Tennessee Swimming Expands Coaching Staff With Hiring of Sarah (Dunleavy) Collins

The University of Tennessee has hired Sarah Collins (née Dunleavy) as a full-time assistant coach for next season. She previously served as a volunteer assistant with the Volunteers (a job that doesn’t exist anymore) during the 2021-2022 season.

That makes Tennessee one of the first programs to expand their coaching staff beyond the number of paid assistants that were allowed last season. Led by head coach Matt Kredich and head diving coach Dave Parrington, Collins joins a staff that includes associate head coaches Rich Murphy, Ashley Jahn, and Josh Huger and assistant Rob Collins. Rob Collins and Sarah Collins are married.

The school plans to carry 5 paid swimming associate and assistant coaches next season, plus a paid assistant diving coach – who will be announced in the next few weeks, a spokesperson says.

Dunleavy is best known for the two years she spent as an assistant coach at Cal with the women’s team from 2017-2019. Cal finished 2nd in each of those seasons at the NCAA Championships.

While Collins only finished her undergraduate degree at Purdue in 2012, she has already amassed a significant variety of experience in a decade as a coach. That includes stops at many of the country’s top programs. Besides Tennessee, she has also done time at Cal, Pitt, Kentucky, and Illinois State.

“We are incredibly fortunate to be able to bring a coach of Sarah’s experience, skills and ability into our team,” Kredich said. “Sarah has great experience at a variety of levels and circumstances, and has been tremendously successful at every level of our sport. She understands what it takes to drive and sustain an elite team culture, and resonates with the culture, history and vision of Tennessee Swimming and Diving. She was great in her volunteer role for us a couple of years ago, and I’m thrilled to bring her onboard full time.”

During Collins’ first stint with Tennessee, the Lady Vols won their second SEC Championship in program history, and the Vols enjoyed their best finish at the SEC Championships since 2001. She’s enjoyed success everywhere else she’s been during her coaching career as well, with stops at Cal (2017-19), Pitt (2016-17), Kentucky (2013-16) and Illinois State (2012-13). During her time, she’s coached programs that have been the national runner-up, produced NCAA title winning swimmers and headed recruiting efforts that resulted in signing some of the nation’s top classes.

“I’m thrilled to join the staff at Tennessee and to be back on pool deck,” Collins said. “It’s evident that Rocky Top is a place that’s full of passion and pride. The team is made up of highly motivated student-athletes who exude that every day through their work ethic and attitude. I’d like to thank Matt Kredich for bringing me on board. He’s built a top-tier program and culture. I’m excited to learn from and work with him as well as the rest of the coaching staff. Go Vols!”

Prior to arriving on Rocky Top in 2021, Collins served two years as a recruiting consultant for the Sierra Marlins, a USA Swimming Gold Medal program then coached by her husband and now Tennessee assistant Rob Collins, and various athletes nationwide. With experience as both a collegiate swimmer as well as director of recruiting for multiple nationally-ranked programs, Collins has worked extensively with athletes, parents and staff to assist with the recruiting process. She’s also been involved with the Fitter Faster Tour, one of the top swim clinics and camps in the country.

During Collins’ two seasons with the Cal women’s swimming team, the Golden Bears finished as the national runner-up in both 2018 and 2019, won five NCAA events and captured 15 Pac-12 Championship event titles. In 2019, Cal won four events at the NCAA Championship, including three of the five relay events. While there, she coached All-American and Olympic medalist Abbey Weitzeil.

Prior to that, Collins served as director of women’s recruiting and assistant coach at Pitt for the 2016-17 season. During her one campaign, she primarily oversaw workouts for the men’s and women’s breaststrokers. The swimmers broke school records six times and produced an All-American with the highest finish by a Pitt swimmer in a sprint event in 14 years.

Collins spent the previous three seasons at Kentucky as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator, working with the breaststroke and individual medley group, which produced seven school records, five NCAA qualifiers and five Olympic Trials qualifiers. Overall, the Wildcats finished among the top 20 at the NCAA Championships three times and placed two swimmers on the U.S. National team.

At Illinois State from 2012-13, Collins assisted with the sprint and IM groups, and helped the squad set 16 school records and two conference marks.

While at both Pitt and Kentucky, Collins was the liaison with the team’s academic advisor. Kentucky produced the highest GPA among all Division I women’s swimming teams in the spring of 2014 (3.72), and Danielle Galyer received the NCAA Elite 90 Award for having the highest GPA among all participants at the 2016 NCAA Championships. In 2016-17, the Pitt team GPA ranked among the top 20 nationally at 3.35.

As a competitive swimmer, Collins was a team captain and three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection at Purdue from 2008-12. She received the athletic department’s John Wooden Leadership Award as a senior, as well as the swim team’s Cathy Wright-Eger Educational Excellence Award. In high school, Collins competed at various national-level meets and was a 15-time all-state selection.

A native of Bethel Park, Pa., Collins graduated from Purdue in 2012 with her degree in public relations and rhetorical advocacy, minoring in sociology and law & society.

The Tennessee men finished 7th at last year’s NCAA Championship meet while the Tennessee women finished 8th.

Biographical Information Courtesy: University of Tennessee Athletics