28th Season\u00A0at Ball State Entering 2025-26
\r\nAlma Mater: Ball State, 1993
Ball State alumnus\u00A0Mike Fleck has faithfully guided the BSU men's golf program for more than two decades now, upholding a tradition of success and stability that dates\u00A0back well more than\u00A0half a century.
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\r\nFleck played for the Cardinals from 1988-92 under the legendary Earl Yestingsmeier\u00A0who coached 36 years in his own right. He\u00A0took the reigns\u00A0from\u00A0his mentor on Aug. 20, 1998 and has created his own success over the past 27\u00A0seasons at\u00A0his alma mater.
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\r\nFleck's program is grounded in\u00A0family, gratitude and the pursuit of excellence in all areas. Upon that foundation, he has taken Ball State\u00A0-- a team\u00A0that was always\u00A0one of the most competitive in the Mid-American Conference -- and placed it on a national stage. The Cardinals\u00A0compete\u00A0week in and week out against some of the best fields collegiate golf has to offer. BSU tees it up regularly\u00A0at major championship venues like Erin Hills, Crooked Stick and Pinehurst and renowned campus tracks\u00A0like Ohio State's Scarlet Course, Purdue's Kampen Course and the Vanderbilt Legends Club, just to name a few.
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\r\nThe crowning competitive achievement of Fleck's\u00A0tenure to date came in 2013 when he coached a veteran-laden team to the NCAA Nationals at the Capital City Club in Atlanta. The Cardinals earned an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament field and were sent west to the regional at\u00A0Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington. Tied for the fifth and final qualifying spot after 54 holes that magical week, Ball State edged San Diego State in a thrilling\u00A0five-man playoff to punch its ticket to the national championship for the first time since 1986 and the first time ever under the regional format.
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\r\nThat 2012-13 team, which won both\u00A0the Firestone Invitational and the Pinehurst Intercollegiate, reached as high as No. 27 in the Golfweek national rankings. That stood as the highest ranking in program history until\u00A0the fall of 2019 when the Cardinals' runaway\u00A0season-opening victory at the Golfweek Conference Challenge propelled them\u00A0to No. 20 by Golfweek. The 15-shot, wire-to-wire victory at Cedar Rapids Country Club in a field that featured\u00A010 NCAA Regional teams from the previous season\u00A0was arguably the most impressive of Fleck's 23 tournament wins so far.
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\r\nEleven years later, Fleck captured 2024 MAC Coach of the Year honors for a second time when the Cardinals won their first MAC Championship under his tutelage. Ball State advanced to the 2024 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional and ultimately finished 10th, after sitting in second place after the first round of competition.
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\r\nA year earlier, with continuity and consistency becoming a hallmark of Fleck's Cardinals program, Ball State finished second in the 2023 MAC Championships and earned a bid in the inaugural National Golf Invitational. Sophomore Kash Beller won individual champion honors at the first-time event in Maricopa, Arizona, and the Cardinals tied for fourth as Fleck's young team begin rising to prominence again.
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\r\nA year after that 2024 MAC title, the Cardinals finished second in the 2025 MAC Championships to mark the program's third consecutive top-two finish, for the first time since 1978-80 under Yestingsmeier.
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\r\nFleck's BSU program has become one of the MAC's most consistent contenders, posting top-3 results\u00A0at the league championships 11 times since 2005, including back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2018. Fleck's 2025 contingent was his seventh Ball State squad to finish as MAC runners-up.
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\r\nThe Cardinals\u00A0held a\u00A0lead over perennial power Kent State deep into the final round\u00A0in 2018 at Sycamore Hills in Fort Wayne\u00A0before finishing three shots back in their bid for another postseason appearance. BSU also finished runner-up in 2006 and in 2011 when Fleck was named MAC Coach of the Year. The 2023 runner-up finish resulted in Ball State's bid to the NGI, its first postseason berth since 2012. The 2024 MAC crown produced back-to-back Ball State bids to national postseason tournaments for the first time during 1982 and 1983.
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\r\nIn addition to team appearances in the 2013 and 2024\u00A0NCAA fields, Fleck has also coached four individual NCAA Regional participants --\u00A0Jamie Broce\u00A0(1999), Eric Steger\u00A0(2011), Tyler\u00A0Merkel (2012) and Johnny Watts (2015).\u00A0Watts qualified for the Ball State-hosted 2015\u00A0Noblesville Regional at The Sagamore Club\u00A0by winning the MAC Championships at Sand Ridge Golf Club, becoming\u00A0the first non-Kent State golfer to win the MAC since 2008 and the first freshman to win the league since 2005.
