Marquette will be moving all varsity sports teams from Conference USA to the Big East Conference next school year. To commemorate Marquette's 10th and final year in C-USA, the Tribune is running a series taking a look at each varsity sport's time in the conference. This fourth installment features the golf team.

Unlike many of the Marquette sports programs going into the Big East next year, few will be in a better position to succeed right away than the golf team.

All five of this year's starters will be returning. In addition, next year will also see the return of Nathan Colson, who holds the school scoring record with an average of 75.04 after three years of play for Marquette.

Colson is redshirting this year because he is on a five-year degree program. He will play his final year of golf next year in the Big East.

"I'm looking forward to playing next year," Colson said about the move.

"Its probably not as strong a golf conference as Conference USA, and it's certainly not going to be easy, but we will have a better chance to finish well in conference next year," he said.

Houston and Texas Christian have two of the best golf programs in the country, and they have dominated C-USA golf, winning eight of the nine conference titles. As a result, it's been tough for Marquette to be in contention.

The highest finish for Marquette in C-USA was seventh place, once in the 1996-'97 season and another time in the 2000-'01 season. Last year, the Golden Eagles took 10th place out of the 14 golf schools in C-USA.

The move to the Big East next year should provide more opportunities to be successful in conference play.

"We are looking forward to going to the Big East like all the other teams," head coach Tim Grogan said, "but Conference USA was a very good golf conference."

"It was nice to have TCU and Houston to use as a gauge to see how well you were doing," Colson said.

Since joining C-USA in 2002, TCU has won the last three conference titles, and Houston had won five titles in a row before that. TCU is currently ranked 11th in the nation by the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings and is the favorite to win the conference title this year.

Marquette — along with other C-USA golf schools like Louisville, Charlotte, Alabama-Birmingham, South Florida and Memphis — has made C-USA one of the toughest golf conferences in the country.

"I think it was really two or three teams in the top five teams nationally every year, after that there weren't any (in contention nationally)," Colson said. "But it was always very competitive with the middle of the conference."

While strong golf schools Louisville and South Florida will also join the Big East, the field of competition will be more beneficial to Marquette next year. C-USA currently has eight teams ranked in the top 100, while the Big East has only one school in the top 100 based on the Golfweek/Sagarin performance index. Marquette rival Notre Dame is ranked 55th in the nation.

The Golden Eagles, ranked 107th this year, would have the second highest ranking in the Big East as it currently stands.

"We can be more competitive," said Grogan, the only head coach during Maquette's 10 years in C-USA. "We can be one of the top two teams in the Big East, and we are looking forward to having the chance of winning the Big East."

While Grogan is looking forward to the new opportunities of the Big East, he will miss the tournament opportunities that the southern schools in the conference provided.

"There were lots of southern schools in Conference USA, which was good for travelling," Grogan said. "But we will still see these schools."

"I am looking forward to the change," Colson said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on April 19 2005.