Staff Directory

Matt Ariza

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:

Matt Ariza joined the Mercer Men's Golf coaching staff in the summer of 2025 after coaching at Eastern Kentucky University the previous two years.
In his first season in Macon, the Bears saw some drastic changes:

As a unit, Mercer shaved off nearly five strokes off its team scoring average. Last season, the Bears finished sixth in the Southern Conference with a 292.24 stroke average. This season, Mercer ended the regular season with the third-best scoring average of 287.52.
The Bears started this season ranked No. 190 nationally in the scoreboard rankings. By the conclusion of the regular season, Mercer jumped to No. 150 in the country.
Individually, Henry Robards shaved over two strokes off his average and finished with the third-best individual scoring average in the Southern Conference after ending last season 25th. Robards also increased from No. 932 in the individual rankings to No. 448 with three Top Five finishes.

The Bears finished in the Top 10 in seven of their ten events with three consecutive Top Five finishes. Mercer recorded back-to-back fourth place finishes in the Wexford Intercollegiate and the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate before securing a season-best third place finish at the Southern Intercollegiate hosted by the Georgia Bulldogs.

During his tenure at EKU, the men's golf program saw plenty of success as well:

Finished 1st in the 2024 Colonel Shootout, hosted by EKU
Finished 2nd in the 2023 Colonel Shootout, hosted by EKU
7 total top-5 finishes
13 total top-10 finishes, including 10th in 2023 ASUN Conference Championship

Before joining the Colonels as a coach, Ariza played five years of collegiate golf for Piedmont and Lamar University.

Ariza competed in 28 rounds for Piedmont University and received Collegiate Conference of the South Second Team honors in 2023. When competing in the 2023 NCAA DIII Championship, Ariza finished 51st out of 221 golfers to help guide the Lions to a second-place team finish.