SMU senior Will Sides earned All-ACC honors after a monster season, becoming just the second Mustang with four all-conference selections.
Will Sides didn’t just close out a strong senior season for SMU men’s golf. He put his name in rare Mustang company.
Sides was named to the 2025-26 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Team, giving the SMU senior another major postseason honor after one of the best individual seasons in recent program history.
It’s his second All-ACC selection and fourth all-conference honor overall, tying him with Kelly Kraft as the only SMU men’s golfers to earn all-conference recognition four times.
Sides, a Tulsa, Oklahoma, native, became one of the clear leaders for SMU during its ACC run and finished the season ranked No. 13 nationally by Clippd.
He also earned the first All-America honor of his career, becoming the 23rd Mustang men’s golfer to reach that status and the first SMU player to do it since 2021.
For a program trying to keep building its national profile in the ACC, Sides gave the Mustangs a legitimate headliner.
His numbers backed it up. Sides posted a 68.4 adjusted scoring average across 35 rounds, and 28 of those rounds were par-or-better.
That kind of scoring floor travels, and it’s why he stayed in contention week after week. He won three tournaments, added four top-three finishes and placed fourth at the ACC Championship.
He also finished 16th at the NCAA Regional Championship, giving SMU another steady postseason push from its senior anchor.
The ACC honor puts Sides on a loaded list. Virginia star Ben James was named ACC Men’s Golfer of the Year, while North Carolina’s Carson Bertagnole earned Freshman of the Year and Virginia’s Bowen Sargent took Coach of the Year.
Sides joined standouts from Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Stanford, Virginia, California and North Carolina on the All-ACC Team.
That’s the point. This wasn’t some soft landing spot. The ACC men’s golf field was stacked, and Sides still carved out his place.
For SMU, his career will be remembered for both production and durability. Four all-conference honors don’t happen by accident. Neither do three wins in a season or 28 par-or-better rounds.
Sides gave the Mustangs exactly what every program wants from a senior star: scoring, credibility and a resume that’s going to age well.
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SMU has had plenty of strong golfers.
Will Sides just made sure he’ll be remembered as one of the program’s standard-setters.
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