Mike Hagen enters his 11th season as head men’s golf coach at Arkansas State University in 2025, after taking the helm on July 10, 2015. Under his leadership, the Red Wolves have experienced a historic resurgence, transforming into one of the nation's premier mid-major programs.
In May 2025, Hagen received a contract extension, affirming the university’s commitment to the continued success and national profile of the program.
A highly decorated coach, Hagen was inducted into the NJCAA Golf Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Golf Coaches Association of America Hall of Fame in December 2019. In 2025, he received the NJCAA Coaches Legacy Award, recognizing him as one of the winningest coaches in NJCAA history.
Under Hagen's guidance, A-State has two conference titles (2018-19, 2023-24) and made three appearances at the NCAA Championships as a team (2019, 2021, 2024). A two-time Sun Belt Coach of the Year recipient, Hagen has coached Julien Sale (2020-21) and Thomas Schmidt (2023-24, 2024-25) to SBC Golfer of the Year accolades. Three players, Zan Luka Stirn (2016-17), Luka Naglic (2018-19) and Jake Wallis (2024-25), have been named the league's Freshman of the Year in Hagen's tenure and Stirn was also the Newcomer of the Year.
In total, Hagen has coached 26 All-Sun Belt Conference selections, second-most in the league since arriving in Jonesboro in 2015. Hagen also helped lead Jack Maxey to the individual conference title in 2025, A-State's second all-time conference individual champion and first since 1997.
In the final national rankings each of Hagen's 10 seasons, A-State has ranked inside the top 100 and among the top five in the league. The Red Wolves have been a top four seed in the Sun Belt Conference Championships for nine consecutive seasons with no championship contested during the 2019-20 campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hagen's teams have rewritten the program record book over his 10 seasons, including the program record low round, 36-hole and 54-hole totals. All 10 seasons comprise the top 10 single-season stroke averages for a team, including a record 285.17 average during the 2024-25 campaign. A-State has claimed an event title each of Hagen's 10 seasons, including multiple titles in six seasons, for a total of 24 since the 2015-16 season.
A-State’s upward trajectory continued with a program-best seventh-place finish at the NCAA Noblesville Regional in 2021. The team fired its lowest-ever three-round score at a regional (874), highlighted by Zan Luka Stirn’s third-place individual finish—the highest in school history at the NCAA Regional level.
Player development has been a hallmark of Hagen’s leadership. Stirn and Tanner Napier became the program’s third and fourth all-time individual NCAA Regional qualifiers in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Julien Sale added a 25th-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Louisville Regional, the program’s first top-25 regional individual finish.
Before joining A-State, he spent 10 years as head men’s golf coach and athletics director at Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) in Ottumwa, Iowa, where he led the Warriors to four NJCAA national championships (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015). He also earned NJCAA National Coach of the Year honors each time the Warriors won the national championship.
While at IHCC, Hagen’s teams won 62 tournaments—three at the NCAA Division I level—and eight District III Championships. He coached 19 NJCAA All-Americans, 12 Ping All-Americans, five Ping All-Freshman selections, and two Phil Mickelson Award winners. He was a three-time Dave Williams National Coach of the Year selection.
His coaching experience extends to the international stage, having helped lead collegiate Team USA in South Africa (2008) and the Czech Republic (2012). Before Indian Hills, he served as the men’s and women’s golf coach and an admissions representative at Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa.
A native of Davenport, Iowa, Hagen was a two-year letterman at Iowa Lakes Community College, where he helped his team to NJCAA regional appearances in both 1998 and 1999. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education with a coaching emphasis from the University of Northern Iowa and a master’s degree in athletic administration from Western Illinois University.
Hagen is a member of the National Golf Coaches Association and has served on numerous committees, including the Golf Coaches Poll, NJCAA All-American Selection Committee, Jack Nicklaus Award Committee, Phil Mickelson Award Committee, and the Jimmy Russell Selection Committee.
He and his wife Anne have one daughter, Marlee.
