Getting a chance to lead a institution like Vanderbilt is a dream come true for Limbaugh.
“It is great opportunity for me,” Limbaugh said. “Vanderbilt is such a great university and it is in a great location. I am just ecstatic to hopefully lead Vanderbilt to be champions on and off the golf course. They have given me a great opportunity there. David Williams, vice chandler and Rod Williamson, they believe in me. When my wife and I went up there through the interview process the whole family atmosphere amongst the athletics program is something that we were really excited about. The opportunity to continue to coach in the SEC at such a great institution like Vanderbilt is a dream come true for me.”
While being a part of the Crimson Tide’s staff, Limbaugh learned what it takes to lead a program.
“It is the players here that mean so much to me and coach Jay Seawell, the head coach here (Alabama),” Limbaugh said. “He truly has been a mentor for me. He and his wife have really showed us what building a program is all about. That is what I am going to try at Vanderbilt. One that represents everything that is right and that is what my goals will be.”
During his tenure with the Tide, he served as the recruiting coordinator. Limbaugh developed a reputation of one of the best recruiters in the nation. He coached 10 All-Americans, three of them earned first team honors.
“Just as far as here at Alabama, we had the opportunity to coach Michael Thompson, who just finished in the United State Open,” he said. “Bud Cauley, who is on the PGA Tour. We got the best player in the country who was just a freshman this year Justin Thomason. The players give us this opportunity, they believed in us here. The University of Alabama, the athletic department here is a great place. From Coach Mal Moore, the athletic director to the entire administration the support they have given me and my family in my five years here. I will always be thankful for that. They are going to have a special place in my heart for a long time.”
Limbaugh said his hometown and his home golf course helped him get to the position he is in now.
“ Coosa Pines is my home golf course — it is still my home golf course and it will always will be no matter where this game takes me,” Limbaugh said. “ Childersburg is home and Coosa Pines is my home golf course. That is exciting, I am a Childersburg person. I grew up there and I played all the sports in high school.
There are several people that mean a lot to me. Obviously, my parents are there and there are some coaches there. There are people there and I hate to start naming particular people, because I will leave somebody out. Chad Slaten, he was my basketball and baseball coach there at Childersburg. There are a lot of people there that mean a lot to me that kind of taught me what it means to be a coach and the kind of coach that I want to be. There are a lot of people that played a role in my life from Childersburg and I am thankful for that.”
Limbaugh graduated from Childersburg in 1998. He played three sports including basketball. He said being the teammate of an NBA star is his claim to fame.
“I passed a lot of alley oops to Gerald Wallace,” Limbaugh said.
“I don’t know if anyone else remembers that I was on the team, but I was on the court. I was just smart enough to know that he is going to be pretty good. I threw a lot of alley oops to him in my day. I guess that is my claim to fame is that I threw alley oops to an NBA All-Star.”
After high school, Limbaugh walked on at Central Alabama Community College. After two year there he went on to Huntingdon College where he earned his degree. Huntingdon also gave Limbaugh his first coaching job.
“ I was always kind of good at golf,” Limbaugh said.
“I was not a star golfer at any time. I wasn’t good enough at any of the other sports to play collegiate level. I was just a guy that played hard. I was pretty good at golf, but never gave it my undivided attention. I had a walk- on tryout for Central Alabama Community College and the coach offered me a spot on the team. I ended up earning the golf scholarship. I was fortunate enough that both of my years there we won Junior College National Championships. I went on to get another golf scholarship to Huntingdon College in Montgomery. Then I became the head coach there a year after I graduated. I was the head coach for Huntingdon for three years. Huntingdon gave me my first opportunity and there was somebody there that saw something in me that they believed I should be a head coach at the age of 24. That is kind of where this thing started. I had some great players that believed in me and we had some success. Then, coach Seawell gave me the opportunity to be the assistant coach at Alabama.”
