Q&A with Armen Kirakossian – UCLA

The former Arizona State assistant was named the new UCLA men’s golf head coach on June 13th. Kirakossian helped lead the Sun Devils to four consecutive NCAA Championship appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2021-22 and a third-place showing in 2020-21.

HOW DID YOUR FIVE YEARS AT ARIZONA STATE COACHING ALONGSIDE MATT THURMOND PREPARE YOU FOR YOUR FIRST POWER FIVE HEAD COACHING POSITION?
I don’t think there would have been a better situation that could have prepared me for this job here. Matt, alone, is a special person, coach and leader. He is always looking at the bigger picture and sees a golf coaching role as a CEO position in all facets from fundraising to donor and alumni relationships, recruiting, messaging, narrative, brand, communication and team culture. He’s looking at all those elements all the time. Being around him for five years and seeing how he looks at the bigger picture and organization, it really feels like I was prepared for any job, but especially for a job as impressive as the UCLA job where you’re in a big city and you’ve got golf courses that are very prestigious around you and you’ve got alumni that have had success at the highest level. To be able to see how (Thurmond) runs that at Arizona State and be a part of that was the ultimate preparation to replicate that at UCLA.
 
WHY DID TAKING THIS POSITION NOW MAKE THE MOST SENSE FOR YOU?
I was a head coach where I played at (University of Texas Pan American) for a year and then I got an opportunity to coach at Pepperdine for two years — another L.A. school — so I’ve seen L.A.’s scene. When I started at Pepperdine, it wasn’t the national championship winning team that it was a year ago. It was 80th in the country and it needed a lot of help, rebuilding and energy. During my two years there, we did a lot of good things and we got Pepperdine back on the map. People were really interested in going there and we landed some massive recruits while I was there. That gave me the opportunity to go to ASU. Arizona State is one of those programs that has a history. That allowed me to see what the highest level of college golf looks like, but at the same time it wasn’t in the same situation as it is now. We were barely making the NCAA Tournament and struggling to make the top 15. And by the time I left there, we were in the finals in match…