Karl Ortegon contributed to this report.
Former University of Denver head coach Brian Schrader has been added to the coaching staff at the University of Iowa. While the school has not formally announced Schrader’s hire, he does appear on the team website as an assistant coach. He fills the hole left by Richard Salhus, who departed to become the assistant coach at Army West Point.
Schrader spent the last 13 years as the head coach at the University of Denver, and departed that program earlier this summer under unclear circumstances.
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.
Both Iowa teams will begin their 2019-2020 season on September 28th with in intrasquad meet before hosting a tri meet with Michigan State and Northern Iowa on October 3rd and 4th. The Iowa men finished 8th at last year’s Big Ten Championship meet, while the Iowa women finished 10th. The Denver men last season had the faster swimmer in 6 out of 13 NCAA D1 Championship individual events, including all of the freestyle distances.
A great coach,,,, best wishes at Iowa!
Welcome back to Iowa City Brian!
*BTW: The UI has changed a bit since you last worked here……similar to a minefield.
D Spellman, so many alumni agree. Whispers going around that He who must not be named, will be gone soon.
Could you imagine being given a facility like that, and not improving the team (relative to other teams in the conference)? Swimming is one of the few collegiate sports where a coach can do poorly (MSU, IA, IL, etc) and still keep their job. Any other work environment wouldn’t allow for such mediocrity to go on for so long, especially with the same head coach.
Football coaches get a max of three years to prove themselves, MSU hasn’t finished in the top half for how long? IA once in 20 years? Shoot, IA women were beating the Big10… Read more »
There are many issues at play with the UI Athletic Department and UI administration.
Oh, I know. Kinda sad though when there have been multiple arrests, sexual assault allegations, swimmers being arrested at conference, etc… and nothing is really done with the program. It’s been a sad state of affairs for too long. They let Kirk (the best coach there) go, and it’s been downhill since then. Can’t say I’m unhappy though, provides for a great banter era!
Wow. Very interesting. I do not know man but love how he teaches swimming – some of his presentations (especially one on breaststroke) are online and really good. He had a lot of success at Denver and I expected him to jump to be the head coach of a bigger program. Former Longhorn and now Hawkeye – what is not to like. Hope he will be our son’s coach in a year.
Interesting move. Best of luck.
Just curious…. after reading his bio on Iowas website, if he’s so great….why isn’t he still the head coach at DU???
Why aren’t you still the head coach at DU???
From what I understand, Schrader asked the DU athletic director for a leave of absence, unsure if he wanted to continue coaching. Denver’s AD said “Sure, you can take all the time you need, as you are no longer the head coach.”
Not really…
he could either leave on his own terms or get fired.
I read that last years men’s team hazed the freshman class and DU was trying to cover it up, but Schrader was trying to fight for them..interesting that the NCAA never announced any action against DU..wonder why it never went public…hmmm, was there a cover up? The AD was trying to cover it up, not DU..
I read that last years men’s team hazed the freshman class and DU was trying to cover it up, but Schrader was trying to fight for them..interesting that the NCAA never announced any action against DU..wonder why it never went public…hmmm, was there a cover up? The AD was trying to cover it up, not DU..just a curious coach
Actually it was the AD that was trying to cover it up not DU
He will do well. Maybe the program will be top 6 again…
Top 6 in the Big Ten?
Have they ever been top 6 at NCAA’s?
Yes. Their best finish was 2nd at the 1949 NCAA Championships. They have 7 top-5 finishes at NCAAs on the men’s side.
The women’s best finish is 20th at the 2003 NCAA Championships.