When senior Steve Luminais entered his first year at Nicholls in 2001, he was lacking one of the reasons he came to Thibodaux: playing golf.Luminais, who came to Nicholls from Riverside Academy in Reserve, was a non-qualifier out of high school and could not play golf his first year. He said he had the ACT score and the grade point average to qualify, but his grades in his core courses in high school were short a few tenths of a point.

Because he was a non-qualifier, Luminais could not practice with the team and was not on scholarship during his first year. He would only be awarded his final year of eligibility if he graduated from college in four years.

When he found out the time constraints for graduation, Luminais set his sights on only playing golf for three years because he said he was not a “great student” and he did not think he would graduate in four years.

“I would have (had) to take 15-18 hours every semester and pass all that, and I told coach I wouldn’t be able to do that,” Luminais said. “He said just do what you can, and if you can only play three years, you can only play three years.”

During that initial year, Luminais spent a great deal of time in his apartment playing “NCAA Football 2002” and “Tiger Woods Golf 2001” on PlayStation. Although he was not able to practice with the team, he was able to go to the Thibodaux driving range once a week and hit balls.

After completing his third season in competition in the spring of 2005, Luminais had planned to use the next academic year to complete the 20 remaining hours towards his degree in general studies while also serving as an assistant coach for the men’s squad.

This past July, head golf coach, James Schilling, found out about a rule change when looking over minutes from NCAA meetings that could affect Luminais’ eligibility status.

“If you are a non-qualifier out of high school, you had to graduate after four years, but Steve had 80 percent (of his coursework completed), and now that’s what you need, which he has,” Schilling said

Schilling said he told Athletics Director, Rob Bernardi, who contacted the NCAA and found out the rule change would go into effect Aug. 1, 2005.

Luminais said he was surprised to find out he had been granted his final year of eligibility.

“I was going to help out this year as an assistant coach, but playing’s a lot better than coaching,” Luminais said.

Luminais said the team and his mother, Sheryl Luminais, were also glad to find out he had been granted another year to play.

“The team was happy because they could have used me,” Luminais said. “It’s always good to have an extra player. My mom was fired up because she loved coming to the tournaments, and she is friends with the rest of the team. She was pretty happy.”

Sophomore James Terrebonne said having Luminais back another year will help the squad.

“In tournaments every score helps, and with Steve, he’s very consistent and he’s going to put up a good score…,” Terrebonne said.

Senior Brandon Henry said Luminais’ earning his extra year is a message to the incoming freshmen on the team that “they need to finish school also.”

Now that he has been granted his final year of eligibility, Luminais’ goals are to obtain his degree and to have more success in the men’s squad than they have had in his previous years.

After graduation, Luminais said he will more than likely get a job at Edwin Wats Golf Shop in Kenner where he worked in the summer. He will also continue to play golf for leisure.