Q&A: A Man With A Plan - Justin Fetcho

Maybe Justin Fetcho is on top of the mountain? Maybe he's only begun his climb.

Either way, the view has never looked better.

Only 29 years old, the Eldorado High School graduate was named head coach of the Southern Illinois University men's golf team in late July.

He confesses his dream is to be playing on the PGA tour, but now he living out another dream just as worthwhile - teaching young men the finer points of the game and helping them in their quest to become successful adults in society.

Nearly 20 years ago, Fetcho was learning how to play the game as he walked the fairways at the Saline County Country Club.

His journey led him to great success at the prep level and then later at the collegiate level. And even though he got a taste of professional golf, he soon came to the realization that teaching was his career path.

Fetcho - a southern Illinois boy through and through - asses his career and talks about how his travels down the road of life got him back to Carbondale, working with some of the best coaches in the country and what his ultimate goal is at Southern Illinois University in a Question & Answer forum with the Daily Register.

Question: We all evaluate our life at some point, so when you were 19, what was your 10-year plan?

Justin Fetcho: "Growing up, golf was always such a big part of my life. My ultimate goal was to play. I wanted to play professionally. Making it on the PGA Tour is what I dreamed of doing and went through high school and college with the same hopes and dreams in mind. I ended up turning professional right out of college and played out on the mini-tour for a few years. I had a great time doing it. I enjoyed it, but didn't quite have the success I was hoping I was going to have. At the same time, I realized there are a lot of good players out there. It was hard to do. I think I also realized I needed or wanted something more stable. I wanted to stay in golf and I had the opportunity to go back to the University of South Florida and start coaching."

Q: You described the process of getting into coaching as pure luck. Knowing the passion that you had for playing golf and then in a way, having to give that up, was there ever a moment when you felt the same desire or drive for coaching as you had for playing?

JF: I immediately fell in love with coaching and knew that I wanted to do that. I found out very quickly that it was something I was going to want to do for a long time. In college, I wasn't thinking so much about coaching as much as I was playing. I went though the professional career on my own. I didn't have any support, other than that of my family. That's what made it challenging to play professional goal was to not have the financial support system that some of the other guys had out there. It's expensive and it gets tough when you're playing on a weekly basis for not only your paycheck, but your expenses and you know that every last putt or shot is going to matter a lot to you, maybe not to the other guy, but to you it means a lot.

I stayed in the Tampa area when I played professionally. I stayed in touch with my old coach (Chris Malloy), he was looking for an assistant and I talked to him about what it entailed and I knew I was going to be around golf, be around helping student-athletes and those are two of my biggest passions are golf and helping people.

Q: You talk about it being an easy transition and I guess that helps when you're learning from coaches like Mallory, Ria Scott at Oregon (where Fetcho was an assistant for the girls' program) and Mike Small at Illinois (also where Fetcho was an assistant). What do you take away from your time at those places?

JF: At first, I was 24-years-old stepping in, not really sure what I'm going to do with my life. I got into coaching, still wanting to play. That was my passion. Once I got in at USF and started coaching and seeing some of the potential in some of the student-athletes, knowing that they wanted to play professionally too was something I could relate with.

Granted I didn't play on the PGA Tour, but I did play on the Web.com tour, I played on the mini tours and some of the biggest regional and state stuff around, I knew I had some experience to help those players reach their goals and give them some advice on the things I went through.

I still have the passion to play, but this summer I have probably played the least amount of golf since I was 10-years-old and its tough. You want to get out there, compete, play, but I know deep down that I'm helping the student-athlete reach their goal, which is to play on the PGA Tour and I want to give them every opportunity to I can for them to make it out there.

Q: After stops at USF, Oregon and Illinois, it's hard to imagine none was more rewarding than working under Mike Small.

JF: Its tough to single one person out, but when you talk about Mike Small, arguably the best college coach in the country and the opportunity to work under him for nearly two years is something I'll never forget. It's something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. He taught not just golf lessons, but life lessons and to be by his side for nearly two years is very special and an opportunity not very many people are going to have.

