Brian Bruha '02
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- Title:
- Head Men's Golf Coach/Associate Director of Athletics – Facilities and Operations
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- Phone:
- 847-735-5293
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- Email:
- bruha@lakeforest.edu
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Brian Bruha, the sixth head coach in Forester men's golf history but first since the program's return to varsity status in 2014, will enter his 10th season at the helm of the program in 2023-24. He had been the club golf team's advisor and coach since 2006. In addition to coaching, Bruha has overseen the College's athletic facilities since 2005 and was promoted to Associate Director of Athletics – Facilities and Operations in 2019.
The Foresters finished third at the 2023 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship Tournament with the best 54-hole score in program history (901) by 17 strokes. Four players on the team earned All-SLIAC Honors with Chri Petri (5th) and Max Golding (6th) being named to the first team and James Johnson and Jack Dwyer (tied-for-9th) the second. Petri's 221 broke the school's 54-hole record while Golding's 224 ranks fourth in team annals. Johnson and Dwyer were also All-SLIAC players in 2021 and 2022 and account for six of the Foresters' 20 all-conference honors since 2014.
Lake Forest also broke the 18-hole program record with a 294 at the Forester Spring Invite and then shattered that mark with a 289 the next day. Five of the top nine rounds in team history were posted in April of 2023. Golding's scoring average of 74.80 and the team's 306.38 are the best single-season marks in school history.
Six Foresters were named to the SLIAC All-Academic Team in 2023, giving the program 28 conference academic awards in Bruha's nine seasons as head coach. The Golf Coaches Association of America also tabbed Dwyer and Johnson as Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars.
Bruha was named Midwest Conference Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2019. Lake Forest captured the league title and made the program's first appearance at the NCAA Division III Championships in 2018 and repeated as conference champs in 2019, the league's final season of men's golf.
A 2002 graduate of Lake Forest College, Bruha majored in history, minored in political science and sociology & anthropology, and was a four-year member of the Forester men's basketball team. He still ranks among the program leaders in career assists, steals, and three-pointers.
Bruha moved to Monterey, California, after graduation and began working as a golf instructor at Pasadera Country Club. He returned to the College two years later as an assistant men's basketball coach, a role he served for three seasons.
He lives in nearby Libertyville with his wife Heather, who also graduated from Lake Forest in 2002, and their children Calhoun, Caton, and Coran.
