DALLAS - The 2023-24 Conference USA men’s golf all-conference and superlative honors were announced Wednesday with Liberty’s Josh Ryan named the CUSA Men’s Player of the Year. Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, all-conference and all-freshman selections are determined by the national rankings by Scoreboard, powered by Clippd, while the Phillip Hatchett Coach of the Year was selected by a vote of the league’s head coaches.

Liberty, this season’s CUSA team champion in the program’s first season in the league, also boasts the Phillip Hatchett Coach of the Year, Jeff Thomas. Louisiana Tech’s Niilo Maki-Petaja was tabbed as the league’s Freshman of the Year.

All eight CUSA men’s golf programs collected all-conference accolades, while five institutions were represented on the all-freshman team. Middle Tennessee and Sam Houston led the way with four players each represented across the three all-conference teams, while the Flames had a pair of all-conference selections, as well as one on the all-freshman team.

Ryan, the 127^th-ranked player in the country, finished second at the 2024 CUSA Championship in Texarkana, Arkansas, just one stroke behind the individual champion, WKU’s Luke Fuller, at -6 for the event. Ryan’s performance helped propel the Flames into the Stanford Regional in the NCAA Championship, by virtue of clinching the team title at the CUSA Championship on the fifth playoff hole.

Maki-Petaja is the league’s highest-ranked freshman by Scoreboard, powered by Clippd, and was named CUSA Golfer of the Week on three occasions, all during the spring campaign. The native of Helsinki, Finland, entered play Wednesday at the Baton Rouge Regional in a tie for 10^th place at even par, and is just three shots out of second place.

Thomas’ Flames had a strong run through the CUSA Championship, earning the third seed through the first three rounds, and a spot in the match play portion of the event. Liberty dispatched of Sam Houston in the semifinal, and then earned the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship with a match play win over UTEP when Ryan defeated UTEP’s Dylan Teeter in five playoff holes.

Player of the Year
Josh Ryan, Liberty

Freshman of the Year
Niilo Maki-Petaja, LA Tech

Phillip Hatchett Coach of the Year
Jeff Thomas, Liberty

First Team All-Conference
Josh Ryan, Liberty
Owen Stamper, MTSU
Erik Jansson, Jax State
Niilo Maki-Petaja, LA Tech
Bret Gray, Sam Houston
Luke Fuller, WKU*

Second Team All-Conference
Dylan Teeter, UTEP
Michael Barnard, MTSU
Hugo Trommetter, Sam Houston
Josh German, Sam Houston
Ting-Wei Hsieh, Sam Houston

Third Team All-Conference
Markus Varjun, MTSU
Greg Holmes, UTEP
Javier Delgadillo, New Mexico State
Isaac Simmons, Liberty
Kevin Jegers, MTSU

All-Freshman Team
Niilo Maki-Petaja, LA Tech
Hugo Trommetter, Sam Houston
Sheldon McKnight, MTSU
Patrick Foley, UTEP
Camden Braidech, Liberty

*Luke Fuller won the 2024 CUSA individual championship, and is automatically put onto the first team per conference regulations