In 2022, Seton Hall’s men’s golf team won the BIG EAST title — the first time in 22 years — and set a school mark for scoring average. The coach at the time, Clay White, was overseeing a program on the rise when he moved on to the University of Pennsylvania that same year.
That’s when JT Harper ’15 took over.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going to continue to build the program, and he’s going to be 10 times the coach I was there,” White says of Harper, his former player and assistant.
Early results are promising. This year the Pirates again captured the BIG EAST championship, with the play of individual stalwarts Wenliang Xie, Wanxi Sun and Jack Bosworth driving to a winning score of 8-over 872, five shots better than runner-up Butler University.
“We had two really good events leading into the BIG EAST championship, and we gained a lot of momentum,” Harper says. “We were able to do it because the entire group believed that we were the best team. All of the guys believed to their core that if we do what we’re supposed to do that we have every right to hold that trophy at the end.”
Golf has been a lifelong pursuit for Harper. As a kid in California, “with the level of golf in my area growing up, it was pretty inevitable that I picked up a club and tried to get good at it.” A major influence was his father, RJ Harper, who was director of golf at Pebble Beach before passing away in 2017.
Harper stuck with the sport and carved out a solid career at Seton Hall, with the team’s victory in the Navy Fall Classic his senior season being a highlight. Harper recalls “the brotherhood that was built between the guys. Going to battle for each other was pretty special.”
He began his coaching journey in his final fall semester, when he served as an undergrad assistant, coaching players who had been teammates.
“I kind of put it in the back of my mind how much I loved coaching,” Harper says, “and thought maybe one day down the road I’d get back into it.” He worked as an instructor at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, New Jersey, and acted as the director of junior golf operations before reaching out to White again.
In August 2022, after assisting with the Pirates’ BIG EAST title earlier that year, he got the call to take over the program.
“JT understands the swing, and he teaches and understands the swing much better than I do,” White says. “I can’t hit a flop shot, but I know when to hit a flop shot, when not to hit a flop shot. Where he can actually say, ‘Hey, no, you need to get more weight on your front foot. You need to feel like you’re sliding the blade under’ and talk them through the technique. Who he is as a person is why he’s going to be a great coach — he has a lot of that knowledge that it took me 10, 15 years to get.”
Harper also appreciates the holistic approach to coaching, especially during pressure-packed tournaments. “When we’re on the course in those situations, it’s more about keeping the guys focused on the task at hand and not letting their minds drift to thinking about holding a trophy. Just keeping them in the present.”
As for the future? No BIG EAST golf team has ever made it through a regional and into the national championship, where the top 30 teams compete. “I’ve spoken to the guys,” Harper says, “and they’ve bought into wanting us to be the first BIG EAST school to do that.”
Harper’s history says he’s the man to lead the Pirates there.
Shawn Fury is an author based in New York City.
