Former Valiant star
Nikhil Kumar ‘05, MS ‘09 completed his seventh season as head coach of the Manhattanville men’s golf program in 2011-12, continuing to bring the program to new heights at the conference, regional and national levels.
As head coach of the men’s golf team, Kumar is responsible for scheduling, team organization, recruiting, alumni relations and fundraising, and on-course instruction.
A three-time Freedom Conference Coach of the Year, Kumar has continued the success he helped start as an undergraduate, having led the team to three straight Freedom Conference Championships and NCAA Championship appearances as well as the program’s first-ever national ranking during the 2011-12 season. In addition, the team was named the 2012 GCAA Division III Academic National Champions thanks to its performance on the course and in the classroom.
Individually, the team boasts six Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars, three GCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region honorees, three Freedom Conference Players of the Year, four conference Rookies of the Year and 23 All-Conference honorees under his guidance.
Manhattanville has truly excelled in the last three seasons, setting a new school single-season scoring record in all three years and posting the 11 lowest team rounds in program history. The Valiants have also won a combined six invitationals over that span, including a program-record three during the 2011-12 season alone.
As a result, the program has greatly raised its profile on a national level. After two years of receiving votes in the GCAA Golf World/Nike Golf Div. III Coaches Poll, the team earned the #25 spot in the final poll of the Fall 2011 semester, the first national ranking in program history. The team has also hosted six very successful tournaments over the last four years, attracting some of the best teams in the region to the best courses in Westchester.
Off the course, Kumar begins a two-year term on the Golf Coaches Association of America
National Advisory Board in July 2012 as the Director of Division III and is one of two Division III coaches on the committee. He also serves on the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Region Committee after a stint on the GCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Committee. In addition, in 2011 he was involved in the GCAA’s Palmer Cup at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn., a Ryder Cup-style format featuring collegiate teams representing both the United States and Europe.
Kumar’s success as a coach has come following one of the best four-year careers in Manhattanville golf history. He was a four-time All-Skyline Conference first-team selection on the golf course, including Skyline Conference Most Valuable Player honors as a sophomore, and helped the program to four consecutive Skyline Conference titles and a berth in the NCAA Northeast Regionals in 2002-03.
Kumar graduated from Manhattanville in 2005 and also received his master’s degree in Sport Business Management from the school in 2009.
Along with his work in the Athletic Department, Kumar also works full-time in Manhattanville’s Graduate Admissions Office as the Director of Admissions for the School of Graduate & Professional Studies. In his role with admissions, Kumar helped launch Manhattanville’s highly successful Sport Business Management graduate program.
