Scott Cameron stepped down as head coach of the Illinois State women’s swimming team on Monday to pursue other opportunities. While the athletic department has not yet made a formal announcement, Cameron is no longer listed on the Redbirds’ roster.
Cameron spent four seasons at the helm of the Redbirds, having joined the Illinois State athletics department in 2015 after three years as an assistant women’s swimming coach at the University of Idaho. Prior to that he spent a year as a volunteer assistant at the University of Michigan and coached at Club Wolverine.
In his first season at Illinois State, Cameron helped guide his student-athletes to six school records. Nine Illinois State swimmers and divers earned All-MVC recognition. In 2016-17, 19 student-athletes posted top-ten times in the MVC. In 2017-18, Cameron had 19 women with top times in the conference and three earned All-Conference First-Team Honors. This past season, Illinois State finished 5th out of 8 teams at the MVC Championships. Caroline Lecoeur was named Diver of the Meet, and the Redbirds posted 8 top-3 finishes: 200 medley relay (3rd); 200 IM (Kierston Farley-Sepe, 3rd); 1 meter diving (Caroline Lecoeur, 3rd); 100 fly (Kierston Farley-Sepe, 2nd); 100 breast (Jensen Keck, 2nd); 400 medley relay (3rd); 200 fly (Kierston Farley-Sepe, 2nd); and 3 meter diving (Caroline Lecoeur, 3rd).
A native of Belleville, Michigan, Cameron earned his bachelor’s degree in 2009 from Grand Valley State, where he majored in movement science, with a concentration in coaching. He finished work on his master of education degree in 2014 at Idaho, with a focus in adult organizational learning and leadership.
As we reported earlier today, the college coaching carousel has begun to turn. Here are the Division I head coaching openings that we know about so far:
- The carousel began turning with the resignation of Cleveland State head coach Paul Graham a week before the Horizon League Championships.
- Southern Illinois head coach Rick Walker is retiring after 32 years at the helm of the Salukis’ program. His decision was announced in early February, though he finished out the season.
- Saint Francis University coach Kyle Almoney resigned on February 20th.
- Colgate coach Andy Waeger resigned from his position at Colgate after the team’s conference championship meet. He was there for 5 seasons.
- UNC head coach Rich DeSelm announced his resignation on March 4th, after a cancer diagnoses. We’ve heard rumors that the university is considering splitting the program into male and female teams.
- Evansville parted ways with head coach Brent Noble in mid March after just 1 season.
- Matt Bos resigned as the head coach at IUPUI in late March after his wife took a big job in Minnesota.
- Chris Ip was announced as ‘out’ at Brown, without explanation, in late March.
- No fooling: on April 1st, C. Robb Orr announced his retirement after 40 years at the helm of the Princeton men. The rumor on this one is that the school is not leaning toward combining programs.
- Illinois State’s Scott Cameron resigned his head coaching position on April 8th.
- Alabama head coach Dennis Pursley announced his retirement on April 10th.
- The latest opening is Gardner-Webb, where Scott Teeters spent just 1 season as the head coach.
Man, that’s 1/3 of the coaches in the Missouri valley Conference not returning!