The University of Jamestown, a private liberal arts college in North Dakota, has opened the search for a head coach with the goal of adding a women’s swim team for the 2021-22 season.
“UJ is seeking to start an NAIA women’s swimming program that would ideally begin competition in 2021-22 academic year with the coach recruiting student-athletes during the 2020-21 academic year,” the job listing, posted April 1, says.
Jamestown currently hosts teams in women’s and men’s basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, track & field, volleyball and wrestling, as well as softball, men’s hockey, football and baseball. The Jimmies also have coed esports and shooting sports programs.
The school has an enrollment of about 1,000 students, and until 2013 was known as Jamestown College.
In terms of facilities, it’s not clear where a team would practice or compete. The school’s Hansen Center, which at its time of construction in 1923 contained the first indoor swimming pool in the state, now houses the gymnasium. Jamestown Parks and Rec used to have a lease with the university for use of the outdoor Jamestown Municipal Pool, but that facility shuttered in 2017 when the agreement ended and the Two Rivers Activity Center – which has three available lap swim lanes (each of which is just over 23 yards long) and is a mile from campus – opened.
The school is located about midway between Fargo and Bismarck.
Athletic director Sean Johnson told SwimSwam the school would not comment on the decision to add a team, or its available facilities, until a head coach is hired.