Justin Emil

Biography

Now entering in his 15th season at the helm of Rice golf, head coach Justin Emil has taken strides with the Owl program since his hiring in June 2011. In his time, he has led the Owls to the 2014 Conference USA Championship and berth in the NCAA Tournament while having coached five NCAA Regional individual participants, nine All-Conference members, six C-USA All-Freshman members, the 2014, 2022 and 2025 C-USA Freshman of the Year and the 2018 and 2019 Conference USA Individual champions. His squads are also keeping up academically, as he has coached 36 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars, 10 Golf Coaches Association of America All-Academic Teams, seven Conference USA All-Academic Team members, 19 American Athletic Conference members and nine conference Sport Academic Awards. Last year, Emil led the Owls to six top five finishes, while setting school records for stroke average, (288.45) average vs. par (+1.91), and rounds of par or better (18). Lukas Boandl earned a pair of victories at the Argent Financial Classic and Bayou City Collegiate Classic, while Daniel Zou tied for the top spot at the Bayou City. The pair were named to the AAC All-Conference Team, with Zou earning Freshman of the Year honors. They also earned at-large berths to the NCAA Bremerton Regional. In 2023-24, Emil led the Owls to five top ten finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Border Olympics, while Jay Kirchdorfer and Reggie Zhu both earned top three individual finishes. In 2020-21, Rice e