Brian Schrader Out After 13 Seasons Leading University of Denver

Brian Schrader is no longer the head men’s and women’s swimming & diving coach at the University of Denver after wrapping up his thirteenth season with the program. A job posting was advertised online earlier today, and neither the school nor Schrader have replied to a request for comment as of this article’s posting.

During Schrader’s tenure at Denver, both the men’s and women’s programs were dominant in their conferences. The program has spent time in the Sun Belt Conference, Western Athletic Conference, and for the last three seasons, the Summit League. When Denver left the Sun Belt, they held 16 of 18 swimming records on the women’s side and 17 of 18 on the men’s side.

In 2017 and 2018, Denver won every single swimming event at the Summit League Championships on the men’s and women’s sides. In 2019, the women did the same, and the men would’ve had they not DQ’d their 800 free relay (though their B relay, ineligible for a win against A relays, finished faster than all other A relays).

On a national level during Schrader’s tenure, Denver has had some notable names bring the program into the conversation as a top mid-major. Among those top swimmers for the program recently are Croatian record-holder Anton Loncar, sprinters Cameron Auchinachie and Kyle Robrock, sprinter Sam Corea, and 2017 400 IM 5th place NCAA finisher Bailey Andison (who transferred to Indiana for her senior season).

Schrader started his coaching career at his alma mater, Texas, as a grad assistant. Following stints with Iowa and Florida, he served as an assistant with Georgia for five seasons before taking the head coaching job at Denver. Schrader also has experience as USA Swimming’s National Team Coordinator from 1995-1999, and he was on staff for Team USA at the 1996 Olympics, the 1998 World Champs, the 2001 World Champs, and the 2003 Pan Am Games.

There is no word yet as to who will replace Schrader. According to the job posting, the application portal closes on July 5th.

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Actual DU Swimmer
5 years ago

just my opinion, but it seems to me that the positive comments are from friends and colleagues while the negative comments are from actual swimmers who had to endure Schrader on the daily. keep in mind the perspective of another coach vs. the perspective of a swimmer. i don’t know about you but I’d trust the swimmer

Admin
Reply to  Actual DU Swimmer
5 years ago

Don’t put too much stock in usernames…there’s lots of “Swimmoms” that comment on this site that are teenage boys or national team athletes or club coaches and not, as far as we know, moms, for example.

DutchWomen
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

Braden Keith is the most powerful man in swimming. IP addresses >

Greg
5 years ago

Sorry to hear the news as I have had positive interactions with Coach Schrader and positive observations of his teams and staffs dating back to the mid 1990’s. My opinion is that Coach Schrader is honest, direct and unfiltered in his approach and communication with his athletes. I would also describe him as stoic. This approach and personality does not work for everyone yet works for some; however, we are reading more and more headlines of established or long tenured coaches “retiring” when performance results would indicate otherwise. Sometimes it is as simple as the message just gets old. I also know that he cares deeply for every person that has shared a pool deck with him and fought for… Read more »

anon
Reply to  Greg
5 years ago

Communication?! Brian almost never communicated well with his athletes and then would blamed them in times of conflict. As for stoic, I’m assuming you were never coached by him.

Actual DU Swimmer
Reply to  anon
5 years ago

Agreed. At one point in my DU career he held a meeting just to tell us how to communicate with him where he said ” Hey guys, I’m already set in my ways, so I wont change my communication style”! we needed to talk to him a “certain way” to communicate with him because he couldn’t handle it. It was absolutely ridiculous

Admin
Reply to  Actual DU Swimmer
5 years ago

Actual DU Swimmer/Former Athlete – please make sure you’re adhering to site rules about only using 1 username in a given comment thread. Thanks!

Rah
5 years ago

What goes around comes around!

Good call DU
5 years ago

Long overdue…the school probably didn’t see the problems cuz the hardworking swimmers and the results they got at the meets… good coach on paper but look further than that… and it’s questionable

Swim Family
5 years ago

Brian is an awesome coach and will be missed by a lot of athletes at Denver. When it came to supporting his athletes Brian went out of his way. He believed in a lot of his swimmers and allowed them to Dream Big! Wherever he goes next he will find success. Thanks Brian for what you did while at Denver!

bob
5 years ago

Does anyone know how many scholarships they had? He did a great job no matter what… but if they weren’t fully funded, even better.

Swimmer
Reply to  bob
5 years ago

Communicated with DU in high school for recruiting, and can say that at least as of a couple years ago they are fully funded

Superfan
Reply to  bob
5 years ago

Agree. Not sure how funded but not many programs have had their success without a football program to fund the athletic department

Bill
Reply to  Superfan
5 years ago

Probably why they have been successful….they don’t have a football program

Former Athlete
5 years ago

With the experience of being part of this program for 4 years, I can truly say this team will be far better off. I hope they find a coach who can encourage swimmers rather than threaten them, have a positive attitude rather than a hostile one and bring professionalism to the program.

Coach
Reply to  Former Athlete
5 years ago

“I’d much rather have fun … than be miserable and win five Super Bowls.” Lane Johnson

Taa
5 years ago

This thread needs some popcorn

About Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon

Karl Ortegon studied sociology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, graduating in May of 2018. He began swimming on a club team in first grade and swam four years for Wesleyan.

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