The University of North Carolina Tar Heels have filled their assistant coach opening with one of the bigger names on the market, former Rutgers head coach Phil Spiniello.
Spiniello headed up the Rutgers program for five seasons, including last year’s foray into the Big Ten Conference. He resigned earlier this spring, and the Scarlet Knights pulled Bowling Green’s Petra Martin to fill his shoes.
But now Spiniello has resurfaced with UNC, as the Tar Heels announced his hiring in a press release this week.
Spiniello has experience across the country at the college level, serving as an assistant at both Princeton (2006-2010) and Arizona State (2004-2006) prior to his stint at Rutgers.
“We are thrilled to add Phil Spiniello to our coaching staff,” UNC head coach Rich DeSelm said in the team’s press release. “Phil has tremendous experience as both an NCAA Division I assistant and head coach and will be a great asset to our program. He has coached outstanding swimmers at a variety of tremendous institutions. Phil has a strong skill set that will show up in his coaching, recruiting, team building and administrative duties at UNC. Our team members and staff are all excited by his decision to join us in Chapel Hill.”
Spiniello will jump to a co-ed program after coaching the women’s-only Rutgers team.
North Carolina jumped into the coaching market when former assistant Mike Litzinger took the head coaching position with the Notre Dame women earlier this spring.
UNC finished a narrow 2nd on the women’s side at this year’s ACC Championships, plus earned a 4th place finish with their men’s team.
Congrats to Phil! Always seemed like a really nice guy when I interacted with him at Rutgers.