Chris Villa enters his 18th season as head coach of the IUP men’s and women’s swimming programs in the 2023-24 season.

Throughout Villa’s 18 years with the program, the Crimson Hawks have rewritten the school record book, setting over 100 new marks. The women have posted two top-10 finishes – eighth in 2012 and ninth in 2014 – and five top-25 finishes under Villa. The men have two top-25 finishes, coming in 24th in 2007 and 2009.

IUP excelled in 2022-23 in both the pool and the classroom. Paige Mikesell was named the College Sports Communicators (CSC) DII Academic All-America Tem Member of the Year, while Rachel Johnson earned the NCAA Elite 90 award as a two-time individual All-America honoree. The women’s 200 and 400 medley relay teams were All-America honorable mention at the national championships, while Mikesell earned All-America status in four events (200 IM, 100 fly, 200 free and 200 fly). On the men’s side, Thanos Diamantidis earned All-America honors in the 100 breast.

The IUP women logged a runner-up finish in the team standings of the 2022-23 PSAC Championships, with the men posting fifth overall. The Hawks combined for 39 top-eight finishes and claimed four PSAC titles and eight runner-up races.

Villa came to IUP for the 2006-07 season after spending the previous three years as the women’s assistant coach at the United States Naval Academy. He helped coach the Navy women to top three finishes at the Patriot League championships all three seasons as well as producing two conference MVPs. He coached two swimmers who met the Division I provisional time standards.

In addition to his duties with the Navy swimming program, Villa served as a physical education instructor and was the officer in charge of the plebe summer swim program.

Prior to joining the staff at Navy, Villa spent three years at Juniata College and was the women’s head coach from 2001-03. He recruited and coached a national qualifier both seasons, and the team broke five school records during his tenure. As an assistant at Juniata in 2000-01, he was on the staff of the Middle Atlantic Conference coach of the year and helped an Eagle athlete earn All-America honors at the Division III national meet.

Villa began his career as an assistant coach at Hartwick College during the 1999-00 season. In his one season at Hartwick, the men’s team had five national qualifiers and finished in 16th place at the Division III national meet while the women had two athletes advance to nationals.

He has consistently emphasized academic success in the classroom, and his Navy team registered a 3.1 cumulative grade point average for the fall 2005 semester.

Villa has swimming experience outside of his coaching positions, including serving as meet director of the Speedo Champions Series in Annapolis, Md. In that capacity, he organized all the operations of a national competition which consisted of more than 100 teams and 700 swimmers.

Villa was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade and Human Resource Officer at the Naval Academy based on his prior professional experience in the coaching industry.

He has also been a guest swim coach at camps conducted at Navy, Rutgers, Lehigh and Hartwick. A 1999 graduate of Hartwick, Villa earned his bachelor of arts degree in psychology.

Villa and his wife, Jen, are the parents of daughter Elizabeth and son Conner.