University of Sioux Falls Athletics

Brett Bennett is in his fourth season as the head coach of the University of Sioux Falls Men's Golf program. During the 2014-15 competition year, Bennett coached Tavia Rutherford to NSIC Women's Golfer of the Year honors and the men's team to a surging comeback to place second at the NSIC Championship. 

In 2015-16, Bennett guided the USF Women's Golf team to an eighth-place finish at the NSIC Championships and the USF Men's Golf team to ninth at the NSIC Championships. Derek Dillon posted a T4 finish at the Upper Iowa Invite for the men's team and Mikaela Theobald earned two top-10 finishes, including a T3 finish at the SMSU Mustang Invite. 

Working with Rutherford for two years, Bennett helped the Bakersfield, Calif. native to a pair of first team All-NSIC appointments, including NSIC Golfer of the Year honors in 2014-15. Bennett led Rutherford to a Super Region 3 Championship appearance where she placed fifth and earned a trip to the NCAA Championship, the first NCAA postseason appearance for a non-track & field/cross country athlete or team. After earning the NCAA Elite 89 Award for the highest GPA of any competitor at the NCAA Championship, Rutherford placed 37th at the national championship tournament. As a team, the 2014-15 USF Women's Golf team placed seventh at the NSIC Championship. 

The 2014-15 USF Men's Golf season didn't produce the individual accolades like the women's squad produced, but Bennett led the men's team to the highest conference finish in Division II history, narrowly missing their first NCAA postseason berth. Bennett's squad surged up the team leaderboard after the first two rounds in the fall placed them in eighth. At the conclusion of the tournament, USF climbed up six places to finish second, missing out on the NSIC Championship and an automatic NCAA Regional berth by two strokes. Senior Talon Eich led the charge with a tournament-low 69 in the third round and two more Cougars, Derek Dillon and Jon Van't Hul, finished tied for 10th overall.  

Bennett is an assistant golf professional at The Country Club of Sioux Falls and is a Class A PGA Professional. 

A 2009 graduate of the University of South Dakota, Bennett was a four-year letterwinner for the Coyotes. In his senior season, he earned All-Great West Conference second team honors and was named GWC Golfer of the Week. Bennett also collected North Central Conference All-Tournament team honors as a sophomore at USD.