CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ACC/SMU) – SMU Men's Golf senior Will Sides has been named the 2026 Rod Myers Scholar Athlete of the Year by the Atlantic Coast Conference on Monday.
 
Sides became the first Mustang to earn an ACC scholar-athlete of the year honor after SMU joined the conference in 2024. Along with the scholar-athlete of the year honor, Sides also earned his second All-ACC Academic honor.

The senior from Tulsa, Oklahoma, completed his studies with a 3.79 GPA, earning a degree in accounting. Athletically, he earned his second All-ACC and fourth all-conference honor this season. He joins Kelly Kraft (2008-11) to become only the second Mustang to have won four all-conference honors.
 
Sides earned his first career All-America honor this season. He became the 23rd Mustang to be named All-American, first since 2021. He recorded a 68.4 adjusted scoring average, played a total of 35 rounds and had 28 par-or-better rounds. He finished the season with three tournament wins, four top-three finishes, a fourth-place finish in the ACC Championship and finished 16th in the NCAA Regional Championship.
 
Following his four seasons at SMU, Sides finished tied for 10th at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS on the Korn Ferry Tour last week.
 
This past season, Sides played in 12 tournaments with six top-five finishes, seven top-10 finishes and nine top-20 finishes while scoring an average of 68.4.
 
Along with Sides, Ben Steinmann was also named to the All-ACC Academic Team.
 
The freshman had a 71 adjusted scoring average this past season, including one tournament while maintaining a 3.10 cumulative GPA.
 
2026 Rod Myers Scholar-Athlete of the Year
William Sides, Sr., SMU
 
2026 Men's Golf All-ACC Academic Team
**Tommy Mangan, Boston College, So., Management
***Jack Pogorelc, Boston College, Sr., Management
Tony Yin, Boston College, Fr., Management/Math
Charlie Bundy, California, Sr., Business Administration
Daniel Heo, California, Sr., Economics
**Thomas Higgins, Clemson, Sr., Psychology
**Colin Salema, Clemson, So., Marketing
**Rich Wills, Clemson, So., Marketing
Daniel Choi, Duke, Sr., Psychology
**Ethan Evans, Duke, Sr., Economics
***Bryan Kim, Duke, Jr., Sociology
****William Love, Duke, Sr., Economics
**Carson Brewer, Florida State, Jr., ISS
Wilmer Edero, Florida State, Jr., ISS
***Tyler Weaver, Florida State, Jr., Sport Management
***Kale Fontenot, Georgia Tech, Jr., Business Administration
**Albert Hansson, Georgia Tech, So., Business Administration
****Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech, Sr., Business Administration
**Cooper Claycomb, Louisville, Jr., Exercise Physiology
Andrew Tan, Louisville, Sr., Finance
Warren Thomis, Louisville, So., Business Administration
Niall Sheils Donegan, North Carolina, Jr., Economics
**Keaton Vo, North Carolina, Sr., Communications
Xander Goboy, NC State, So., Management First Year
Joseph Lenane, NC State, Sr., Business Admin
Markus Varjun, NC State, Sr., Psychology
Evan Woosley-Reed, NC State, Sr., Sport Management
***Jacob Modleski, Notre Dame, Jr., Business Analytics
**Mike Qiu, Notre Dame, So., Business Analytics
***Rocco Salvitti, Notre Dame, Jr., Strategic Management
Calen Sanderson, Notre Dame, Sr., Finance
****Nate Stevens, Notre Dame, Sr., Finance
**William Sides, SMU, Sr., Accounting BBA
Ben Steinmann, SMU, Fr., Undeclared
**Ethan Gao, Stanford, Jr., Mathematics
Dean Greyserman, Stanford, Sr., Science, Technology & Society
**Jay Leng, Stanford, So., Undeclared
***Nathan Wang, Stanford, Sr., Political Science
***Josh Duangmanee, Virginia, Jr., Global Studies
****Bryan Lee, Virginia, Sr., Religious Studies
Benjamin Baker, Virginia Tech, Fr., Finance – Corporate Financial Management
**Ashton Harper, Virginia Tech, Jr., Finance – Investment Management & Chartered Financial Analyst
Aiden Patel, Virginia Tech, Fr., Advertising
***Rahul Rajendram, Virginia Tech, Jr., FinTech Big Data Analytics & Finance – Investment Management & Chartered Financial Analyst
**Gareth Steyn, Virginia Tech, Sr., Economics
***Kyle Haas, Wake Forest, Jr., Economics
***Tom Haberer, Wake Forest, Jr., Finance
**Jakob Melin, Wake Forest, Sr., Communication
 
*denotes number of All-ACC Academic Team honors