The Loop

Keegan Bradley's college coach got fired, and he's so mad he took the school logo off his bag

March 25, 2015

Former St. John's golfer Keegan Bradley has always been proud of where he came from, so much so that he had his alma mater's logo prominently displayed on his tour bag. Well, until recently anyway.

Following the abrupt dismissal of St. John's long-time men's coach, Frank Darby, after the fall season, Bradley has decided to remove the logo from his bag

"I'm pretty disappointed with the school," Bradley told Bloomberg in standing up for his former coach. "Chris Monasch [the athletic director at SJU] doesn't really care about the golf team. He never did when I was there at least."

Darby had been at St. John's since 1994, his squads winning more than two dozen tournaments during his tenure. In 2014, his last season, the Red Storm won the Big East title, and Darby was named conference coach of the year. Clearly he had maintained a successful team while being located in the New York City borough of Queens -- not exactly the easiest place to play golf. So, what the heck happened?

When I gave Darby a call, he said he wasn't at liberty to talk about the details of his firing. He did tell me: "There are a few more wrinkles. I will be able to talk, but just not now. I don't agree with what they did."

While dealing with everything that is going on, Darby is thankful for the support from his most famous alum, whom he still talks to regularly.

"I give Keegan a lot of credit for speaking up," Darby said. "He respected how I did things there and I respect the way he did things there, and more importantly the things he's done after. It's more about life than just playing golf."