Biography

Best holds an interesting dual role at St. Thomas Aquinas. He is the chairman of the Theology Department…and has been the coach of the boys golf team since 1997 and the girls golf team since 1999. He has held numerous campus ministry positions, including director of the KAIROS Retreat Program, and has coached basketball and volleyball at the school in addition to golf.

Last fall, Best guided the Raiders girls golf team to a state-record fifth consecutive team title, shooting a state-record score of 303 to win the 5A title by 66 strokes. It was Best’s sixth girls state championship, his first coming in 2002. He also has had one of his girls golfers win medalist honors seven times, including each of the past five seasons.

The Kansas Coaches Association named Best Girls Coach of the Year in 2003. Best’s boys teams have qualified for state every year of his tenure, and broke through to win back-to-back 5A titles in 2007 and 2008, to go with five state runner-up finishes, two third-place finishes, two fourth-place finishes and a sixth-place finish. He has coached four boys to state medalist honors, and nearly 20 of his golfers have gone on to earn college scholarships. Best was guest speaker at the National High School Golf Association annual conference in 2007 and also created and directed “Golf for the Soul,” a summer golf retreat program for players of all ages.

Best played basketball and golf at Benedictine University in Atchison, Kansas. and earned a master’s degree from the University of Saint Mary in Leavenworth, Kansas.

In the years since being honored, Best continues to lead the Girls’ and Boys’ Golf teams at St. Thomas Aquinas. His Girl’s team has won an additional four state championships including the last three years. The Boys’ won another handful of state titles from 2016-2018. In 2019, the boys were the state runner ups. The 2020 State Championships were canceled.

Records

Girls' teams won 10 State Championships

Boys' teams have won 6 State Championships