PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers men's golf head coach Rob Shutte has been named Division I Northeast Coach of the Year, announced by Golfweek. Shutte, who wrapped up his ninth season leading the Scarlet Knights, saw his program produce its lowest team scoring average (288.74) since 1993.
 
Improving each year under Shutte's watch, RU finished 86th out of the 294 Division I teams nationally, according to GolfStat, and 79th in the country according to Golfweek.com to earn its highest team ranking by the publication in program history. The final GolfStat ranking was the seventh-best team result in the Big Ten Conference, as Rutgers closed the regular season in the top-half of the league rankings for the first time since joining in 2014.
 
Rutgers also set program marks in national scoring rating (105), par or better rounds (nine), par 3 scoring (3.14), par 4 scoring (4.17) and par 5 scoring (4.8). Under the direction of Shutte, two players – Christopher Gotterup and Tony Jiang – earned PING All-Region honors while Gotterup was named the 2020 Big Ten Player of the Year, the first time a Scarlet Knights took home conference player of the year honors since RU joined the league in 2014.
 
"It's an honor to receive this award, and it's a reflection of what all of our guys have done to enhance the image of this program year in and year out," Shutte said. "The coaches throughout the region have recognized those improvements as we continue to become one of the top teams in the Northeast Region and climb the leaderboard within the Big Ten Conference."
 
Shutte helped Gotterup produce the best individual season in program history, as the junior was most recently named the 2020 Big Ten Player of the Year on May 18. Also a first team All-Big Ten selection and 2020 Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) All-American, Gotterup finished the 2019-20 campaign as the top ranked Big Ten individual and No. 23 nationally with his 70.39 adjusted scoring average. Gotterup set a number of program records along the way, which included season stroke average, season par 3 scoring (3.00), season par 4 scoring (3.99) and season par 5 scoring (4.57).
 
One of the top individuals in the country, Gotterup captured a slew of national awards, including PING Division I Northeast All-Region honors for the third consecutive season. Gotterup was also a finalist in the prestigious Arnold Palmer Cup ranking and collected the Co-Ben Hogan Golfer of the Month award for October after he won the 2019 Irish Classic with a 14-under par score of 199. Other awards for Gotterup this year include the 2019 Metropolitan Golf Association (MGA) Jerry Courville Sr. Player of the Year and the 2019 New Jersey State Golf Association (NJSGA) Amateur Player of the Year award.
 
Shutte also mentored Jiang, who closed out his collegiate career with 100 rounds played during his time "On the Banks". Also regarded as one of the top individuals to play at Rutgers, Jiang claimed an individual title at the 2020 PGA Tour China Qualifying School event on Jan. 10, played at the Foison Golf Club in Guangzhou, China. Jiang produced a five-under-par 279 (66-71-69-73) to win the event, which earned Jiang full membership to compete on the PGA Tour China circuit through the 2020 calendar year.
 
Jiang also collected PING Division I Northeast All-Region accolades this past season. Jiang had three top 15 tournament finishes and seven rounds of under-par golf during the fall campaign. In the spring, Jiang tied for fifth at the rain-shortened TPC Dorado Beach Collegiate in Puerto Rico after he fired off a four-under-par 68 in the first and only round of the tournament.

Rutgers carded one of its best seasons despite a younger roster, as Jiang is the only Scarlet Knight not set to return next fall. Rookies Brendan Hansen and Xavier Marcoux played in all eight tournaments in 2019-20, as Marcoux fired off four rounds of par or better golf, while Hansen finished sixth in program history in par 3 scoring (3.1646)