Michael Beard, who helped lead the Pepperdine Waves to the NCAA Championships in 2011 for the first time since 2006 as an assistant coach, joined the Sun Devil staff under Tim Mickelson in August of 2011.
"Michael is a great recruiter and a positive communicator who will help our program in so many ways," said Mickelson, hired in early July. "He will best complement me as a coach and we will work great together as a well-rounded staff. I look forward to matching his energy and having our players benefit from his great backround."
Beard earned Golf Coaches All-American honorable mention status in both 2000 and 2002 while as a player at Pepperdine. He was the medalist at the 2000 NCAA West Regional and the 2002 West Coast Conference Championships, and was a four-time All-WCC first-teamer between 1999 and 2002.
"I am really excited to join the Sun Devil program, which has long been known as one of the best in the nation, and help each player reach his potential," says Beard. "This program has won national and conference titles and has had players win all the top amateur tournaments around the world, and we hope to continue and improve that tradition. I can't wait to get started working with each player and getting to know the Phoenix golf community."
He is well-represented on Pepperdine's career records lists, ranking first in total rounds played (162), tied for first in top 10 finishes (22), third in career average (72.72) and tied for third in top 20 finishes (31). He averaged 72.07 strokes per round as a 2001-02 senior, which at the time was the school record and now stands fifth.
Pepperdine won WCC titles all four of his seasons and went to the NCAA Championships twice, including an eighth-place finish in 2002 where Beard tied for eighth in the individual standings.
After graduating from Pepperdine in 2002 with a degree in organizational communications, Beard turned professional and went on to play on the Gateway Tour (2003), Nationwide Tour (2004) and Canadian Tour (2005) as well as other various mini-tours. He played in two PGA Tour events: the 2004 Bob Hope Classic and 2005 Buick Open.
From 2008-10, Beard spent time teaching golf at Pronghorn Golf Club in Bend, Ore., and the Palms Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif.
He has had the opportunity to learn from some of the best teachers in the game, including Butch Harmon, Phil Rodgers and Stan Utley.
He and his wife Susannah have a son Clark. His father, Frank, is a former PGA player who led the Tour in earnings in 1969 and notched 11 PGA Tour wins. His best finishes in a major tournament were a third-place finish (1965) and a tie for third (1975) in the U.S. Open.