Following the retirement of Martyn Wilby, the Florida Gators have hired Jeff Poppell as their new associate head coach. Prior to taking the job at UF, Poppell served as the head coach of Gulliver Preparatory School and Gulliver Swim Club in south Florida for the past 4 seasons. Poppell began his coaching career in 1993 as an age group coach at Bolles under Gregg Troy, and will now make the move to work with Troy again at Florida.
After working his way up from his age group coaching position, Poppell was the head coach of the Bolles School from 2002-06. There, he led the bulldogs to a pair of National Championship titles. In 2004, he was recognized as the NHSCA Girls’ National High School Coach of the Year. During his time as Head Coach, he coached 4 swimmers to the top 25 in the world rankings.
At Gulliver Prep, Poppell led the girls to back-to-back state titles, with their first ever state championship at the 2014 FHSAA 2A High School State Championship Meet. He coached several swimmers to Olympic Trials and World Championships Trials, as well as 3 finalists at U.S. Summer Junior Nationals.
Poppell comes to Gainesville with prior experience as an NCAA coach, having worked as the Head Coach of the University of Arkansas from 2006-12. During his tenure with the Razorbacks, he led them to a 5th place finish at the SEC Championship meet in 2009, the highest finish in program history. In 2009 and 2010, he coached Yi-Ting Siow to 4th place in the 200 breast, the highest finish ever achieved by an Arkansas swimmer.
Internationally, Poppell was a U.S. National Team Coach from 2005-09. He was the Head Women’s Coach for Team USA at the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. Poppell coached 2 swimmers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 3 swimmers at the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
Good Luck Jeff …many mixed emotions here too ! God Bless You …
The Gator Nation keeps making great choices under the direction of Coach Troy.
Never heard of him. Go Gators!
Thx for sharing. I’m sure he’s never heard of you either.
Congrats to Jeff! No doubt that he will make the Gators better.
Jeff is awesome! They are fortunate to have such a great coach and great person.
Jeff is a great person, a talented coach, and he connects well with his athletes. Jeff has known Troy for 24 years, he learned under Coach Troy when he was coaching at Bolles so he will go in already knowing Coach Troy and understanding the philosophy of the UF program. This is a great hire for Gregg Troy and the University of Florida. Congratulations and best of luck to Coach Poppell!