Saiz Named Associate Head Coach of Swimming & Diving Programs at Boston University

BOSTON – Hannah Saiz, who served as the head coach at St. Norbert College, has been named the associate head coach for the Boston University men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs, as announced by head coach Bill Smyth.

Saiz was a 2013 Division III national champion at Kenyon College and went on to earn a spot on the 2016-17 U.S. National Team. She led the St. Norbert men’s and women’s programs for the past three years and helped to rewrite the program record books with every mark broken over the course of two seasons of competition (the teams did not compete in 2020-21 due to COVID-19 regulations).

“I’m thrilled to announce that Hannah Saiz will be our new associate head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving,” said Smyth. “Hannah brings a wealth of knowledge both as a world-ranked competitor and as a former head coach. She has a keen sense of how to develop swimmers through the season, she has a terrific plan for how to transform our program with recruiting, and, best of all, she is an excellent leader who focuses on relationships.”

Saiz coached St. Norbert’s men’s team to a pair of third-place finishes in the Midwest Conference in just their second and third seasons as a varsity sport. The women’s team improved by 73 points at the conference meet in her first season for the program’s best finish in 16 years.

Saiz won the Division III national championship in the 200-yard butterfly as a senior at Kenyon before continuing a post-collegiate career at Schroeder YMCA in Milwaukee. She finished eighth in 200-yard butterfly at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials and went on to win the 2016 U.S. Open Championship in the event. A member of the 2016-17 U.S. National Team, Saiz was ranked in the top 50 in the world in 2015 and 2016 and was ranked 67th in 2017.

“Hannah’s swimming career was brilliant as she was not only a Division III national champion, but also a U.S. Open champion and Olympic Trials finalist while being world-ranked in the top 50 in her best event,” added Smyth.

“She brings her tremendous experience to BU as a former head coach whose team broke every school record over a three-year period. Her team members won numerous conference titles and Hannah’s recruiting efforts transformed her team within a very short amount of time. Her adjustments during the Covid lockdowns were particularly notable. By necessity, she became the team’s diving coach and head strength coach while the department was going through a hiring freeze. The team never missed a beat thanks to Hannah and continued to vastly improve during her tenure.”

Before St. Norbert, Saiz served as an assistant coach at her alma mater. While coaching at Kenyon, the women’s team finished national runner-up in 2018 and 2019, and the men’s team placed third nationally in each of those seasons. Kenyon also had five women’s and three men’s national champions during her two years on staff.

Saiz also spent two seasons as the head boys’ and girls’ swimming coach at Mount Vernon (Ohio) High School and was the head coach at SERF Swimming, a community aquatics program based on the Kenyon campus.

A native of Plattsbugh, N.Y., Saiz earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Kenyon with an emphasis in creative writing.