In a year that seems to have much more turnover of head coaches in NCAA Division I swimming than usual, 11 programs are still without head coaches for next season. Wisconsin and TCU also had head coaching vacancies, but have recently seen those positions filled by Yuri Suguiyama and James Winchester respectively.
The reasoning for the vacancies is varied, with everything from longtime coaches simply retiring, to being dismissed for allegations of abuse. More schools will likely have vacancies in the future as coaches leave their positions to fill the vacancies that are currently open. The complete list of current vacancies is below:
| SCHOOL | LAST HEAD COACH |
REASON FOR VACANCY
|
| Auburn (Men’s and Women’s) | Brett Hawke | |
| Florida (Men’s and Women’s) | Gregg Troy | |
| Virginia Tech | Ned Skinner | |
| Northwestern (combining programs) | Abbey Steketee (women’s)/Jarod Schroeder (Men’s) | |
| George Washington (Men’s and Women’s) | James Winchester | |
| Ball State (Men’s) | Bob Thomas | |
| Stony Brook (Women’s) | Janelle Atkinson | |
| Georgia Southern (Women’s) | Laura Thomas |
Unknown, but Kristin Walker is serving as interim head coach
|
| Delaware (Men’s and Women’s) | John Hayman | |
| Holy Cross | Barry Parenteau | |
| St. Francis College Brooklyn | Brian Guidera |
No announcement made, job posting listed.
|
Here is a short recap of the 2 programs that already filled their vacancies:
- WISCONSIN – News of Whitney Hite’s termination from Wisconsin with 2 years left oh is contract was broken on the last day of the men’s NCAAs after 7 years with the team. This season, Wisconsin only had 1 swimmer at the men’s swimmer at the NCAAs, and failed to score any points. Cal assistant coach Yuri Suguiyama has been named as the new head coach, leaving an assistant coaching vacancy at Cal.
- TCU – First-year head coach Sam Busch was put on administrative leave by the university for undisclosed reasons in February. Then, news came out just the other day that TCU’s team banquet had been cancelled, and in that report a local newspaper stated that Busch was going to be fired by the university because of a slew of inappropriate behavior, including verbal abuse of Rec Center employees, a physical altercation with an assistant coach, and drinking at bars with students, though local news reported that he resigned before that could happen. James Winchester has been announced as the new head coach, and will be leaving George Washington University to do so, creating a head coach vacancy for them.
Just so we remember, it would be helpful if all your future posts are headed by “STEVE NOLAN (MFM)”
Georgia southern is Women’s only
Whitney Hite did not resign. He was fired.
I wonder if coaches are more intrigued by the AU or U of F job? Both have interesting pieces and are obviously quite prestigious swim schools.
AU is in Alabama! Not sure how that even gets in the Same conversation with Florida?
Is Gainsville better than Alabama?
Northern Florida is basically Alabama
There is likely going to be another DI position opening in the Northeast in the near future.
Hint: Penn State is not part of the Northeast
When you’re in the Southwest, the rest of the country is the Northeast.
Virginia Tech???
There might be another very soon http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/04/penn_state_investigates_swim_t.html
You could have added this:. http://www.pennlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/04/penn_state_swimmers_including.html
Swimmer 1: “He played favorites.”
Swimmer 2: “He was always helpful to me.”
Kind of like a group of blind men standing around an elephant.
Swimmer 3:. They cut me, but they still treated me fairly
Spencer – gotta call you out bro you are missing Virginia Tech! (Anonymous already stated but seriously!)