McGraw resigns at Baylor to help care for wife Pam
Mike McGraw, a 2025 inductee into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame, has resigned as the head coach at Baylor to spend more time caring for his wife Pam, who has been been struggling with kidney disease and diabetes for many years.
McGraw, 65, informed his team on Tuesday. He told Golf Oklahoma today that he could not be on the road while Pam was taking dialysis three times a week for five hours at a time. She has been on dialysis for 2.5 years.
“I needed to get off the road and be there for her,” McGraw said. “I’ve completely enjoyed coaching and had a good long run. It’s been a wonderful stretch. But just being away four days for a recruiting trip or a tournament, I needed to be at home helping her.”
McGraw led Baylor for 12 seasons, guiding the Bears to 20 team titles, 13 individual titles and 11 All-America selections. He was a legendary high school coach in Edmond before joining the staff at Oklahoma State, where he eventually replaced Mike Holder as men’s golf coach in 2005 and promptly led the Cowboys to the NCAA Championship in 2005-06.
His OSU teams won 30 tournaments including five Big 12 titles, but McGraw was released in 2013. He joined the staff at Alabama as an assistant for 2013-14 and helped lead the Tide to the NCAA Championship and was hired to be the head coach at Baylor in June of 2014.
“It is hard to overstate how blessed we are to have had Mike McGraw lead our men’s golf program for over a decade and how thankful I am to get to call him a mentor and friend,” said Baylor Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Doug McNamee.
“Any list of the most influential leaders in college golf for the past generations has to include Coach McGraw. And we saw that firsthand here in his dedication to excellence on the course, in the classroom, and in leading young men to successful careers in golf and beyond. We are deeply grateful for his service to the Baylor Family and wish him all the best as he enters this well-deserved next chapter.”
Here is the feature on McGraw’s career that preceded his induction into the Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame.
And here is his induction video which clearly shows the respect and esteem with which he is regarded by the golf community in Oklahoma and nation wide.
As stated in the title of his 2017 book, McGraw has always strived to leave the game, “Better Than I Found It,” whether coaching juniors, high school, collegians, hosting a popular podcast or serving as the unofficial historian of the game for the state of Oklahoma.
The son of long-time Ponca City Country Club head professional Gervis McGraw and the twin brother of 2006 inductee Patty McGraw Coatney, McGraw has carried on an intense lifelong love affair with golf. He began working with juniors in 1979 at Kickingbird Golf Course in Edmond while still a collegiate player at Central Oklahoma. That continued in the summers
McGraw continued to teach even as he spent three years pursuing his dream of playing professional golf with his final event being the 1986 Oklahoma Open. He earned his teaching certificate, teaching history at Edmond’s Sequoyah Middle School while serving as assistant coach to Rick Leath at Edmond High School (now Edmond Memorial). His teams at Memorial won state championships in 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993. In 1993 he became the head coach at the new Edmond North High School and promptly led the Huskies to state titles in 1994, 1995 and 1996 with a runnerup finish in 1997.
During that time McGraw touched the lives of thousands of young golfers who came through the E.C. Hafer Junior Program and through lessons and coaching. After winning 36 titles in 46 events in four years at North, he was brought to Stillwater by OSU golf coach Mike Holder to be his assistant. He was named the OSU women’s coach for 2004-05.
McGraw replaced Holder when he became athletic director in 2005-06 and led the Cowboys to the 2006 NCAA Championship and a runner-up finish in 2010. His OSU teams won 30 tournaments including five Big 12 titles, but McGraw was released in 2013. He joined the staff at Alabama as an assistant for 2013-14 and helped lead the Tide to the NCAA Championship and was hired to be the head coach at Baylor in June of 2014.
In 11 years at Baylor, McGraw has led the Bears to 20 tournament titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in five of the last seven seasons. The Bears achieved their first-ever No. 1 national ranking, won their first NCAA Regional title and advanced to NCAA Championship match play for the first time in program history, earning the best NCAA Championship finish in program history. While coaching, McGraw finds time to host an historically significant podcast ripe with golf history and insights.