Beard’s player-first approach fuels Pepperdine golf’s winning season

By McKenzie Jackson · Sat Jun 13 2026

Seventh WCC Coach of the Year honor reflects Michael Beard’s commitment to trust and player development

There have been times throughout Pepperdine Waves men’s golf coach Michael Beard’s career when he suggested a club or strategy to a player during competition, only for the player to have a different opinion.

Beard doesn’t shy away from those conflicts because he spends time building trust with Waves golfers.

“There is room for them to be themselves,” he said. “We don’t have to do it my way. We can have healthy conversations and disagree about certain things. If trust is there, you should have things like that. If there wasn’t trust, they would never feel like they could voice their opinion.”

Pepperdine’s coach of 14 years added that the trust he has with players is built on his knowledge of golf, a game he has excelled at throughout his life.

“Ultimately, it’s their journey, but I can be there to help to guide them in the right direction,” Beard explained. “I’ve always put an emphasis on the player and try — however long it takes — to get to a point where they trust me and make progress golf-wise. It’s really just two people trying to help a player get better at golf.”

The coach’s philosophy led to him earning his seventh West Coast Conference Coach of the Year award last month as he guided the Waves to the NCAA Championships tournament. 

Beard, a Waves golfer from 1999 to 2002, said winning the honor is validation that the other coaches in the eight-team WCC respect Pepperdine’s golf program. 

“More importantly, we’ve had a stretch of really great players and really nice teams,” said Beard, who last won the honor four seasons ago. “It’s a great award to have, but it’s not really a driving thing for me. It just shows there is respect for our program.” 

Beard said his belief in Pepperdine as a great program motivates him.

“I do my best to try to set the program up to succeed from recruiting players to getting the facilities that match a top-tier program, to also coaching in a way that the players know they are cared for and that we have their back,” he said. 

Beard was one of several Pepperdine honorees during a season in which the Waves won the WCC Championship for the 24th time and captured their first NCAA Regional title.

Pepperdine senior Mahanah Chirravuri was named the WCC Player of the Year and a PING First Team All-American. Chirravuri led the Waves in scoring average this season and advanced to individual play of the NCAA Championships after the Waves finished 16th in the NCAA Championships’ stroke play. He finished 23rd and went on to compete in the Korn Ferry Tour. 

Chirravuri completed his college career with 51 events, including one victory, 19 top finishes, 26 top-20 finishes, and 75 rounds under par. 

Chirravuri was also named to the WCC first team along with teammates Brady Siravo — a senior and three-time all-conference golfer who won this season’s Sahalee Players Championship — and junior Willy Walsh, a three-time WCCer selection who earned four top-10 finishes.

The Waves ended the season ranked 14th nationally. 

Ahead of the NCAA Championships last month, Beard hailed his team for rallying from two strokes back to tie Virginia for first place at the Winston-Salem NCAA Regional in North Carolina. 

“They could have coasted in and finished in the top five but they wanted to chase down Virginia,” he explained. “I thought that was really neat. We had five guys pushing to be their best.”

Pepperdine shot 36-under as a team. Beard noted that in the final round of the three-day tournament, his team had four birdies on the first hole.

“They set the tone early that they were going to get it,” he added. 

Beard said Pepperdine gelled together. 

“Everyone was rooting for each other,” he noted. 

Beard captured WCC Coach of the Year honors each year from 2016-19, and again in 2021 and 2022. He claimed the award for the fourth time the same season he coached Pepperdine to the NCAA Championships tournament. Additionally, Beard was named the National Coach of the Year in 2020. 

Each Waves squad he has led is different, so he adjusted to the variety of personalities under his guidance.

“I’ve tried to learn as much as I can about each guy in each dynamic,” Beard explained. “That is such an important piece with golf being an individual sport and you’re bringing these nine guys together to make a team.” 

He said part of coaching is understanding when to push players and when to hold back.

“Trying to learn each player has been something that has been a focus for me,” Beard said. “It can be challenging sometimes when you have a group of studs — really, really good players — and you start the next year with guys that need some work and need to take time to mature and improve. That is something I had to reset from a mental standpoint.”

“As I get older, I really enjoy watching the guys grow up from freshmen to seniors,” Beard added. “That is one thing I tried to recognize as a younger coach but didn’t appreciate as much as I do now.” 

Four Pepperdine alumni — Joe Highsmith, William Mouw, Andrew Putnam, and Sahith Theegala — have earned PGA Tour cards. Chirravuri and Siravo began their professional careers this month.

Beard said Siravo served as a leader, while Chirravuri set the tone with consistency.

Siravo told a Pepperdine newsletter last month that Beard understands that a coach and player have to trust each other to be successful in golf.

“From the minute I started here as a first-year, he established the fact that he was here for me, and that he was also going to tell me where I needed to improve,” Siravo said. “He really cares about each person on his team.” 

Beard said that trust allows him to be candid with players.

“They know I’m coming from a place of love for what is best for them,” he said. “In golf, you have to know the game at a high level. Being able to communicate and suggest things at the right time is really important.”