Brennan Brings Firehouse Lessons To UGA Golf
August 13, 2024 | Women's Golf, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Resting on a shelf behind new Georgia women's golf coach Erika Brennan's desk inside the Boyd Golf Center is an old fireman's helmet. It belonged to her father, Mike Danford, who rose to Captain and later Deputy Fire Chief during his three decades with the Lake Wales (Fla.) Fire Department.
Brennan grew up in firehouses and around firefighters, and they shaped who she is in myriad ways. Before she went all in on golf during her playing career at Western Carolina, which led to coaching, Brennan thought she might follow in her father's footsteps.
"What's really cool about firefighters is, it's one of the most inclusive environments I think I've ever been a part of," said Brennan, who was hired in May after spending the past seven seasons at South Florida. The men and women in the firehouse, she said, "really do embrace each other for their unique strengths. ...
"The way they rally together when adversity strikes, and adversity strikes a lot in that industry — getting to watch that first-hand growing up is something that I won't ever take for granted and has really shaped me in so many ways."
One of those ways is her perspective on courage. Brennan said her father has often talked about how courage isn't the absence of fear — fear is very much a part of life — and it's how you deal with that fear that matters.
"Courage is just deciding that something else is more important than that fear. And that's a message that we will continue to bring to our team," said Brennan, who has a daughter, Blakely, with her husband Brian.
Along with a very good playing career at Western Carolina, Brennan thrived in the classroom, and she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2006. She was the Catamounts' Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2005.
Right after college, Brennan worked for the American Junior Golf Association. She also spent a few years at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Orlando. Her first job in coaching came in 2008 when she was hired as the head coach at Saint Leo University, a Division II school in Florida.
After five years at Saint Leo, she spent a season as an assistant at Tennessee, followed by a good run as head coach at Southern Miss. Hired by USF in 2017, Brennan lifted the program to new heights, including 19 of the top 20 54-hole scores in USF history and back-to-back NCAA Championships appearances in 2023-24.
In May, Brennan was hired by Josh Brooks, Georgia's J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, to lead a Bulldog program that has been consistently solid, and capable of winning NCAA regionals, but hasn't really been contending for national championships for a while. It's an opportunity that Brennan is excited to take on.
"It's always exciting when you're starting something new," she said. "There's a lot of momentum and a lot of energy."
Brennan, who learned a lot about teamwork and the importance of culture as a young girl hanging around the firehouse with her dad, said that culturally, Georgia "will look probably a little bit different than a lot of schools in the country."
The Bulldogs, she said, will "work our faces off, but not at the expense of having fun. I don't think those things are inversely related. We're going to have a blast while we do it, but we're going to work really hard."
The culture that Brennan is implementing "is based on gratitude," she said. "That's the foundation. It's so easy in this day and age for all of us, really, to feel entitled and like we've arrived. We don't ever want to be a team that's 'arrived.'"
Where the players and coaches are and what they get to do, "we're never going to take those things for granted," Brennan said. Another element of that culture, she said, was grit.
"We're going to be a team that gets amongst it every week," she said.
As a player back at Western Carolina, Brennan said she was a good ball-striker and had "a really good sense of feel" around the greens. She was also "a rah-rah person, a positive person that rallied the team and had a great experience," she said.
When asked if there was a round from her collegiate career that stands out from the rest, Brennan immediately recalled a tournament on Western Carolina's course in Cullowhee, N.C. It was a round that couldn't have started much better, but then, as so often happens in sports, the brain gets in the way.
"I was 4-under through six holes, and ended up getting it to 5-under — and then got to thinking about it," she said. "I made some bogeys down the stretch and ended up shooting 1-under, which was not a terrible score, but it was a really good lesson for me in understanding that you've never arrived. You don't have a score until you've signed your scorecard. Just the ability to keep your foot on the gas in those moments was a really good lesson for me to learn."
From her time in the firehouse to her time playing for coach Steve Lott at Western Carolina, Brennan has been paying attention and picking things up lessons and bits of wisdom throughout her life. Now, she's bringing all of that wisdom and experience to helping the Bulldogs be the best they can be, on and off the golf course.
Georgia's fall schedule begins in less than a month, at the Cougar Classic starting Sept. 9, at the Yeamans Hall Club in Hanahan, S.C. It's the first of five events the Bulldogs will play in September and October.
