Brad Caldwell joined head coach Steve Bradley’s USF staff as assistant coach on Jan. 13, 2017.
The Bulls have won three American Athletic Conference team titles, two individual conference championships, an AAC Golfer of the Year (Albin Bergstrom, 2022), fiive NCAA Regional appearances and one NCAA Championship appearance since his arrival.
In 2022, he helped guide the Bulls to a runner-up finish in the AAC Tournament, an individual AAC Tournament runner-up in Run Youprayong, and an NCAA Regional appearance, finishing fourth at the Palm Beach Gardens Regional to earn the Bulls' first NCAA Championship appearance since his arrival. Caldwell helped guide 2022 AAC Player of the Year Albin Bergstrom who posted 13 program career or season records while garnering three NCAA Division I PING All-America honorable mention honors and four All-Region honors. Bergstrom and Youprayong both earned all-conference honors.
In both of Caldwell’s first two seasons with the program, USF won The American tournament in wire-to-wire fashion and advanced to NCAA Regionals. The Bulls repeated that feat in 2021, winning by five strokes over SMU after setting a tournament single-round scoring record with an opening 18-under par 270. Bergstrom claimed the individual crown by firing a final round 66 to come from three strokes down. He was named USF Athletics Male Athlete-of-the-Year and earned his second PING All-Southeast Region Team honor. Sophomores Bergstrom and Luke Gifford were both unanimous selections to the American Men’s Golf All-Conference Team.
In spring 2018, the Bulls won The American title by 20 shots, which matched the conference tournament’s largest margin of victory. USF also matched the program’s season record of five tournament titles previously set by the 2014-15 team.
Caldwell continued to make in impact on the program during the 2018-19 season. Using a new-look lineup of three freshmen and two juniors, USF won consecutive tournaments in wire-to-wire fashion at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate and USF Invitational.
USF’s 2018-19 freshman class ranked second nationally on Golfstat’s Top Frosh list and was led by record-breaking Bergstrom. The Ljunghusen, Sweden native set new program season records for scoring average (70.0) and rounds of par or better (24). He also set USF’s new 54-hole scoring record for a par-72 tournament with a 15-under 201 in his individual title victory at the Fort Lauderdale Intercollegiate.
Bergstrom was rewarded for his stellar season by being named 2019 AAC Freshman of the Year and to the all-conference team in unanimous fashion along with earning spots on the Division I PING All-Southeast Region Team and Division I All-Freshmen Team. Caldwell also helped junior Kyle Flexsenhar earn his first all-conference honors with the Bulls.
Before the 2019-20 season was cut short for precautionary reasons due to the COVID-19 virus, co-host USF posted a 13-shot, wire-to-wire victory at The Challenge at Concession on March 10 in Bradenton. USF has captured at least one title in each season with Caldwell on staff.
The 2019-20 Bulls ended the season on a streak of five straight top-three finishes and placed fourth or better in each of the final seven tournaments. On top of team success, Bergstrom and Gifford were co-medalists at the Windon Memorial Classic and Marquette Intercollegiate, respectively.
Caldwell joined the Bulls for the spring 2017 season after playing full-time on PGA Tour Canada in 2016. USF responded well to Caldwell’s arrival, capturing its third consecutive American Athletic Conference Championship title in wire-to-wire fashion two events after winning the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship. Claudio Correa claimed The American’s individual medalist title and USF made its fifth straight NCAA postseason appearance at the Baton Rouge Regional.
Prior to his second stint in pro golf, Caldwell served as head men’s and women’s golf coach at North Greenville University, his alma mater, from June 2014 to early 2016.
Caldwell qualified for PGA Tour Canada in early 2016 and went on to make seven of 11 cuts, finishing 76th on the order of merit. Caldwell tied for 16th at the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops in Ottawa and posted a 71.03 season scoring average. He finished second on the tour in total eagles, fifth in par-5 birdie or better average and 10th in par-5 scoring average.
Prior to PGA Tour Canada, Caldwell worked his way up from assistant men’s and women’s coach at North Greenville (2011-13) to associate head coach for both programs in 2013-14. Caldwell then shined as a head coach at North Greenville (2014-16), leading the men’s team to an NCAA Division II ranking of No. 13, which helped him earn Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year honors in 2015. North Greenville’s men’s program made consecutive NCAA Regional appearances under Caldwell.
Before becoming a coach, Caldwell was a four-year letterman at North Greenville and was named an NCAA PING All-American as a senior in 2010. The native of Asheville, N.C., was a three-year captain at NGU and set program records with six career wins, 14 top-five finishes and 21 top-10 outings. Caldwell earned NCAA All-America honors twice and was a 2010 NCAA PING All-Southeast Region selection.
Caldwell returned to NGU as an assistant coach in 2011 after playing a season of professional golf right out of college. From 2010 to 2013, Caldwell played on various developmental tours that included the Nationwide Tour, NCA Hooters Tour, Egolf Tour, Carolinas Pro Tour and the Carolina Mountain Tour.
