Chance Cain was named the sixth head men’s golf coach in Tarleton State University history on Jan. 19, 2022, and enters his fourth season in 2025-26.
The Texans capped off its third season of NCAA Division I Men's Golf with another strong finish at the 2025 WAC Championship. For the second straight year, Cain guided the Texans to a fourth-place finish and had two top 10 finishers on the player leaderboard. He guided Carson Gallaher to a fourth-place finish and freshman Drew Ironside to a tied for 10th placement. With Cain's help, Ironside became the program's first freshman in the Division I Era to finish in the top 10 of a conference tournament.
Tarleton State completed the 2024-25 season with three top 10 finishes as a team, five individual top 10 performances and 12 top 20 individual performances.
Cain was also instrumental in Gallaher's 9-under-par performance at the Desert Intercollegiate, giving the senior golfer a sixth-place finish. Gallaher earned WAC Men's Golfer of the Week honors following his performance. Gallaher and fellow senior 2024-25 finished their careers with five top 10 finishes, the most in the program's Division I Era. Cain also helped Gallaher to All-WAC Second Team honors to cap off 2024-25, with the Texans having an All-Conference player in each of their first three seasons in the Division I Era.
In its second year of NCAA Division I, Tarleton State Men's Golf made great strides under Cain's leadership during the 2023-24 season. After finishing 10th in the WAC Championship in 2023, the Texans collected a fourth-place finish in the 2024 WAC Championship. With Cain's guidance, Tarleton State also had three student-athletes finish in the top 10 individually at the conference championships (Cristobal Sepulveda - T-5th, Carson Gallaher - T-5th, Alvaro Huidobro - T-10th).
Cain's coaching allowed Tarleton State's student-athletes to combine for 11 top-10 finishes during the 2023-24 season. He was instrumental in helping Max Bengtsson to the Monterrey International Invitational title in October en route to the sophomore collecting WAC All-Conference Second Team honors. Bengtsson was also named WAC Men's Golfer of the Month in October 2023 and WAC Men's Golfer of the Week on Feb. 15, 2024.
During his second season as Tarleton State's head coach, Cain guided the Texans to four top-five finishes in 2023-24. Shooting a program-best 26-under par (838) in the Division I Era, the Texans wrapped up the fall portion of the season with a third-place finish at the Monterrey International Invitational while Bengtsson captured a medal as an individual. Cain's Texans completed the season campaign with a third-place finish at the Big Texan before wrapping up the season in fourth place at the WAC Championship.
The Texas native helped Tarleton State succeed both on and off the course, with four of Cain's student-athletes snagging Academic All-WAC honors after the 2023-24 campaign and three student-athletes named to the 2023 Academic All-WAC team. Tarleton also had three student-athletes named Golf Coaches Association of America All-America Scholars during the 2022-23 season.
In 2022-23 Cain led the Texan men's golf program in its first competition since the 1995 season after a nearly 30-year hiatus.
Cain helped coach Jack Anderson to second team All-WAC honors in 2023, one of 16 players across 13 WAC programs to collect the award. In addition to having a team-best stroke average of 72.6, Anderson became the program's first individual title winner in the Division I Era when he clinched the Colin Montgomerie Invitational at Sweetwater Country Club in Sugar Land, Texas. Anderson shot 12-under-par (68, 66, 70) to win the tournament by two strokes, boosting Tarleton to their best finish as a team on the year at 10-under-par for third place.
Cain had the Texans playing some of their best golf as the 2022-23 season winded down. Of Tarleton State's five members at the WAC Championship in April, three had their best 18-hole performances in the final round to put the team under-par. As a team, Tarleton had the sixth most birdies (57) and fifth best score on Par 5's (-29) at the tournament.
Cain joined Tarleton State following a six-year stint as the assistant coach for Utah, where his Utes snapped a 29-year postseason drought with a berth in the NCAA West Regional during his final year. Utah ranked among the top 50 programs in the nation and had three individuals in the top-194 nationally. In addition to the team success, individual Tristan Mandur recorded the highest individual finish in Utah history at 17th in the nation.
Following Utah’s success in 2021, Cain was named a finalist for the Jan Strickland Assistant Coach of the Year Award.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to come home and get this team back in action for Tarleton State University,” Cain said at the time of his hiring. “I’m thankful to President Dr. James Hurley, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Lonn Reisman, and the hiring committee for welcoming me home to Texas and for entrusting me with this tremendous opportunity. I’d also like to thank (Utah Head Coach) Garrett Clegg for the last six seasons. He was a great mentor and I learned a great deal from him about how to be a head coach and lead a team of outstanding student-athletes.
“I’ve been a part of some great men’s golf teams in my career and I’m ready to add Tarleton to that list,” Cain continued. “Historically, men’s golf has been a storied program and it has a rich history of success. I’m excited for the opportunity and ready to build it to the standards our university and fans deserve.”
Utah had some of its best seasons during Cain’s time on staff.
In just his second season with the Utes, Utah notched its first event win since 2009 with a first-place finish (-22; 842) at the 2017 Mark Simpson Invitational at the University of Colorado. Utah improved at the Pac-12 Championships in each of Cain’s first four seasons, finishing tied for fifth in 2019 – its best finish since joining the league.
In 2019, Cain and the Utes sent a student-athlete to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2006 when Kyler Dunkle finished tied for 28th in the nation, a high for the program at the time.
Cain, a native of Big Spring, began his coaching career in the Lone Star State as a Volunteer Assistant Coach for Texas Tech in 2012. He remained with the Red Raiders through 2014 before taking a year away from athletics. He returned to the links in 2016 as the assistant at Utah.
Over two seasons at Texas Tech, Cain was a part of the 2013 Red Raider squad that went on to compete at the NCAA Division I Tournament that finished 14th overall for the program's third-best finish in school history at the time. The following season, Texas Tech finished second at the 2014 Big 12 Championship Tournament.
After a standout career at Big Spring High School, Cain advanced to the collegiate ranks and played two seasons at Midland College. He helped guide his team to the 2008 NJCCA National Championship before completing his associates degree and moving on to Texas Tech. He earned a bachelor’s in general business from Texas Tech in 2010 before completing a master’s in sports management at his alma mater in 2012.
Cain currently resides in Stephenville with his wife, Heather, and his daughter, Rynleigh.
