University of Tennessee Athletics
Men's Golf
Derek Ernst
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
 Former PGA TOUR member (2012-24) Derek Ernst enters his second season as Tennessee men's golf's associate head coach in 2026-27.
Ernst made an immediate impact for the Vols in the 2025-26 season, helping Tennessee to its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 1981 by tying for seventh place. In addition to postseason success, he helped the Vols to two tournament wins at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate and the Pauma Valley Invitational, where they finished atop a field consisting of eight top-15 opponents.
After competing at the Masters in 2014, Ernst made a return to Augusta National Golf Club in 2026, caddying for Vol sophomore Jackson Herrington. Wirth the help of Ernst, Herrington tied for the low amateur score despite missing the 36-hole cut.
Ernst arrived on Rocky Top after a year on the Oklahoma State coaching staff, where he helped the Cowboys claim the 2025 NCAA Championship and Big 12 Championship titles.Â
Over the course of his professional career, Ernst made 134 PGA Tour starts, earning over $2.6 million and recording five top-25 finishes. His breakthrough came in 2013 when, in just his ninth career start, he won the Wells Fargo Championship in a playoff after entering the field as a Monday alternate.
Ernst competed in two major championships: the 2013 PGA Championship and the 2014 Masters. He added multiple strong performances throughout his career, including three top-25 finishes during the 2014–15 season and a tie for 21st at the 2023 Puerto Rico Open.
Before turning professional, the Clovis, California, native starred at UNLV, where he built one of the most decorated careers in the program's history. A four-time All-Mountain West Conference selection, Ernst earned All-America honors multiple times and captured four individual titles during his collegiate tenure.
His four career victories and 71.80 scoring average place him among the top 10 all-time at UNLV.Â
Ernst and his wife, Laney, have two daughters: Daughtry and Decker.
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Ernst made an immediate impact for the Vols in the 2025-26 season, helping Tennessee to its best finish at the NCAA Championships since 1981 by tying for seventh place. In addition to postseason success, he helped the Vols to two tournament wins at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate and the Pauma Valley Invitational, where they finished atop a field consisting of eight top-15 opponents.
After competing at the Masters in 2014, Ernst made a return to Augusta National Golf Club in 2026, caddying for Vol sophomore Jackson Herrington. Wirth the help of Ernst, Herrington tied for the low amateur score despite missing the 36-hole cut.
Ernst arrived on Rocky Top after a year on the Oklahoma State coaching staff, where he helped the Cowboys claim the 2025 NCAA Championship and Big 12 Championship titles.Â
Over the course of his professional career, Ernst made 134 PGA Tour starts, earning over $2.6 million and recording five top-25 finishes. His breakthrough came in 2013 when, in just his ninth career start, he won the Wells Fargo Championship in a playoff after entering the field as a Monday alternate.
Ernst competed in two major championships: the 2013 PGA Championship and the 2014 Masters. He added multiple strong performances throughout his career, including three top-25 finishes during the 2014–15 season and a tie for 21st at the 2023 Puerto Rico Open.
Before turning professional, the Clovis, California, native starred at UNLV, where he built one of the most decorated careers in the program's history. A four-time All-Mountain West Conference selection, Ernst earned All-America honors multiple times and captured four individual titles during his collegiate tenure.
His four career victories and 71.80 scoring average place him among the top 10 all-time at UNLV.Â
Ernst and his wife, Laney, have two daughters: Daughtry and Decker.
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Friday, April 26
