Eastern Michigan hires Andy Walker as new head men’s golf coach

For the first time in 30 years, Eastern Michigan has hired a new head coach for the men’s golf program, Andy Walker. Walker comes into Eastern after being the head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University for three years. 

The longest current-tenured head coach in Eastern Michigan Athletics, Bruce Cunningham, stepped down from the program after over three decades of leading the Eagles on the course, announcing his retirement from the program at the end of May. 

Overall, Walker brings 11 years of head coaching experience, including three years at Lynn University and five at South Mountain Community College.

Before entering coaching, Walker played on the PGA Tour, Web.com Tour, and PGA Tour Canada from 1989 to 2010. He reached a career-high ranking of 272nd in the Official World Golf Ranking and played 375 professional tournaments.

In addition to his playing and coaching career, he worked at Golf Channel Academy as a senior instructor and a Director of Player Development. The 49-year-old worked in this respective role for seven years.

Walker was also a successful golfer collegiately, competing at Pepperdine University. He won the 1997 NCAA Championship and was also the 1997 West Coast Conference individual Champion. 

As a coach, Walker won the NCAA Division II Championship in 2019 while at Lynn and led VCU to a top 40 program in the NCAA in two and a half seasons.

The hiring came when Eastern Michigan Men’s Golf finished in the top five of any school in just one match they participated in. The team’s best overall score in the 2023-24 calendar year of golf was an 855 in Davidson, N.C. The Eagles took sixth place out of 14 schools participating in this tournament.

Eastern Michigan will start over with a man with plenty of experience in all levels of golf.