Hooge’s Heroes

Clark Rustand is a new face at UVU, at least as a golfing coach. He is our hero for the week. Here is what he had to say:

Q: What is your position at UVU?

A: My position is director of golf. I am over the men’s and women’s golf teams.

Q: How long have you been here?

A: I have been here about a year and a half. I was hired in March of 2007.

Q: What made you want to coach golf?

A: I really wanted to stay close to golf and pursue a career in it if possible. I was preparing to try my hand at playing starting on the Canadian Tour when this job became available. Having played here at UVSC back in ’98 to ’99 and ’01 to ’02, I thought I might have a chance at the position because many of the same people were still in the athletic department. (UVU) was my best shot at starting a coaching position at the Division I level.

Q: Where did you get your start?

A: I got my start in collegiate athletics here at Utah Valley back when it was still a junior college. I was an All-American my freshman year, and voted one of the top five players my sophomore year. I then transferred to BYU and finished my collegiate career there and received a bachelor degree in psychology.

Q: What do you feel has been your greatest success while at UVU?

A: I don’t feel like I have achieved much since I have been here at Utah Valley, but then again I am still really new. I feel my end goals will be something to boast about when we reach them, but we’re still in the early stages of program development. This year will be a good year though. We will be young on both teams: seven freshman on the men’s, and three freshman and four sophomores on the women’s team.

Q: Besides golfing, what do you do in your spare time?

A: Hang out with my wife and 3 month old baby girl, Elliott. That takes up a lot of my time, which I thoroughly enjoy. I like all sports and try to stay active: hiking, biking, basketball, Frisbee golf — of course — hanging out with my family in Arizona.

Q: If there was one message you could get out to UVU students, faculty and staff, what would it be?

A: My one message, especially to students, would be to hang in there. We’re all hard on ourselves and probably think that we should be doing better than we are. Well, chances are, you’re doing much better than you think you’re doing.