Theo Sliman, head coach of the golf team at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, instructs one of his players recently at Oakborne Country Club in Lafayette.

When it comes to golf, Theo Sliman has turned his love of the game into a career that has taken him to college, into the minor leagues while pursuing a professional career and finally, into the coaching ranks.

Sliman, the son of local golf pro Teddy Sliman, plied his trade well.

He won a golf state championship at Catholic High School, he was an All Sun Belt Conference player and four-year letterman when he played at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and participated in a number of professional tournament when he was chasing the dream of earning a coveted PGA Tour card in the early 2000s.

While Sliman never did get to the big leagues in his bid to play professionally, he ended up with a pretty nice consolation prize. For the past eight years, Sliman has been mentoring and coaching young men as head men’s golf coach at his alma mater, a job that had turned into a career that keeps him involved in the game he’s loved.

“I get that question often, ‘How’s the job?,’ ” said Sliman. “The answer is pretty simple, it’s not a job. It’s a way of life.

“I really don’t see it as a job. I’m fortunate to get paid for something that I love.”

When the Catholic High and UL-Lafayette grad took the job as golf coach, he went into it with a philosophy that really hasn’t changed in the ensuing eight years.

“When you look back on the definition of the word coach before sports even existed, it was a vessel used to transport items or people from one place to another,” Sliman, 35, said, “and I truly hold that definition to high esteem, when I use that title before my name.

“I transport these young men into manhood, to be ready for life.”

It’s a philosophy that has served Sliman well because it’s not always been about the wins and losses for him. It’s been about making sure that the program is competitive and stays competitive at a high level.

To that end, Sliman has led the team to spots in the NCAA regional, finished in the top three at the Sun Belt Championships and has sent individual players to the NCAA tournament.

“If we happen to win tournaments and help players become more competitive, that’s great,” said Sliman, “but the most important thing is that I’ve helped them reach that goal. I just want to have an impact on all facets of these young men’s lives, not just golf.”

Although Sliman would like to think that philosophy has worked since he took over the head golf post in 2008, it’s something he might never truly know the answer to in his lifetime.

“I’ll know that answer when I’ve crossed the Pearly Gates and have a chat with God,” he said. “In the end though, God has given me an opportunity and one day, hopefully many years from now, God’s going to ask me what I did with my talents and hopefully I can answer that I made an impact on a bunch of young men’s lives.”

Although the question of whether he’s making an impact will have to wait for another day, for now the CHS grad is busy with the day-to-day business of running a college program.

This fall Sliman has taken the team to tournaments in Mississippi, Mexico and will play this weekend in Baton Rouge and next weekend in Tennessee as part of the fall schedule.

This spring, the Cajuns will travel to tournaments in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.

The journey to becoming head golf coach at UL-Lafayette actually started when Sliman was in his senior year as a Ragin’ Cajun.

“It was right after my final tournament in 2003 when I was riding up front with Coach (Bob) Bass and he’s there picking my brain and asking me what I was going to do after graduation,” Sliman said. “I told him that I was going to pursue professional golf and if it doesn’t work I a jokingly told him that I wanted his job.”

Bass was the legendary golf coach at UL-Lafayette who had a large impact on Sliman’s life. Little did the future UL grad realize he would be replacing Bass as head coach five years later.

“I had stayed in touch with Coach Bass and the program and he called me one day and said this is my last season,” Sliman said. “He voiced his opinion to the university administration and fortunately they interviewed me, liked my passion for the school and the game and they hired me.”

The hardest thing he had to adjust to in making the transition was to accept the fact that while he always had designs on being a professional golfer and was around people who were pursuing that dream, not everyone on the team had the same desires. Some just wanted to be a college student-athlete and some wanted to take their skills and knowledge of the game into something else with golf.

“Once I was able to understand there were other motivations, that’s when the philosophy I talked about earlier really kicked in and I understood what coaching was about,” Sliman said.

As for his future, Sliman and his wife, Mary, really don’t have plans to go anywhere else.

He stated on numerous occasions that he was a one-school guy and that school was UL. It’s his passion for the school and the community around it, that keeps him going strong with no desire to go anywhere else.

That passion, and the passion for golf, he learned from his dad and he hopes to pass that passion on to his children, Drew, Grant and Katherine, if they chose to follow it.

“My dad is my best friend and my idol. I grew up looking up to him and still today I look up to him,” said Sliman. “He never pushed me, but he always taught me if you’re going to play golf you’re going to do it the right way.

“My boys are at an age where they’re getting interested in golf. I’ll never force them either, but if they are going to do it they’re going to do it 100 percent.”