The University of Nevada has hired former American Record holder and NCAA Champion Maddy Banic as its new associate head swim coach. She fills the gap left when longtime assistant Adriana Contreras left to take a job at the University of Kentucky in May.
“I knew I wanted to hire Maddy Banic right in the beginning of our search,” said head coach Brendan Bray. “Maddy is humble and she is someone our young woman can look up to not only because of her success as an athlete but the positive impact she has on people around her and the excellence she expects from her athletes.
“I expect to work very collaboratively with her and want her to be part of every aspect of our program and have a role with every athlete on our team. She is recommended from coaches at the highest level of our sport, and I am so glad that our search connected with her professional goals to end up landing here at Nevada. We want to elevate to a championship level in our conference next season and increase our presence and impact at NCAA’s and I think we have the perfect candidate. I’m so excited to work with her!”
Banic swam collegiately at the University of Tennessee, where she was a nine-time SEC Champion, a 12-time All-American, and an NCAA Champion as part of the Lady Vols’ 2019 200 medley relay.
She also had a pro career for two seasons as part of the International Swimming League. During the 2020 season, she set a new American Record in the 50 fly in short course meters.
The Midlothian, Virginia, native began her coaching career as a volunteer assistant at her alma mater Tennessee in the 2022-2023 season. The women’s team finished 2nd at SECs and 8th at the NCAA Championships that year, while the men were 3rd at SECs and 7th at NCAAs. That was the first time in program history that both the women and men finished in the top 10 at NCAAs in the same season.
She then was hired by the University of Missouri where she spent three seasons as an assistant coach. The Tigers qualified 11 athletes to the NCAA Championships in that period.
Banic now joins the coaching staff of Nevada, a mid-major program that consistently sends swimmers to the NCAA Championships. The Wolf Pack have qualified swimmers for four of the last five NCAA Championship meets. Including divers, they have been represented at 12 of the last 13 women’s Division I NCAA Championship meets.
The team finished 5th out of 11 teams at the 2026 Mountain West Conference Championships.
Rising senior Scarlett Ferris won the conference title in the 100 fly and 100 back and finished 7th in the 50 free. She has a similar event specialty to Banic, whose best events were the 100 fly and sprint freestyle races.
Ferris qualified for the NCAA Championships, where she finished 9th in the 100 back and 22nd in the 100 fly. Her 9 points helped Nevada tie for 33rd at the NCAA Championships.
