set up, but we couldn’t do that. It was really upsetting because we were ready, and we felt like we were going to continue to get better.
Q: How do you stay in contact with your team during the pandemic?
A: In general, even if it wasn’t a pandemic, I talk to my players just about every day anyway. I Facetime with a lot of the guys, we exchange text messages and phone calls, they send me swing videos. When we were all inside for those eight or so weeks, before they started to loosen restrictions, we were doing Facetime lessons and trying to gain every advantage to get ourselves ready for when it is time to compete.
Q: What have you personally been doing during the pandemic?
A: I’m a golf instructor as well, so I Facetime with a lot of students and give virtual lessons. I was doing a lot of cooking, cleaning, exercising, and trying to get everything ready for our fall season. Mostly getting organized. A lot of it was boring, but I was still able to do a lot of golf stuff. My parents are older, so I was also grocery shopping for them a couple times a week to make sure they stayed safe.
Q: What is the first thing you are going to do when allowed back on campus?
A: Have everybody go play for a score to assess where we are. Will be pretty much business as usual. Me out at practice with the guys, taking videos, trying to help us get ready to try and win the MAAC Championship.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 39
th year of competition during the 2019-20 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.