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\r\nFleck has coached\u00A033\u00A0All-MAC selections at Ball State. The Cardinals’ three all-conference selections\u00A0in 2024 -- Carter Smith on the first team with Bellar and Ali Khan on the second team -- were the most by a Ball State club since 2013 when Tyler Merkel was a\u00A0first teamer\u00A0with\u00A0Joe Gasser and Alex Stinson on the second team. Three All-MAC picks in 2013 and 2024 were\u00A0the most for the program since 1982.
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\r\nFleck coached Broce to MAC Golfer of the Year and All-American status in his first\u00A0year on the job in 1998-99. He has also coached two MAC Freshman of the Year award winners -- Merkel, who set the BSU rookie scoring average record in 2011, and Joey Ranieri who broke it in 2019.
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\r\nFour Fleck-coached players have been voted the MAC's Earl Yestingsmeier\u00A0Sportsmanship Award winner -- Broce (1999), McCormick Clouser (2015), Timothy Wiseman (2019) and Ali Khan (2025). Wiseman qualified\u00A0for the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills after his junior season,\u00A0becoming\u00A0the first Ball State golfer to play in a major championship while still in school. He is one of more than a dozen of Fleck's golfers who have gone on to play professionally. Still more are teaching the game professionally.
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\r\nIn addition to the on-course success, Ball State men's golfers have\u00A0been named All-America Scholars on 54 occasions under Fleck's watch. In 2012-13, Ball State tied for the most All-America Scholars in the country with four -- Gasser, Merkel\u00A0and Stinson and Tony Lazzara. In 2005-06, Ball State was the only school in the nation with five selections -- Brandon Boomsma, Patrick Wilkes-Krier, Wayne Denger,\u00A0C.D. Hockensmith\u00A0and Andy Skillman. The Cardinals were among 30 teams nationally with five All-America Scholar selections in 2025 - Kash Bellar, Ali Khan, Braxton Kuntz, Avery Mahoney and Carter Smith.
Additionally, Fleck has coached 58 Academic All-MAC selections and a pair of CoSIDA Academic All-Americans (Broce in 1999 and Dan Witt in 2002). In 2012-13, Ball State accounted for four of the seven spots on the Academic All-MAC Team -- the most in league history under that selection format -- with Gasser, Lazzara, Merkel and Stinson earning nods.
\r\n\r\nFleck, who graduated from Ball State in 1993, served as an assistant coach with the Cardinals for the 1993-94 season. He then became the head pro at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Farmland, Ind.\u00A0for four years before returning to lead the men’s golf program at his alma mater.
\r\n\r\nPersonal Information
\r\nFamily: Married to the former Dama Dawson (Ball State '93; Master's '95), who is the rehabilitation manager\u00A0for the Muncie Health and Rehabilitation Center ... the couple has one daughter, Braelyn, born April 11, 2005.
High School: Batesville H. S. ('88) in Batesville, Ind. ... four-time Most Valuable Player
\r\n\r\nCollege: Ball State University ('93) ... earned two letters (1991-92) for Coach Earl Yestingsmeier as a member of the golf team ... posted five top-15 finishes as a senior.
\r\n\r\nExperience
\r\n1998-Present: Head Men's Golf Coach at Ball State
1994-98: Head Golf Professional at Hickory Hills Golf Course in Farmland, Ind.
\r\n\r\n1993-94: Assistant Men's Golf Coach at Ball State
\r\n\r\nOther: Assistant Golf Professional at Greensburg, Ind., Country Club ... Golf Shop Attendant at Hillcrest Golf and Country Club in Batesville, Ind.
\r\n\r\nTournament Titles (23)
\r\n2024 MAC Championships
\r\n2024 MAC/A-10 Challenge
\r\n2023 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n2023 Don Benbow Butler Invitational
\r\n2019 Golfweek Conference Challenge
\r\n2017 Pinehurst Intercollegiate
\r\n2016 Earl Yestingsmeier Memorial Invitational
\r\n2014 Mid-American Match Play
\r\n2013 Pinehurst Intercollegiate
\r\n2012 Firestone Invitational
\r\n2012 Mid-American Match Play
\r\n2011 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n2009 Dayton Flyer Invitational
\r\n2009 Cardinal Collegiate
\r\n2006 First Energy Intercollegiate
\r\n2005 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n2004 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n2003 Bullock Collegiate Classic
\r\n2001 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n2000 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n1999 Earl Yestingsmeier Invitational
\r\n1999 St. Louis Billiken Invitational
\r\n1999 Morehead State Eagle Classic