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Danville Area Community College Athletics

Terry French

Terry French

Terry French joined Danville Area Community College in January of 2019 as the Head Men's Golf Coach. He is from the Danville and Bismarck-Henning, Illinois area, where he also coached the Bismarck-Henning Rossville Alvin High School golf team for 19 years. 

In his days before becoming a coach, French has been a player of golf for 50 years. In the Danville area, he has played competitively and has won plenty of events. In the past, he has played in the Illinois State Amateur Tournament and has won club championships. He was a student here at Danville Area Community College where he received his Associate's Degree in Marketing Management, and he got his Bachelor's Degree from Eastern Illinois University. 

As a coach of the Bismarck-Henning Blue Devils, he has led that group to countless victories. They won 32 total tournament wins, 11 Vermilion Valley Conference titles, 8 Regional titles, 2 Sectional titles, and appeared in the Illinois State Finals 8 times, placing as high as 2nd. He was also named the 2011-12 IHSA Coach of the Year, and the 2013 and 2015 News-Gazette Coach of the Year. 

During his tenure here at DACC since 2019, the Men's Golf team has won 2 events. Terry coached former players to huge successes as well. Nick Pinter was a 2020 and 2021 NJCAA Academic Award winner and an All-Region golf selection. Logan Richardson was a 2022 NJCAA Academic Award winner. Tyler Strako, Caleb Lavender, and Grady Lancaster were all named to the All-Region Golf team, and Strako and Lavender advanced to the NJCAA National Tournament in their respective years. Coach French also helped advance his 2023-24 team to the 2024 Nationals Tournament in Joplin, Missouri back in May.

As French enters his 6th year with the Jaguars, one of his main goals is to help student-athletes excel both on the golf course and in the classroom, while also helping them prepare for their lives in the future. It's also just as important to him to help athletes save on the costs of education while also providing them with a collegiate athlete experience.