Legendary Franklin & Marshall head men’s golf coach Andy Tompos ’69 took over as his alma mater’s head coach during the 2008-09 academic year and promptly led the Diplomats to the 2009 Centennial Conference Championship. That championship was only a sign of things to come as Tompos’ teams captured 12 conference championships during his tenure as head coach. That dominant run included a conference record five consecutive titles from 2014 through 2018 and another run of four in a row during the 2021-24 seasons. Tompos concluded his historic coaching career with his retirement following the 2024-25 academic year after 17 years as head coach.
Advancing to the NCAA Division III Team Championships during each of those championship-winning seasons, Franklin & Marshall accomplished its best national tournament finish under Tompos’ watch with a 12th place showing at the 2016 national championship. The team’s record-breaking 2016 NCAA performance was especially memorable as Stephen Colodny ’17 and Brad Lankler ’17 placed fourth and sixth, respectively, in the final individual standings.
Tompos has been voted by his peers as the Centennial Conference Coach of the Year on nine different occasions, additionally being recognized as the Mid-Atlantic Region Coach of the Year three times. His impact on Franklin & Marshall’s success is found all over the Centennial Conference record books. Each of the top four team performances were completed under his guidance, highlighted by the 2023 championship team setting the conference record with a three-round score of 859 strokes. In total, 11 of the 16 lowest team rounds in conference history have been posted by Tompos’ squads. That includes the conference record team score of 280 which the Diplomats set during the first round of the 2022 George Cangero Invitational.
F&M’s continued dominance broke records throughout Tompos’ coaching career as the Diplomats broke their own conference scoring record by averaging a team score of 295.1 strokes per round during the 2023-24 campaign. That came just one year after F&M originally broke the conference record by averaging 296.8 strokes during the 2022-23 campaign. The Diplomats further own the conference record for most team titles in a single academic year after they won nine different tournament championships during the 2015-16 season. Individually, Tompos has coached the Centennial Conference Championship medalist on nine occasions while mentoring 28 All-CC selections. That group includes nine All-Americans, highlighted by Lankler who became the program’s first three-time All-American.
Prior to taking over as head coach, Tompos was officially named as the team’s assistant coach prior to the 2002 season after serving multiple years as a volunteer assistant. Tompos also had a standout playing career in his own right as he was the top player in the Diplomats’ lineup as a captain in 1969 and was named captain emeritus following his graduation from the College to recognize his contributions to the program. In addition to his success at Franklin & Marshall, Tompos has won more than 25 golf tournaments – including the 1998 Lancaster Amateur, the 2000 Lancaster Senior Amateur, and the 2007 and 2008 Pennsylvania State Senior Publinks Amateur. He has also been a participant in the USGA Senior Amateur (2003), National Senior Hall of Fame (2004), North-South Senior Amateur at Pinehurst (2004-18), and Susquehanna Senior Amateur.
Outside of his highly successful coaching and playing career, Tompos used his mathematics degree from Franklin & Marshall and master’s degree from Millersville University to complete a highly successful 33-year professional career in real estate where he published Analyzing Investment Properties. Tompos also gave back to college students as a math professor at Stevens College of Technology for 37 years (1973-10) and was an IT Specialist from 2010-19. During those same years, he also served as an adjunct professor at both Millersville and Penn State.
