The University of Missouri – St. Louis is seeking a new head men’s and women’s swimming/diving coach for their Division II program in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, one of the best Division II conferences in the country.
That might sound a little odd, because Missouri – St. Louis doesn’t have a swimming program, and haven’t since the 1995-1996 season. That is, until now.
According to a job listing on the NCAA’s official Job Search Market, “the combined swimming/diving program is being re-established as an intercollegiate program after having been eliminated following the 1995-1996 season.”
This means that a third school out of four in the University of Missouri system will add a swimming program: the main campus in Columbia, Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) in Rolla, and now the campus in St. Louis. The only campus without a program, then, are the Kangaroos of Missouri – Kansas City, which is a Division I program.
With the addition of this program, it will bring UMSL up to 13 total: 6 men’s, 7 women’s, and no football. Few schools should more appropriately have a swim team, as UMSL’s mascot is the ‘Tritons,’ named after the Greek good Triton who is the messenger of the sea.
College swimming in St. Louis, which was a finalist to host the 2016 Olympic Trials, is expanding by leaps-and-bounds. This year is the first year of competition for another Division II school: Maryville University. They join St. Louis University as programs in the state’s second-biggest, and most well-known, city.
The school has begun accepting bids for upgrades to their rec center on campus; though the project is largely just described in scope so far (see here), it sounds like there is a particular amount of focus being put on the new pool. The school has a current student popularion, as of the fall of 2012, of about 9,200 full-time undergrads and 2,700 postgraduate students. It is the largest university, by enrollment, in the St. Louis area, including part-time students.
The school’s Director of Sports Information, Mary Ann Mitchell, confirms that the programs will be added for the 2014-2015 season (which is next season), with a formal announcement planned for later this week.
The GLVC, which is in its first year of swimming sponsorship in the 2013-2014 season, includes teams like Drury, the country’s reigning Division II powerhouse, Missouri S&T, Maryville, Truman State, William Jewell College, Bellarmanie, and the University of Indianapolis.
