His former teammates, and now the players he coaches, joke that they were in the third grade when Drew D’Ercole first embarked upon his standard-setting Concordia Men’s Golf career. That’s not quite correct, but it is true that D’Ercole has been around for nearly half of Head Coach Brett Muller’s tenure leading the men’s and women’s golf programs. No player ever has and likely ever will equal the 92 rounds D’Ercole played in Bulldog Blue.
As a collegiate player, D’Ercole enjoyed his swan song this past spring when he made a run at a GPAC championship before placing fourth in the conference. By the end of that tournament, Muller stated matter of factly, “Drew to date is one of the best golfers in school history. He’s in the same conversation as Nolan Zikas and Shawn Rodehorst.”
Now in year two as a graduate assistant at Concordia, D’Ercole offers, “The career I ended up having – I don’t think I or anyone saw it going like that. Just working hard is probably the biggest memory. The win my sophomore year at the Doane tournament is one that stands out. GPAC last year stands out. Those are probably the two highlights of my career. There were a lot of memories made with the team and Coach Muller on road trips. I’m very thankful for the teammates I’ve had throughout five years.”
Those five years spanned the 2019-20 through 2023-24 seasons. Of course, the ’19-20 season was never played to completion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many collegiate athletes of the time, D’Ercole began to re-evaluate what the next few years would look like. Essentially, D’Ercole played four-and-a-half seasons of collegiate golf. Over 42 career tournaments, D’Ercole claimed top 10 finishes a total of 13 times and landed inside the top five eight times. As a sophomore, D’Ercole made it clear he had something special when he beat out a field of 63 golfers for the title at the Doane Invite.
Beyond the highlights on the course, D’Ercole has taken advantage of his opportunities at Concordia to lay the groundwork for a future career in college athletics. The Papillion, Neb., native aspires to be an athletic director one day while making use of undergraduate degrees in Recreation and Sport Studies and Business Administration and a master’s in Athletic Administration. D’Ercole has begun preparing himself for that future while serving an internship in Concordia’s Athletic Communications office and with his coaching role as a graduate assistant.
The relationships provide the largest rewards for D’Ercole, who has found himself in the challenging role of transitioning from a teammate to a coach. Says D’Ercole, “I love the relationship side of things, especially in sports where golf is so competitive. With coaching, recruiting is big. You’re developing those relationships with the athletes and trying to convince them of the value of this place, like I saw. I have that knowledge of what they go through on a day-to-day basis. I think that’s big in helping them through personal issues and golf issues. I want to help them be the best they can and hopefully break the records that we set while I was here.”
Indeed, D’Ercole helped his squads break many of the program’s major team records, such as lowest 18- and 36-hole tournament scores and best overall season average. In addition, D’Ercole’s fourth-place GPAC conference finish is the best ever by a Bulldog men’s golfer. His career scoring average of 75.8 placed him narrowly behind the inspirational Nolan Zikas (75.6) as the best ever in that category.
Those accomplishments require the type of dedication that only someone with a love of the game (combined with ability) could attain. Drew found his love for golf at a young age. Initially, Drew preferred other sports. He credits his younger brother Josh with pushing him towards the game that he first saw as too boring.
“I would actually say Josh inspired me,” Drew said. “For the longest time growing up – I had a club in my hand about four or five years old – but I thought golf was dumb. I was going to focus on basketball and baseball. Then around 10 or 11, Josh and one of my friends asked me to go to this golf camp. We went and from there I fell in love with it. Josh plays a factor in why I still golf today.”
Fittingly, Drew and Josh became Concordia teammates in the fall of 2021. Perhaps Josh had noticed how much Drew came to appreciate life as a Bulldog. The close proximity to home was also a major plus for their parents, Mike and Kara, who have become fixtures at Concordia golf tournaments. Additionally, Drew and Josh grew closer together as roommates during the 2022-23 academic year.
The relationship has developed in new ways as Drew has become an assistant coach. Says Drew, “I’m very thankful for Josh choosing to come here. It allowed us to create memories that I don’t think would have been made otherwise. I’m thankful for it and I’m sure he is as well.”
Furthermore, Drew is thankful for how things worked when he made the decision to become a Bulldog. Back on November 14, 2018, Drew went to social media to make it officially official. As Drew tweeted on that day, “The opportunity to play college athletics has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. Thank you to everyone who has helped me along this journey! Excited for the future!”
He may not have planned for it then, but here he is in year six as either a student-athlete or coach at Concordia. Looking back at the decision, D’Ercole knows there is a reason why it worked out this way. In turn, it wasn’t a difficult decision for Muller to keep him around. As the Muller said, “He’s definitely somebody the guys can lean on for advice and for guidance.”
When asked what led him Concordia, Drew answered, “There was a lot that appealed about Concordia. One thing was the distance from home, being far enough away but close enough where it was easy to go home. It also allowed my parents to be at virtually every tournament. Looking back over the five years, there was only one tournament they didn’t attend. I’m very thankful for that. In terms of the campus, it was very welcoming. Coach Muller seemed awesome. The campus as a whole and the team factored into my decision to come here.”
Someday, Drew will look back at Concordia as the place that helped put a foundation in place. A sports fanatic who cheers for the likes of the Creighton Bluejays men’s basketball team and the Kansas City Royals, Drew is following his passion. About the idea of becoming an AD, Drew says, “That’s absolutely something I want. I think this experience has really helped me know that the relationships matter.”
