Turns out, Paul Chavez didn’t need much time off from retirement.
The legendary Odessa golf coach returned to the coaching world last week when he was announced as the new head coach of the UTPB men’s and women’s golf programs.
Chavez spent 31 years total at Odessa College, 26 of which were spent as the head coach of the Wranglers before retiring last spring.
His resume with Odessa College included three NJCAA Division I National Championships in 2004, 2005 and 2017.
Now, he’s eager for a new opportunity at the NCAA Division II level.
“I have a passion for coaching and teaching,” Chavez said. “Going through some life changes, I needed a break. I think it was a much-needed break. I was able to recharge and now I’m refocused and this opportunity came up. It was God’s timing. It’s great to be a part of a great university. The timing was perfect.”
Chavez has been honored five times as the NJCAA National Coach of the Year and has been inducted into the NJCAA Golf Coaches Hall of Fame (2007), the Western Junior College Athletic Conference Hall of Fame (2014), the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame (2017), and the Odessa Athletic Hall of Fame (2021).
He talked about his excitement level of taking over at UTPB.
“Odessa is my hometown,” Chavez said. “UTPB is a great university. I’m excited to bring a powerhouse program to Odessa and I’m looking forward to building what we did at Odessa College. I think with my recruiting connections and my networking and everything, I will be able to do the same thing. There’s no doubt that we can build something special here.”
Chavez has coached 41 NJCAA All-Americans, 30 GCAA All-Americans, 12 NJCAA Academic All-Americans, 64 All-Region, 49 All-State, and 81 All-Conference players. Over 121 Odessa College golfers have continued their athletic and academic careers at the four-year level and seven (7) former Wranglers are playing professionally on the PGA Tour or LIV Tour.
Chavez helped guide the Wrangler men’s golf team to a second-place finish at last year’s NJCAA championships in Newton, Kan.
He also helped guide the Odessa College women’s golf team to a fourth-place finish at nationals in its inaugural season last year in Garden City, Kan.
Chavez doesn’t anticipate any major hurdles in going from coaching JUCO to the four-year level.
“I don’t foresee that being a huge issue,” Chavez said. “The main thing is that I don’t have to come in and learn different rules. There are some recruiting dates that we can recruit and not recruit and there are dates where we can and cannot practice but it’s just learning the rules and stuff like that. other than that, everything’s the same. You’re teaching kids and developing players. you’re building student athletes to be academically successful and athletically and socially successful as well.”
This past spring, the UTPB men’s team qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships while the women’s team saw Arnie Taguines finish tied for 12that the NCAA West Regional.
“Obviously, both teams had some success in the last couple of years so that helps in recruiting,” Chavez said. “But also, they had a few kids that played at Odessa College and are familiar with me and my coaching style and what I expect. I expect it’ll be a smooth transition going over to UTPB. The current coach at Odessa College (Brad Stracke) and I are good friends and we will continue to build two powerhouse programs.”
