Former Temple golfer Devin Bibeau knew if he could not pursue a career as a professional golfer, he wanted to make a living by coaching and teaching the sport he has grown to love. So he did it.
Bibeau left his job in Center City to become a golf instructor at BQ Golf Academy in Conshohocken, Pa. – an organization that offers individual and group lessons with PGA certified golf instructors. The facility is under the direction of Temple coach Brian Quinn.
Quinn then offered him an additional position: assistant golf coach for the Owls.
“I’m really excited,” Bibeau said. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity that coach Quinn let me have. All summer long I worked down in the city in an office at Liberty Two and I wasn’t really feeling it. It wasn’t really my thing.”
“It took me a couple of months to realize that golf is where I wanted to be, what I really wanted to be working with and where I wanted to plant my roots and start my career, to be able to be in the golf industry and be able to help out the kids that I also played with and have known over the last few years,” Bibeau added. “I really know the way around Temple and thought it’d be a great fit.”
Bibeau will be giving lessons at BQ Golf Academy full-time and helping with practice sessions with the Owls, as well as traveling to tournaments with the team.
Bibeau was a four-year letter winner during his playing days at Temple and credits a lot of his success on and off the golf course to his former coach and current boss.
“He meant everything,” Bibeau said when asked about Quinn. “[Quinn] was the reason why I came to Temple. I got a call coming home from visiting another school during my senior year and it was [Quinn] telling me he wanted to have me come down and see the school. I ended up obviously choosing Temple and loving it. It was mostly because of [Quinn] that I even came down to Temple.”
“Pretty much everything I have down here I can attest and contribute to [Quinn] bringing me down to [Philadelphia],” Bibeau added.
Bibeau enjoyed a successful senior year at Temple, ending his collegiate career on a high note. In spring 2013, Bibeau finished fifth overall at the Atlantic 10 Conference Men’s Golf Championship with a three-under 213, which was preceded by a Top 10 finish at the Wildcat Invitational.
“[My career] was really great, especially my senior year,” Bibeau said. “I played really well my last semester.”
“Being able to go out on a good note and help my team to our best finish in the conference in the last 10 years was a really good way to finish,” Bibeau added. “Also, being able to finish it with some of the guys on the team that I can really call my best friends. It was more about that even more so than the golf – making some really great lifelong friends.”
With his collegiate playing days over, Bibeau is focused on being the best coach he can be. He said Temple has a lot of potential this year and can win some tournaments.
“There’s no reason why the team that we have right now can’t easily be the best team that we’ve had in the past decade or so,” Bibeau said. “There’s really nothing stopping that. The 1-2-3 that we have right now is Brandon Matthews, Matt Teesdale and Matt Crescenzo. When they’re on their game, I really don’t think there’s too many other teams, especially in our region, that can beat them.”
Like Quinn, Bibeau has all the confidence in the world in the three aforementioned players, but it is still important for the backend of the lineup to be stable.
“I’d put them up when they’re playing their best golf against mostly anyone,” Bibeau said. “They have three of the best swings I’ve ever seen, and also if we could have a four and five man to contribute, I could definitely see us being very successful over the next year here.”
Chase Senior can be reached at chase.senior@temple.edu or on Twitter @Chase_Senior.
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