Press Release courtesy of Duke Athletics.
Duke University head swimming and diving coach Dan Colella announced Thursday the addition of Alex Henderson and Matt Ventura to the program’s coaching staff. Henderson joins the Blue Devils as an assistant coach working with the swimmers, while Ventura will work with head diving coach Nunzio Esposto and the team’s divers as a volunteer assistant.
“We are fortunate to have two really enthusiastic young coaches wanting to help us take the program to new heights,” Colella said.
Henderson comes to Durham after completing his collegiate swimming career at William & Mary. While in Williamsburg, he guided the Tribe to three straight CAA championships in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and also captured All-CAA honors individually in each of those seasons as a backstroke and freestyle specialist. Henderson’s career highlights also include a 12th-place finish in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2016 AT&T Winter National Championships.
Henderson’s previous coaching experience includes time coaching a USA Swimming club team, 757swim, as well as three summer league swim teams in the Virginia area. He currently serves as a coach for the Club Kick Start Swimming School in Chapel Hill, N.C.
A native of Hopewell, Va., Henderson graduated from William & Mary in 2017 with a degree in kinesiology and health sciences.
Ventura will join Esposto and the Duke divers after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, Eastern Michigan University. The Eagles captured a pair of Mid-American Conference titles in that span. He also served as an assistant coach and later as the head coach of the Legacy Diving club program in Ypsilanti, Mich., from 2012-17, and boasts additional coaching experience as the head coach at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor, Mich., and as a coach for several country club diving teams.
During his own collegiate diving career at Eastern Michigan (2012-15), Ventura was a part of three MAC team championships.
A native of Lakewood, Ohio, Ventura graduated from Eastern Michigan in 2015 with degrees in communications and psychology. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in coaching from Ohio University.