Q: Knowing what Mike had built at Illinois and in reality what you could be a part of, how hard was it to leave the program?

JF: It was a very difficult decision to leave Illinois, knowing that you are coming off a runner-up finish in the country two years ago, a top-5 finish this year and to lose one person off that team and bringing in four freshmen, two of which are top-20 in their class, they have got a real potential to win the national championship this year and that's tough to walk away from.

But to know that you now get that chance to be that guy that can build something, like what Illinois has done is so intriguing to me that it was tough to pass up.

It's a great opportunity. We're at a great school, a great community where we can get the same support you see Illinois get in the Midwest. This is a golfing community where people want to see the program do well and it's going to take some time to build up what Illinois has been able to do. They didn't just achieve that success overnight.

Q: You had an excellent high school career at Eldorado where you finished second in the state tournament in 2002-03 season, but you weren't recruited by SIU, and really after another stellar career at John A. Logan College, you still weren't on SIU's radar and went to USF. Does that make for some interesting conversations around the dinner table, now that you're here and are the head coach?

JF: Obviously growing up in the area, with SIU being here, even though I didn't go here, I am still a big fan of the school. My parents, my sister, my relatives all went to school here. It was always in the back of my mind to get back home and do something great.

There's a big part of me coming out of high school that wanted to stay close to home and that's ultimately how I ended up at John A. Logan. My family means so much to me that its important for me to be around them and in a community like this. I got to know Coach (LeRoy) Newton, even if it wasn't in the recruiting process and we've talked since that time about me not going to SIU and there's really no hard ill feelings toward the school, my mom and dad went there, several aunts and uncles, quite honestly if you grow up in this area you're an SIU fan, whether you went there or not.

I'm just happy to be back, be a part of the area and be a part of SIU. The past is the past. I'm not concerned with what happened or what didn't happen. I'm looking forward to the challenges that are here.

Q: You've said you hit the ground running and have learned a lot in the five years you've been an assistant coach, but now you're a head coach and you say you want to do great things. What's first on your agenda?

JF: SIU is going to be special because the Salukis have never won a Missouri Valley Conference championship. I want these guys to have the opportunity to be the first team to do that. Going back to Mike and Illinois, seeing what he has gone through as far as being able to come in and build a program, one where he has his footprint on it, I knew that's what I wanted to do. Sure, I had the opportunity to go to other places where they are ranked 50th or have something set in stone, but I wanted to come here and build this program up.

Q: What challenges do you expect to encounter, whether they be early on or for the long term?

JF: In our first team meeting, I told the guys I'm the most competitive person in this room. There is no one more competitive than me. There is a line drawn between expectations and reality, but I told them that the goal is to win the tournaments when we tee it up. I'm not chauffeuring a bunch of golfers just to have a decent finish. I'm not just a driver. Now, are we going to do that every time out? No. The same guy on the PGA Tour doesn't win every week. If we're not going with the expectation to win, then why are we even bothering to go?

These guys now have a chance to build a legacy and be part of something that has never happened. What a better way to start that off than by winning the Missouri Valley Conference championship. That's the first hurdle, the ultimate goal. The challenges are that I'm new and the players are obviously used to a different system than what I am going to bring.

Everyone has to buy in and doing what's asked of them. I probably run a different program than what Coach Newton ran. That comes with bringing in a new coach. The quicker we can get everyone on board and moving in the right direction, the better off we're going to be as a team.

In other words, now is the time, if you're a golf fan, to get on board with the SIU golf team - stand on that mountain - and live out that dream with Fetcho.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

Visit the Daily Register's YouTube channel to see Justin Fetcho talk about his return to the region and coach the Salukis: www.youtube/hbgsports.com

8 Questions With Justin Fetcho

Reality show that you'd like to guest star on?

Storage Wars

Favorite band of all time?

Blink 182

Funniest Person Alive?

Kevin Hart

Who has to coolest name in sports?

Jose Maria Olazabal

Favorite Fast Food Restaurant?

Chick-Fil-A

If the TV is on at 2 a.m. I'm watching?

ESPN

Secretly addicted to?

My iPhone

Concert you're dying to see?

Jason Aldeen