Greg Sands Position: Head Coach Experience: 10th Season

Greg Sands has established himself as one of the top young coaches in the country. In nine seasons as head coach of the Red Raider program, Sands has taken a good program and made it better.

There are eight NCAA regional and four NCAA Championships berths, a top ten national ranking in 2009 and the program's first PING All-America First Team honoree in 2006. Those are the most visible of the accomplishments Sands has been responsible for since taking over the program in 2001. What falls beneath the radar is Sands' ability to provide his student-athletes with an outstanding education, reflected in the program's 100 percent graduation rate during his tenure. The team consistently ranks among the top academic programs in the Big 12 Conference.

The 2008-09 campaign was another successful season in school history as Sands guided the team to two tournament wins and four top five finishes. Additionally, nine players posted top five finishes and two claimed medalist honors. The Red Raiders set the school scoring record for a 54-hole event with an 824 at the UTSA Invitational in the spring and shattered the school single-round record with a 266 in the same event - which Tech won by 20 strokes. All of these accomplishments came against one of the nation's top 20 schedules.

Texas Tech advanced to its fourth NCAA Championships appearance under Sands, following an impressive outing at the NCAA Southwest Regional in Austin. The Red Raiders carded a 2-under round and led by 10 strokes to position itself for an opportunity to advance.

The four NCAA Championship berths - 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2009 - mark the fifth through eighth times that a Tech team has advanced beyond the regional round and competed for a national championship. Prior to qualifying for the 2002 event in Columbus, Ohio, the last Red Raider team to compete at that level was the 1976 squad. Although the Red Raiders haven't won the coveted trophy, their path to these tournaments has been impressive.

Of the eight-straight NCAA regional appearances, the West regional in 2002 ranks as the most dramatic. Then-senior Kyle Willmann stared down a 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole in the final hole of regulation play. In a must-make situation, Willmann drained the putt, sending the team to a playoff, and ending a 26-year hiatus for the program in championship competition.

The Red Raiders fell short in three other appearances, before dominating the field at the 2006 East regional in Orlando, Fla. With 10 spots up for grabs, Tech positioned itself on the first day as one of the tournament's top five teams and didn't waver during the three-round event. The Red Raiders shot 9-over par for the event to finish in third place.

In his nine seasons as head coach, Sands has led the team to 11 tournament titles. Consistently, his players have broken records and established themselves on the Texas Tech charts.

A native of Jacksonville, Texas, Sands was a member of the back-to-back Western Athletic Conference championship teams in 1997 and 1998 at TCU. He also was named Academic All-WAC Scholar-Athlete during the 1995-96 seasons.

Sands graduated from TCU in 1997 with an undergraduate degree in communications, along with a history minor. Sands' playing resume includes winning the Texas Collegiate Championships (Waterwood National in 1997) and co-champion of the Crown Colony Intercollegiate in 1997.

Sands was an All-Region player at Jacksonville High School and led his team to a third-place finish at the 4A State Championships in 1992. Sands and his wife, Stephanie, have two sons, Caden and Hudson, and a daughter, Reese.