Head Coach: Brett Muller (15th season)
2024-25 GPAC Finish: 10th (317-313-318–948)
Key Returners: Jacob Dowd; Jake Richmond; Brock Rogers.
Key Losses: Gavin Buttshaw; Jaxson Fullerton; Jake Hagerbaumer; Justin Webert.
2024-25 GPAC All-Conference: Jake Richmond (Honorable Mention).
Outlook
The roster has been transformed since Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Golf concluded its 2024-25 season with an admittedly disappointing 10th-place finish at the GPAC Championships in Beatrice, Neb. In replacing four seniors who were regulars in the tournament lineup last season, Head Coach Brett Muller has welcomed seven freshmen into the mix. To help lead the way, last season’s top performer, Jake Richmond, returns after a sterling spring semester that saw him earn two GPAC Golfer of the Week awards.
Muller enters his 15th season at the helm of both the men’s and women’s golf programs. The men’s program is just two years removed from placing fifth in the GPAC while spearheaded by Drew D’Ercole. There is optimism during preseason preparation that the Bulldogs can vault back into that territory by the end of the spring.
Said Muller in breaking down the 2025-26 roster, “We graduated a couple guys, Justin Webert and Jake Hagerbaumer, that spent the majority of their four-year careers in our top five. From an experience standpoint, we’ll be leaning on some new guys. We have seven freshmen in this year’s recruiting class and a lot of new players. Over half our roster is newcoming guys that weren’t with us a year ago. We’re putting them into the mix along with some talented returners.”
Consistency throughout the top five proved to be difficult to achieve in 2024-25. As a team, Concordia shot 300 or lower in five separate rounds. At the 2025 GPAC Championships this past April, the Bulldogs carded a team score of 317-313-318–948. Too many individual scores of 80 and above plagued Concordia as it struggled to reach the expectations it had set for itself. As mentioned by Muller, Webert and Hagerbaumer have graduated and so too have the likes of Gavin Buttshaw and Jaxson Fullerton.
Without question, the Elkhorn, Neb., native Richmond emerged as the bright spot. He wound up leading last year’s team with an 18-hole average of 75.7 over 22 rounds. The highlights for Richmond were three-straight top 10 tournament placements in the spring, including third at the Doane Invite, sixth at the Bethel Invite and eighth at the Raider Invite. So far in August practice, Richmond is working on improving his putting to match his solid ball striking.
“Jake had a great spring for us last year,” Muller said. “His previous two springs, as a freshman and sophomore, he’ll admit, were pretty disappointing for him. But he had a great spring and had a good summer. He’s looking pretty good so far in qualifying. If we can see some good putts from him, we could see some numbers in the red for him.”
Richmond credited his spring performance to greater commitment during the winter months and to a mentality that worked for him. Said Richmond, “Sometimes I like to overthink stuff and go too in-depth. I figured out that the less I focus on it, the better I actually do. It’s pretty funny.”
Other upperclassmen who played at the 2025 GPAC Championships are junior Jacob Dowd and senior Brock Rogers. While Richmond placed 23rd (74-74-80–228) in the GPAC, Dowd finished 45th (82-81-82–245) and Rogers carded scores of 79 and 83 over rounds two and three. Rogers (80.0) and Dowd (80.6) produced similar season averages.
The group of returners also includes juniors Bret Brenneis and Maxwell Fremarek and sophomore Landon Weinandt. Each of whom saw action in at least six rounds last season (including junior varsity events). Another upperclassman, Logan Fragomeni, shifted to golf after playing for the Concordia baseball team the previous two seasons.
The freshman class is a large one. It is made up of Hayden Burhoop, Michael Koenig, Logan Krabbenhoft, Charles Summy, Tyler Weismann, Calvin Zabloudil and Kamden Zomer. (Tyler Weismann’s older brother played basketball at Concordia). The rookies reported to campus along with the rest of the team on Aug. 14 in an effort to get acclimated and prepped for the fast-approaching fall season. Muller is still learning about each student-athlete through qualifying rounds leading up to the start of the first semester.
“Through three rounds, the scoring is very tight,” Muller said on Aug. 18. “Jake (Richmond) has kind of separated himself right now by a few shots at the top of our lineup, but two through nine are all within a few shots of each other.”
Said Richmond, “We’re losing a lot of guys (from last season), but we also have guys with experience that have been in those spots before. We can shoot low rounds, and we know what it takes … The golf team is so much fun. Outside of golf is probably my favorite time with the guys. I enjoy the practices and camaraderie that we all have. We’re pretty similar minded. It’s been a lot of fun.”
The Bulldogs will open the 2025-26 season at the Mount Marty Invite next week (Aug. 25-26) in Yankton, S.D. Concordia will also co-host the annual Blue River Invite (Sept. 3-4) as part of a fall schedule featuring five varsity events. As of the middle of August, the dates and location for the 2026 GPAC Men’s Golf Championships are to be announced. View the complete schedule HERE.
Added Muller, “The last few years with both teams, we’ve been pretty solid at the top. We kind of knew who our top two or three would be. We need to add depth and get a third and fourth score that are consistent. That will really help our team score.”