When former head coach O.D. Vincent retired from coaching Dec. 14, Duke immediately started a national search to find his replacement.
Turns out, it didn't have to look far.
Jamie Green, the former Charlotte head coach and three-time reigning Atlantic 10 coach of the year, will become the seventh head coach in the program's history, Director of Athletics Kevin White announced Friday. Green begins his new position immediately.
"Duke has a great golf tradition, and I will work passionately everyday to continue to build on that," Green said. "Duke's tradition and amazing facilities are what every recruit and student-athlete can hope for."
Green turned the 49ers into a national power in just more than five years, leading Charlotte to a No. 1 ranking in 2007. His team was one of just nine teams to make the NCAA finals in each of the last three years, and Charlotte placed in the NCAA tournament's top 10 the last two years.
Charlotte won 17 tournaments in the last four years, the second-highest total in the country.
"When I got to Charlotte, I realized what worked well at Charlotte," Green said. "That doesn't mean it works well everywhere. That's the key: finding whatever way your student-athletes will get better, whatever formula it takes, whatever system it requires."
Before arriving at Charlotte, Green was an assistant at North Carolina. The Tar Heels often practiced at the Duke University Golf Club-and Green helped women's golf head coach Dan Brooks run some camps-so he said he was "pretty familiar" with the course.
He was not as familiar with the Karcher-Ingram Golf Center until he interviewed for the job last week, though, and came away impressed.
"It's amazing," Green said. "It's absolutely everything and more that a student-athlete would want and need."
Green did not have a direct tie to Duke, but the Ohio Wesleyan graduate had grown to know Rod Myers before the former head coach died in 2007. Myers also graduated from Ohio Wesleyan and played for Dick Gordin, as did Green.
When Green was an assistant pro at Hanover Country Club in New Hampshire, he started to think about entering the coaching ranks and came to Treyburn Country Club in Durham to ask Myers for advice.
"I asked Rod if I could drive through town and sit and bend his ear to see if coaching was something I might want to do," Green said. "He was always so warm and cordial, and I remember walking around and talking about college golf and life with student-athletes in general. That was one of the things that influenced me. It was pretty unique."
Still, Green never expected to end up at Duke after the University hired Vincent, who he called "the best coach in the country."
"For him to decide not to coach anymore, I think floored a lot of people," said Green, who met with his new players Friday and offered nothing but effusive praise for Ryan Ressa, the interim head coach during the search process. "We had been happy in Charlotte, but the opportunity presented itself, and here we are."
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