James Vargas joined the Arizona Men’s Golf program as assistant coach in July of 2021 following a two-year stint as an assistant at the University of North Texas.
Arizona continued its success on the field in Vargas’ second season on staff in 2022-23. Arizona won the Arizona NIT at Omni Tucson National for the first time since 2003 as Zach Pollo was co-champion of the event. Pollo’s win made him the first Arizona freshman to win a tournament since 2004. The Wildcats also earned a berth in the NCAA Morgan Hill Regional, qualifying for NCAA postseason competition for a fifth consecutive season.
The Wildcats had a quartet of student-athletes in the Pac-12 Conference’s yearly awards, led by Chase Sienkiewicz’s selection to the All-Pac-12 Second Team. Sam Sommerhauser earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honors while Zach Pollo and Filip Jakubcik were voted to the All-Freshman Team by the league’s coaches. The yearly honors marked the third time in the last 20 years that four Wildcat golfers have received all-conference awards.
Vargas helped guide the Wildcats to a deep postseason run during his first season on staff. The 2021-22 season ended with Arizona’s first trip to the NCAA Championships since 2011 after winning the NCAA Bryan Regional to give the Wildcats their first NCAA Regionals title since 2006. The program opened the 2022 calendar year with a sweep of the Arizona Intercollegiate as Christian Banke won his first collegiate tournament, and the Wildcats won their home tournament for a fifth consecutive season. Vargas mentored the duo of Christian Banke and Chase Sienkiewicz to banner seasons with both named to the PING All-District Team. Banke would earn a First Team All-Pac-12 nod while Sienkeiwicz repeated as a Second Team All-Pac-12 selection.
The Mean Green had Vicente Marzilio qualify for the NCAA Stillwater Regional and finished in the top 25 of the leaderboards. UNT finished second as a team at the Conference USA Championships as Marzilio won the Conference USA Individual championship as a freshman.
Marzilio would headline the Mean Green's 2021 postseason C-USA awards as the conference's Freshman of the Year and First Team selection. Lenny Bergsson was a member of the All-C-USA Third Team and Nikhil Gopal joined Marzilio on the Conference USA All-Freshmen Team.
Vargas began his coaching career at North Texas after playing professionally on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica where he posted a pair of top-three finishes as part of seven finishes in the top 10 of events in addition to playing in three PGA Tour events. His professional career began on the Web.com Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) following his decorated collegiate career at Florida.
The Miami native earned All-America honors in three different seasons with the Gators while being selected to the All-SEC Second Team and the PING All-Southeast Region Team as a senior in 2005-06. Florida finished second at the NCAA Championships in Vargas's final year of eligibility after finishing in the top two of the SEC in three seasons, including the Gators' SEC Championship in his freshman season.
Vargas was a contestant on the 10th season of "The Big Break" on the Golf Channel in 2008. He and his wife, Courtney, have one daughter named Cassidy.
