Ohio State Rounds-Out New Staff, Hires Brian Schrader As Assistant Swim Coach

Ohio State has announced the hire of Brian Schrader as the school’s new Assistant Swimming Coach, rounding out the school’s new coaching staff under Head Coach Bill Dorenkott. 

Dorenkott made the announcement via a press release, commenting, “Brian’s breadth and depth of coaching experience from club, NCAA, international and professional levels to the ISL is unsurpassed in the collegiate landscape. We are fortunate to call Brian a Buckeye. Our young men and women will be the beneficiaries of Brian’s experience and passion for delivering an incredible student-athlete experience.”

Schrader joins Ohio State after a short stint as the head coach of Florida Aquatics Swimming & Training (FAST). Prior to that, he served multiple tenures in different positions on various NCAA teams, including stops at both the University of Iowa and the University of Denver. Schrader was an assistant coach and men’s recruiting coordinator for Iowa before the program was cut in 2020, serving two seasons. During those seasons, the Iowa swimmers saw 18 school records broken and he coached six NCAA qualifiers in seven events and four CSCAA All-Americans. 

Schrader’s longest coaching tenure came at Denver, where he served as the head coach for 13 years. He racked up a total of 14 Summit League Coach of the Year Honors and led the program to a combined 17 conference championships, 9 men’s team and 8 women’s team. Over his career at Denver, Schrader led his athletes to 21 Conference Championship Swimmer of the Year honors, 12 Swimmer of the Year honors in the Summit League, nine Newcomer of the Year honors, and seven Conference Championship Diver of the Year awards. Notably, under Schrader, Denver won all, but one, event at the Summit League Championships from 2016 until 2019 when he left the program. 

In addition to his collegiate and age-group coaching experience, Schrader also served as an assistant coach for the Cali Condors during the 2020 ISL season. 

He began his career as a graduate assistant for the Texas Longhorns back in 1991, winning an NCAA Championship with the team. Schrader later served on the USA coaching staff for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, 1998 World Championships in Australia, 2001 World Championships in Japan, and the 2013 Pan-American Games in the Dominican Republic.

“I could not be more excited to be coaching at Ohio State,” Schrader commented. “There are so many things to be excited about, including the great program leadership, high performance with USA National Teams and international excellence, a great academic institution, winning championships, the Big Ten Conference, the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion and the support system that is Ohio State Athletics. I’m excited to work with an outstanding staff and elite athletes.”

Schrader completes the Ohio State staff after the program faced an almost complete turn-around of coaches this offseason. Associate head coach Dorsey Tierney-Walker left Ohio State at the end of May, Matt Bowe joined the Cal men’s coaching staff, and Bryon Tansel most recently joined the Louisville staff. 

Just last week the program announced the hire of Ignacio Gayo as an assistant coach. The Buckeyes also promoted Mike Hulme to associate head coach, and hired former Buckeye swimmer Katie Trace as an assistant coach.