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Staff Writer
Resting on a shelf behind new Georgia women's golf coach Erika Brennan's desk inside the Boyd Golf Center is an old fireman's helmet. It belonged to her father, Mike Danford, who rose to Captain and later Deputy Fire Chief during his three decades with the Lake Wales (Fla.) Fire Department.
Brennan grew up in firehouses and around firefighters, and they shaped who she is in myriad ways. Before she went all in on golf during her playing career at Western Carolina, which led to coaching, Brennan thought she might follow in her father's footsteps.
"What's really cool about firefighters is, it's one of the most inclusive environments I think I've ever been a part of," said Brennan, who was hired in May after spending the past seven seasons at South Florida. The men and women in the firehouse, she said, "really do embrace each other for their unique strengths. ...
"The way they rally together when adversity strikes, and adversity strikes a lot in that industry — getting to watch that first-hand growing up is something that I won't ever take for granted and has really shaped me in so many ways."
One of those ways is her perspective on courage. Brennan said her father has often talked about how courage isn't the absence of fear — fear is very much a part of life — and it's how you deal with that fear that matters.
"Courage is just deciding that something else is more important than that fear. And that's a message that we will continue to bring to our team," said Brennan, who has a daughter, Blakely, with her husband Brian.
Along with a very good playing career at Western Carolina, Brennan thrived in the classroom, and she graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2006. She was the Catamounts' Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2005.
Right after college, Brennan worked for the American Junior Golf Association. She also spent a few years at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Orlando. Her first job in coaching came in 2008 when she was hired as the head coach at Saint Leo University, a Division II school in Florida.
After five years at Saint Leo, she spent a season as an assistant at Tennessee, followed by a good run as head coach at Southern Miss. Hired by USF in 2017, Brennan lifted the program to new heights, including 19 of the top 20 54-hole scores in USF history and back-to-back NCAA Championships appearances in 2023-24.
In May, Brennan was hired by Josh Brooks, Georgia's J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics, to lead a Bulldog program that has been consistently solid, and capable of winning NCAA regionals, but hasn't really been contending for national championships for a while. It's an opportunity that Brennan is excited to take on.
"It's always exciting when you're starting something new," she said. "There's a lot of momentum and a lot of energy."
Brennan, who learned a lot about teamwork and the importance of culture as a young girl hanging around the firehouse with her dad, said that culturally, Georgia "will look probably a little bit different than a lot of schools in the country."
The Bulldogs, she said, will "work our faces off, but not at the expense of having fun. I don't think those things are inversely related. We're going to have a blast while we do it, but we're going to work really hard."
The culture that Brennan is implementing "is based on gratitude," she said. "That's the foundation. It's so easy in this day and age for all of us, really, to feel entitled and like we've arrived. We don't ever want to be a team that's 'arrived.'"
Where the players and coaches are and what they get to do, "we're never going to take those things for granted," Brennan said. Another element of that culture, she said, was grit.
"We're going to be a team that gets amongst it every week," she said.
As a player back at Western Carolina, Brennan said she was a good ball-striker and had "a really good sense of feel" around the greens. She was also "a rah-rah person, a positive person that rallied the team and had a great experience," she said.
When asked if there was a round from her collegiate career that stands out from the rest, Brennan immediately recalled a tournament on Western Carolina's course in Cullowhee, N.C. It was a round that couldn't have started much better, but then, as so often happens in sports, the brain gets in the way.
"I was 4-under through six holes, and ended up getting it to 5-under — and then got to thinking about it," she said. "I made some bogeys down the stretch and ended up shooting 1-under, which was not a terrible score, but it was a really good lesson for me in understanding that you've never arrived. You don't have a score until you've signed your scorecard. Just the ability to keep your foot on the gas in those moments was a really good lesson for me to learn."
From her time in the firehouse to her time playing for coach Steve Lott at Western Carolina, Brennan has been paying attention and picking things up lessons and bits of wisdom throughout her life. Now, she's bringing all of that wisdom and experience to helping the Bulldogs be the best they can be, on and off the golf course.
Georgia's fall schedule begins in less than a month, at the Cougar Classic starting Sept. 9, at the Yeamans Hall Club in Hanahan, S.C. It's the first of five events the Bulldogs will play in September and October.
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Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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