There may be a new coach, but the expectations for Glacier golf remain as they always have been.

After Jim Ness stepped away from the Wolfpack program after two seasons at the helm, Cory Snipes takes over. The Valley native spent last season volunteering for the Wolfpack and didn't initially plan to take over. 

"I had a blast (last season)," Snipes said. "Jim resigned and I wasn't fully planning on taking the job but had a bunch of phone calls telling me I should and that I was the man for it." 

Snipes' mindset for his squad — which he expects to run around 60 golfers — is to give it their all on the course. 

"If the kids are having fun and putting in their best effort I will never care about the scores," Snipes said. 

The results have been there for Glacier in recent years: state championships in 2023 and 2024 gave way to a fourth-place finish for the boys last fall. 

Torren Murray finished in a tie for seventh at state last year, second among the Wolfpack golfers — Luke Nelson, who has graduated, finished one shot ahead. Nelson returns to lead Glacier and Snipes believes Murray will be in the running come October in Great Falls. 

Snipes also has been impressed with the play of Louis Groom and Tripp O'Boyle early in practice. O'Boyle led the Wolfpack JV squad at West Glacier Monday to a second-place finish and finished with the low score of 67. 

"We have a lot of scores in the 70's to start the season," Snipes said of his squad through qualifiers. 

As for the Glacier girls, Maggie Mitton tees it up again. She nabbed a top-10 finish at state a year ago and led the Wolfpack to a fifth-place team finish. 

"She is looking awesome and playing very well," Snipes said. 

Lillie Groom is another player that has impressed Snipes. Lillie is the older sister of Louis. 

In all, Snipes expects around 10 girls on the squad once the roster settles and other fall sports set their teams. 

The Wolfpack open the season Wednesday with Whitefish and Flathead at the Whitefish Triangular. Thursday they meet with Flathead again for the annual Crosstown Cup at Village Greens. Tee times begin at 1 p.m. 

    Glacier's Maggie Mitton chips onto the fourteenth green at the Western AA Divisional Golf Tournament at Northern Pines Golf Club on Thursday, Sept. 25. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider