By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
We’re persevering with our assessment of head coaches and their first couple years on the head of their applications with the 2nd-year head coaches.
See Additionally: First Yr Head Coaches Evaluation
There are much more 2nd yr head coaches than first years, so this assessment goes to be barely completely different than the first yr coaches. Total, there have been 20 new head coaches and 12 promoted coaches following the 2024-2025 season.
See final yr’s assessment right here.
SEC
Texas
There are just a few high-profile applications with 2nd yr head coaches together with Texas’ Bob Bowman.
Bowman took over after longtime head coach Eddie Reese retired following the 2024 season and he has received back-to-back NCAA titles with the Longhorn males. They had been coming off certainly one of their worst NCAA finishes in latest reminiscence in 2024, ending Seventh general. The final two years, the Texas staff has bounced again in a significant approach.
They’re dropping just a few main gamers, together with Hubert Kos, following the 2026 season, which places a little bit extra stress on Bowman as he tries to three-peat in 2027.
Texas A&M
Bowman shouldn’t be the one SEC coach to be of their 2nd yr main this system. Texas A&M employed Blaire Bachman because the Director of Swimming and Diving in the beginning of the 2024-2025 season. The Aggies had been coming off a robust yr that noticed the lads end 4th and ladies end Third on the SEC Championships in 2024. The lads additionally completed sixteenth at NCAAs and the ladies had been 14th.
The lads noticed a slide on the 2025 SECs, dropping to Eighth, however then they moved as much as Twelfth general on the NCAA Championships. The ladies noticed the alternative impact, leaping up at SECs, even with the addition of Texas, to complete 4th. That they had a significant drop at NCAAs, although, ending twenty sixth.
In Bachman’s 2nd season, each groups slid again even additional with the women and men ending Ninth at SECs and thirtieth at NCAAs. The Aggies have some main enhancements to make within the coming season in the event that they need to keep within the top-10 at SECs.
Convention Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Texas (males) — Bob Bowman
1st (Large 12)
1st
1st
Texas A&M (males) — Blaire Bachman
4rd
Eighth
Ninth
Texas A&M (girls) — Blaire Bachman
Third
4th
Ninth
NCAA Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Texas (males) — Bob Bowman
Seventh
1st
1st
Texas A&M (males) — Blaire Bachman
sixteenth
Twelfth
thirtieth
Texas A&M (girls) — Blaire Bachman
14th
twenty sixth
thirtieth
Large 12
ASU
The opposite main NCAA participant who obtained a brand new coach in 2024 was ASU. After Bowman left to teach Texas, affiliate head coach Herbie Behm was promoted into the pinnacle coach function.
The ASU males had been coming off their highest end in NCAA historical past, successful the title in 2024 with Bowman earlier than Behm’s promotion. In 2025, the ASU girls received their first ever convention title within the Large 12, whereas the lads received their Third consecutive convention title. At NCAAs, the Solar Satan girls moved up from twenty fourth to nineteenth, whereas the lads completed Sixth.
In 2026, the women and men once more received the Large 12 titles. At NCAAs, the ladies dropped again to thirty eighth whereas the lads jumped as much as 4th, although they had been favored to complete 2nd heading into the meet.
Arizona
The Large 12 additionally noticed just a few different head teaching shifts. Ben Loorz was employed to guide the Arizona males’s and ladies’s groups after Augie Bush was fired after seven seasons with this system. The Wildcat males have been consistent with their 2024 performances on the final two NCAA Championships, and the ladies scored factors in 2025 once more after not scoring in 2024.
In addition they completed 2nd on the Large 12 Championships within the final two seasons.
BYU
Tamber McAllister took over for Shari Skabelund on the head of the BYU program. The Cougars had an enormous season in 2025 with Mackenzie Lung (then Mackenzie Miller) ending 2nd within the 200 breaststroke and Seventh within the 100 breaststroke on the 2025 SEC Championships.
At this yr’s Large 12 Championships, the BYU males had a robust efficiency, ending Fifth with Tanner Nelson successful the 400 IM in 3:44.46, incomes an NCAA invite within the occasion. The ladies dropped one place to complete Ninth general.
West Virginia
West Virginia’s Brent Macdonald took over the lads’s and ladies’s head coach place from Vic Riggs, leaving his function at Xavier College.
The WVU males noticed a slight slide in 2025, although that may be attributed to the introduction of Arizona and ASU to the convention. They maintained their place this yr, scoring 641 factors to complete Seventh general. The ladies dropped three locations in 2025 from Sixth-Ninth, and so they dropped an extra place in 2026 to complete tenth out of 10 groups.
The lads did qualify one diver, Levi Hellmann, to the NCAA Championships.
Iowa State
Lastly, Iowa State, which is girls’s solely, noticed Matt Leach, the previous head coach at Washington State, take over the function following the 2024 season.
The Iowa State girls noticed a slight enchancment in 2025, dropping only one spot within the Large 12, even with the addition of Arizona and ASU. They maintained that place in 2026. Grace Swoboda was a spotlight on the ladies’s staff, ending Fifth within the 100 breast and Sixth within the 200 breast on the Large 12 Championships. She went on to take 2nd within the 100 breast on the CSCAA Championships in March.
Convention Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Arizona (Males) — Ben Loorz
4th (Pac-12)
2nd
2nd
Arizona (Girls) — Ben Loorz
Seventh (Pac-12)
2nd
2nd
ASU (Males) — Herbie Behm
1st (Pac-12)
1st
1st
ASU (Girls) — Herbie Behm
Fifth (Pac-12)
1st
1st
BYU (Males) — Tamber McAllister
Third
Fifth
Fifth
BYU (Girls) — Tamber McAllister
Fifth
Seventh
Eighth
Iowa State – Matt Leach
Eighth
Ninth
Ninth
West Virginia (Males) – Brent Macdonald
Fifth
Seventh
Seventh
West Virginia (Girls) — Brent Macdonald
Sixth
Ninth
tenth
NCAA Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Arizona (Males) — Ben Loorz
twenty eighth
twenty ninth
twenty seventh
N/A
twenty ninth
twenty ninth
ASU (Males) — Herbie Behm
1st
Sixth
4th
ASU (Girls) — Herbie Behm
twenty fourth
nineteenth
thirty eighth
ACC
Georgia Tech
John Ames, the previous head diving coach of the Georgia Tech program, was promoted to interim head coach in August of 2024 after former coach Courtney Hart left this system. In February of 2025, the interim label was eliminated.
The Yellowjackets have damaged or tied 17 staff data since Ames took over this system. The ladies maintained their thirteenth place place from 2025 on the ACC Championships whereas the lads dropped from Ninth to Twelfth this season.
Boston School
The BC staff was coming off a suspension in 2024 attributable to a hazing incident when Dara Torres took over this system.
In 2025, the groups broke a number of college data on the ACC Championships, and at this yr’s meet, they set 4 extra data. The ladies maintained their convention placement from final season of fifteenth, whereas the lads dropped two spots to fifteenth.
Convention Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Boston School (Males) – Dara Torres
N/A
thirteenth
fifteenth
Boston School (Girls) — Dara Torres
N/A
fifteenth
fifteenth
Georgia Tech (Males) — John Ames
Ninth
Ninth
Twelfth
Georgia Tech (Girls) – John Ames
Ninth
thirteenth
thirteenth
Large Ten
Penn State
Penn State was the one Large Ten college that had a training change after the 2024 season. Hollie Bonewit-Cron joined this system from the College of Miami (OH).
Each groups noticed a slight slip in 2025, with the lads dropping from Seventh to Ninth and the ladies transferring from Ninth-Twelfth. In 2026, the lads maintained their Ninth place place and the ladies slipped an extra spot to complete thirteenth general.
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Penn State (Males) — Hollie Bonewit-Cron
Seventh
Ninth
Ninth
Penn State (Girls) — Hollie Bonewit-Cron
Ninth
Twelfth
thirteenth
Mid-Main
Mountain West
Washington State
The Washington State girls’s staff is an fascinating side within the mid-major dialog as a result of they beforehand competed within the Pac-12 earlier than the convention was disbanded following the 2024 season. In addition they recurrently rating on the NCAA Championships and are the one college on this class with NCAA outcomes all three years.
They joined the Mountain West convention in the beginning of the 2025 season on the identical time Russell Whitaker was promoted into the pinnacle coach place.
In 2025, the Washington State girls had a large enchancment on the NCAA Championships, qualifying three swimmers for the meet together with Emily Lundgren. Lundgren certified for NCAAs once more this season, scoring within the 200 breaststroke along with her fifteenth place end, although she was off her finest instances all yr. Darcy Revitt additionally certified once more, setting new private finest instances within the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free in any respect three meets.
This yr, they completed 2nd at Mountain West Championships, an enormous leap from their Fifth place end in 2025.
UNLV Girls
There are a selection of groups on this checklist whose males’s and ladies’s groups compete in numerous conferences, and the UNLV Rebels are certainly one of them. The ladies compete within the Mountain West with Washington State.
They certified two swimmers for the NCAA Championships this yr, Rachel Wigginton and Ava Olson. They completed Third on the Mountain West Championships, dropping one spot from their 2nd place finishes in 2024 and 2025
They haven’t scored factors at NCAAs any of the three years we’re monitoring.
Convention Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Washington State — Russell Whitaker
Eighth (Pac-12)
Fifth
2nd
UNLV (Girls) — Pat Ota
2nd
2nd
Third
NCAA Efficiency
Group — Coach
2024 NCAA
2025 NCAA
2026 NCAA
Washington State — Russell Whitaker
forty second
thirty third
forty second
Atlantic-10
The Atlantic-10 convention had three second-year head coaches in 2026, all three of which coach each the lads’s and ladies’s applications.
Fordham has seen a gradual decline below Tom Wilkens with the lads dropping one place in 2025 to Seventh and sustaining that place in 2026. The ladies have dropped one spot yearly, ending Third in 2024, 4th in 2025, and Fifth in 2026.
The George Mason males have improved their end every of the final three years below head coach Jamie Greenwood, whereas the ladies maintained their Fifth place end in 2025 earlier than dropping three spots to complete Eighth in 2026.
George Washington’s Chico Rego has seen the lads’s staff proceed to win the convention title, taking their Third straight A-10 Championship in 2026. The ladies’s staff dropped one spot after successful the title in 2024 and 2025 to complete 2nd general, slightly below 30 factors behind Richmond.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Fordham (Males) — Tom Wilkens
Sixth
Seventh
Seventh
Fordham (Girls) — Tom Wilkens
Third
4th
Fifth
George Mason (Males) – Jamie Greenwood
4th
Third
2nd
George Mason (Girls) — Jamie Greenwood
Fifth
Fifth
Eighth
George Washington (Males)- Chico Rego
1st
1st
1st
George Washington (Girls) — Chico Rego
1st
1st
2nd
ASUN
Georgia Southern was the one staff presently within the ASUN with a training change in 2024, hiring Morgan McCafferty. They stayed in the identical spot, ending Third within the convention in 2025. After the 2025 championships, the Solar Belt stopped sponsoring swimming and Georgia Southern moved to the ASUN.
In 2026, they completed 4th general, dropping one spot. They scored 795.5 factors to return in a little bit greater than 400 factors behind Queens (NC)’s 1217.5.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Georgia Southern – Morgan McCafferty
Third
Third
4th
Large East
Lindsey Niegarth took over the Xavier program in the beginning of the 2025 season, and the ladies’s staff has stayed comparatively constant of their convention finishes, leaping from 4th to Third in 2025 earlier than dropping again to 4th in 2026.
The lads’s staff has dropped one spot yearly, ending 2nd in 2024, Third in 2025, and 4th in 2026.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Xavier (Males) – Lindsey Niegarth
2nd
Third
4th
Xavier (Girls) — Lindsey Niegarth
4th
Third
4th
Large West
On the opposite facet of the nation, the College of Hawaii males’s and ladies’s groups employed Steve Allnutt into the pinnacle coach place. They moved into the Large West for the 2025 season, the convention’s first yr sponsoring swimming since 2010. The lads completed 2nd and the ladies completed Third final yr, dropping from their high spots within the MPSF.
In 2026, each groups took 1st general, and so they every despatched swimmers to the NCAA Championships.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Hawaii (Males) – Steve Allnutt
1st (MPSF)
2nd
1st
Hawaii (Girls) — Steve Allnutt
1st (MPSF)
Third
1st
Horizon League
Cleveland State noticed Trent Richardson take over the place two seasons in the past. Final yr, the lads’s staff maintained their place of Third and the ladies’s staff jumped up a spot to additionally end Third. This yr, each groups slid with the lads ending Fifth and the ladies ending 4th
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Cleveland State (Males) — Trent Richardson
Third
Third
Fifth
Cleveland State (Girls) — Trent Richardson
Fifth
Third
4th
MAAC
Fairfield and Manhattan are each within the 2nd-year head coach membership. Fairfield’s males’s and ladies’s groups have jumped up the convention rankings with each groups successful this yr’s championships below coach Jake Lichter.
Manhattan’s males’s staff has maintained their Ninth place place all three years, whereas the ladies dropped from Ninth-Eleventh-Twelfth below Brian Hansbury.
Siena College is a girls’s solely program within the MAAC, and Maggie Davenport took over the helm two seasons in the past. They’ve additionally dropped one spot yearly from Seventh-Eighth-Ninth.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Fairfield (Males) — Jake Lichter
4th
Third
1st
Fairfield (Girls) — Jake Lichter
2nd
2nd
1st
Manhattan (Males) — Brian Hansbury
Ninth
Ninth
Ninth
Manhattan (Girls) — Brian Hansbury
Ninth
Eleventh
Twelfth
Siena College (Girls)- Maggie Davenport
Seventh
Eighth
Ninth
Missouri Valley
There have been 5 Missouri Valley groups that noticed new head coaches in 2024, and three of them additionally moved conferences in the identical season. Many of the groups stayed comparatively in-line with their 2024 performances, with solely Illinois State seeing a drop with the ladies slipping from 4th to Seventh throughout new head coach Riley Hilbrandt‘s first season. They maintained that place in 2025.
The Evansville women and men have each completed in the identical spot for the final two seasons below Toby Wilcox.
The Miami-OH males received the convention in 2025 below Samantha Pitter, their first yr within the Missouri Valley, earlier than ending 2nd this yr.
Maiya Otsuka led UMASS males of their first yr within the convention to a 4th place end in 2026 after they completed Sixth within the A-10 in 2025.
Group — Coach
2024
2025
2026
Evansville (Males) — Toby Wilcox
Sixth (Mid-American)
Seventh
Seventh
Evansville (Girls) — Toby Wilcox
Eighth
Eighth
Eighth
Illinois State (Girls)- Riley Hilbrandt
4th
Seventh
Seventh
Miami – OH (Males) -– Samantha Pitter
1st (Mid-American)
1st
2nd
UMASS (Males)– Maiya Otsuka
2nd (A-10)
Sixth (A-10)
4th
Mid-American
The Mid-American convention is a girls’s solely convention, and so they have 4 coaches who’re presently of their 2nd yr. UMASS (Maiya Otsuka) not too long ago moved into the convention from the A-10, however they maintained the identical Seventh place place regardless.
Bowling Inexperienced (Tanner Barton) and Miami-OH (Samantha Pitter) each dropped from their 2025 performances with Bowling Inexperienced transferring from Sixth-Ninth whereas Miami moved from Third-4th.
The Toledo girls (Jacy Dyer) completed Eighth for the 2nd yr in a row.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
UMASS (Girls) — Maiya Otsuka
Seventh (A-10)
Seventh (A-10)
Seventh
Bowling Inexperienced (Girls) — Tanner Barton
Eighth
Sixth
Ninth
Miami-OH (Girls) —Samantha Pitter
2nd
Third
4th
Toledo (Girls) – Jacy Dyer
Seventh
Eighth
Eighth
MPSF
That is the final yr that the MPSF could have 5 groups on this checklist, as California Baptist employed Jim Bossert to take over the pinnacle coach place in 2024 earlier than chopping this system in January of this yr. CBU swam their first yr within the MPSF this season, transferring from the WAC, ending 4th for each the lads and the ladies.
The UNLV males, led by Pat Ota, additionally got here from the WAC, which they received in 2024 and 2025. In 2026, they completed 2nd within the MPSF behind the Air Drive males.
It isn’t fully honest to take a look at the outcomes for Incarnate Phrase as a result of they competed final yr in an almost empty MPSF convention that had 4 girls’s groups and two males’s groups. Tony Miller began main this system after the 2024 season and the lads’s staff completed Ninth this yr whereas the ladies’s staff completed Sixth.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
CBU (Males) — Jim Bossert
Third (WAC)
2nd (WAC)
4th
CBU (Girls) — Jim Bossert
Fifth (WAC)
4th (WAC)
4th
Incarnate Phrase (Males) — Tony Miller
Third
4th
Ninth
Incarnate Phrase (Girls) — Tony Miller
tenth
2nd
Sixth
UNLV (Males)- Pat Ota
1st (WAC)
1st (WAC)
2nd
Summit League
The ultimate two groups come from the Summit League. Japanese Illinois employed Scott Teeters to take over, and their males’s and ladies’s groups have stayed steady of their convention finishes. In 2024, each groups completed Eighth. In 2025, they completed Seventh, and in 2026, they completed Eighth once more.
St. Thomas additionally employed a brand new coach in 2024 with Matt Bos taking up the place. Each groups had a robust first season with the ladies leaping from Sixth-4th and the lads leaping from Sixth-Fifth. They each slid again to their 2024 end in 2026, ending Sixth general.
Group — Coach
2024 Convention
2025 Convention
Japanese Illinois (Males) — Scott Teeters
Eighth
Seventh
Eighth
Japanese Illinois (Girls) — Scott Teeters
Eighth
Seventh
Eighth
St. Thomas (Males) — Matt Bos
Sixth
Fifth
Sixth
St. Thomas (Girls) — Matt Bos
Sixth
4th
Sixth
Learn the total story on SwimSwam: How’s it Going? Reviewing Second Yr DI Head Coaches From the 2025-2026 NCAA Season
