Coaches want their players to do well, but no one wants to help shape a player and then lose that player to another school.

Only five days before the school year began in August, head men’s golf coach Karen Exon received the phone call that wasn’t what she was expecting: freshman Chris Wilson, who made the all-conference team in his first year at Baker University, had decided to transfer to the University of Oklahoma to play golf.

After losing Michael Kahler to graduation, Exon expected Wilson to return this season to help lead the team to a conference championship. After placing second last spring as a team, he was supposed to be a big part of snagging the No. 1 spot.

“He had been good about contacting me over the summer, so I knew where he had been playing and knew he had been doing well, but I wasn’t expecting this,” Exon said.

While playing in tournaments over the summer, Wilson gained recognition from some other schools, Exon said.

“They were basically telling him his scores were too good for the (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) level, and to me, that’s insulting,” Exon said.

With the expectation of Wilson returning, Exon said she brought on two freshmen this season but would have recruited one more had she known Wilson would not be returning.

Along with the loss of the two top players from last season, the team is down two more due to injuries.

“I would have offered an athletic participation award to a guy that really wanted to come here, but I didn’t feel comfortable with the numbers on the roster,” Exon said.

In the absence of Kahler and Wilson, junior Zack Rockey said the team will continue to do well.

“With (Kahler), he’s really hard to replace because he was our team leader,” Rockey said. “But (junior Adam) Gotsche and (senior) PJ (Matulka) have really stepped up and become our team leaders.”

Rockey said the team is not too concerned about losing Wilson on the spur of the moment because the team is showing a lot of promise for the fall and spring seasons.

"He's going to be tough to replace, but someone will step up," Rockey said.<br/>The team has moved on and will continue to get better, with or without Wilson in the mix, Exon said.The team has moved on and will continue to get better, with or without Wilson in the mix, Exon said.
The team has moved on and will continue to get better, with or without Wilson in the mix, Exon said.

“I can’t do anything about it,” Exon said. “It’s over and done with, and I need to help our guys.”

Exon said the team is ready to continue to progress and move on with their future.