Saying farewell will be difficult for Iowa State men’s golf coach Dale Anderson. After all, Anderson has been a part of this university for 30 years as a golf coach.

However, praise bestowed upon Anderson is quickly pushed aside by the highly respected coach.

“These guys have made me look awful good,” he said. about his team. “It’s wonderful, they can’t pay you enough to have that kind of experience. …

“To take credit for their accomplishments wouldn’t be right,” he said. “We just provided the environment to be successful.”

“If you have been a teacher-coach for as long as I have been, it is not a chore to go to work. I go to work with a smile and come home with as smile on my face,” he said. “I wish everybody could have that type of job.”

When asked about his best athletes, Anderson without hesitation turned to his current team.

“I have some great guys right now,” Anderson said. “Jason Knutzon has the best stroke record for anyone ever and with players like [Donnie] Teeter and [Travis] Korver you can look back at their credentials as well. I think the best golf of this team still lies ahead.”

However, one current athlete is quick to return the credit.

“He is definitely a positive influence,” senior Travis Korver said. “He is definitely a leader.”

Among other players in previous times, Anderson points to names such as John Bennett, Dick Spence, Clay Davis, current assistant coach and former player Mark Hankins, as well as Judd Gibb and Jim Webb as a few of his players who have had success.

Although no player during Anderson’s reign stuck with the PGA’s “big tour,” Anderson said several have played on several satellite tours as well as the Asian Tour and the South American Tour.

“I have had a lot of guys try, but no one has made it yet,” Anderson said.

However, he points to the fact that his team hasn’t been funded fully with scholarships until the 1990’s.

While Anderson hasn’t had any make it to the big time, he has many former players making impacts across the country in all facets of the golf world.

“Iowa State provided the platform for them to take off from,” Anderson said.

“When I recruited them I didn’t say ‘I’m going to make you a great player. We will provide you a platform for success, but we can’t do it for you,'” Anderson said.

In fact one former player, John Benda, is the executive director of the Asian Tour.

Another is currently a principle supervisor in Golforce. The company owned by Jack Nicklaus that designs championship golf courses.

Iowa State Athletic Director Gene Smith complimented Anderson as well.

“Dale has been a real good leader of our golf program. I guess this year has been a real good example. They are ranked in the top 40. He is always focused on the right things,” Smith said.

Smith said one of Anderson’s biggest and best attributes is his ability to recruit quality players with limited resources.

“He has a knack for finding outstanding kids on a limited budget,” Smith said.

Anderson was able to use his long tenure at Iowa State to help him find recruits with the limited budget.

“We wear the phones out. I have a broad base of people I can talk to in different areas about someone,” Anderson said.

Anderson said he has a three-part recruiting philosophy.

“First is citizenship and second is academics,” Anderson said.

“And then if they check out the first and they are a good athlete, we try our darndest to get them. We try to get Iowa first. First, we can showcase the state of Iowa for talent, and second, it costs less for the university.

“Gene Smith tells me that we get four and a half scholarships, so if we can find a person who will be successful at the division one level in Iowa we will go after them,” he said.

Of Anderson’s current four-man roster, his top three players, Jason Knutzon, Donnie Teeter and Travis Korver, are all from Iowa.

While looking back at the past year, Anderson said the final tour of events has been exciting.

“This last year has been a lot of fun,” he said. “It was nice to know that as soon as we stepped out of the van we have a chance to win the tournament.”

Anderson, throughout previous summers, worked with camps and has put on a special tournament over the past 15 years.

The tournament, called the Curt Lindholm Classic, is in response to a diving accident that caused Lindholm to break his neck.

“I was a good friend of his father’s,” Anderson said. “Proceeds of the tournament go to benefit the golf teams and the Miami Project.”

The Miami Project uses the money to research traumatic spinal injuries, while the funds for the golf team go into a scholarship fund.

The tournament, which will be held on May 10, is in its 15th year. The tournament to date has raised over $500,000.

While he has been successful as a coach, Anderson feels his most important accomplishment in life is his family.

“The most important things I have done is see my children be successful, keep my family together and try to be a good Christian example for people I have worked with,” he said.

While Anderson maybe turning the reigns over to someone else, he will not retire completely.

“I plan to do some traveling with my wife Sharon and I want to do some golf tours,” Anderson said.

“I may start a consulting company that I have been thinking about. So I expect to keep my hand in golf somehow,” he said.

He said it is time to give back to the state of Iowa and the university.

“I owe this state a great debt,” Anderson said. He said one of the unique things about Iowa State is the bond among the coaches.

“The coaches are bonded together from the top to the bottom,” he said. “From Tim Floyd and Dan McCarney down. Part of it is the Jacobson Building. Part of it, aside from me, is the coaches we hire. It is one of the strengths we have.”

But for other coaches, it will be difficult to say farewell to Anderson.

“Dale is a very thought out person. He is not complicated, what you see is what you get,” Manning said. “If he wants to talk it is for a purpose.”

As far as his athletes, Manning said he treats them like family.

“He naturally assumes a fatherly role,” she said.

“Three years ago he had a serious bout with cancer. I know coaching golf and being around young men brought him back,

“You automatically have 12 men caring for him. But he never shunned his responsibilities,” she said.

But three of Anderson’s former players are vying for his position. Jim Webb, Judd Gibb and Mark Hankins were all in the group of finalists.

While Anderson may be stepping aside, the impact he has bestowed on the university will be felt for years to come.