University of Detroit Mercy Athletics

The University of Detroit Mercy Department of Athletics announced a restructuring in the men's and women's golf programs by hiring Jordan McArleton as the Director of Golf in the summer of 2022. The new position oversees the men's and women's golf teams as a full-time, dedicated head coach, as he now enters his fourth year with the program in 2025-26. 

"We are extremely excited about the direction of the men's and women's golf programs," said Director of Athletics Robert C. Vowels, Jr. "The University and Department of Athletics are committed to the growth of both programs."

"I'm extremely excited to start this journey with Detroit Mercy," said McArleton at his hiring. "It's a program with a huge amount of potential and in coordination with the great staff already in place, I think we can make both short and long-term upgrades to the player experience, which will lead to results on the course."

Coach McArleton saw the men's team end last year with one of their best averages in school history as the Titans posted a 296.1, the best mark since UDM tallied a 292.5 in 2007-08. Detroit Mercy also changed the record book as it shot a 566 at Cleveland State's Tom Tontimonia Invitational, the second-lowest in school history. At the same time, the final round 277 was the fifth-best 18-hole score in the school record book and the best since 2010. Sophomore David Swab led the way, tying for first with a 135 (69-66), tied for the best two-round tournament in the record book, and his final round 4-under 66 was tied for the third best round in red, white and blue history. 

The year before, the men posted a 297.04 average, the best mark by the red, white, and blue since they recorded a 296.3 in 2009-10, and also placed eighth at the Horizon League championship with a 907 (308-306-293), the best team score at the league championship since the 895 in 2014. Meanwhile, the final-round 293 was the best since shooting a 291 in the final round of 2013. 

The women tallied a 322.6 average in 2023-24, the seventh lowest team average in school history. Junior Ariel Chang won her first tournament in the Roseann Schwartz Invitational and earned All-Horizon League Second Team honors as she ended the year with a 76.47 average, good for a share of fourth in school history. She was also All-Tournament as tied for third at the Horizon League Championship, the best finish by a Titan since 2015. 

In his first year with both programs in 2022-23, he saw Chang earn her first conference honor as she was tabbed First Team All-Horizon League, first Titan underclassman to earn All-League honors since 2015. Chang broke the school record with a 76.05 average as she started all nine events and recorded six top-10 finishes, including tying for sixth at the Horizon League Championships with a 229. 

The men claimed ninth at the Horizon League Championship with a 927, the best score for the Titans since 2017. Junior Alek Mauro finished in the top 10, his sixth top-10 effort or the year and the first Titan in the top 10 at the league event since 2017.

Off the course, both teams have been recognized for academics, as the women earned the WGCA Team Academic Award in 2023 and 2025, while the men earned the honor by the GCAA in all three years. The women's team also received the Department's Team Excellence Award for having the highest GPA out of all the Titan teams with a 3.5, which also made them a Horizon League Raise Your Sights award winner, in 2023. 

In addition, eight women have been named WGCA All-American Scholars, and three men have been tabbed GCAA All-American Scholars since he took over the program. 

McArleton brought over 10 years of collegiate coaching experience to his resume as the head men's and women's golf coach at Albion College from 2010 to 2020.  

Prior to joining the Titans, he was the Director of Instruction at the Northville Hills Golf Club, where he was in charge of instructional programming. Before that, he created the Jmac Golf Academy for private golf instruction for adults and team-based coaching for kids.

At Albion, he started his collegiate coaching career with the women's golf team in 2010 before adding the men's team under his belt in 2013. In 2018, he guided the women's team to third place in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) standings, the program's best finish in 12 years. The women also had four players (Madison Kroetsch, Erica Mazur, Celine McClimans, Megan Moco) selected All-MIAA in his tenure and Megan Moco was honored with the MIAA Sportsmanship Award in 2017. 

On the men's side, he helped Justin Kapke to a pair of All-MIAA honors and Connor Maddalena took home the MIAA Sportsmanship Award. 

McArleton's professional career has also seen him work as a golf professional at Twin Lakes Country Club in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, and a golf instructor for the City of Ann Arbor, providing kids and adult golf instruction at Leslie Park Golf Course and Huron Hills Golf Course during the summer months.

He was a four-year golfer and a two-time captain at Albion, earning medalist honors in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Jamboree his sophomore year. He was trained at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Florida, in high school.

McArleton earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Albion in 2003 and a Master of Arts in Journalism from Michigan State in 2012. 

He is married to his lovely wife Theresa, and they have two boys, Liam (12) and Dash (10).