The Georgia Bulldogs’ athletic department has just announced Mike Joyce as the new associate head coach for the men’s swimming and diving team. Joyce replaces Michael Norment, who previously held the role and recently accepted the head coaching position for the combined program at Notre Dame.
“I’m excited to welcome Mike to Georgia,” head coach Neil Versfeld said in the university’s press release. “He’s not only an exceptional coach but also an outstanding person whose experience will be a great asset as we continue to advance the goals of our program. I look forward to working alongside Mike to help our young men reach their full potential and pursue excellence in and out of the pool.”
Joyce arrives at Georgia following a four-year tenure at the University of Minnesota, where he spent his final two seasons leading the men’s swimming program. He was promoted from Associate Head Coach of both men’s and women’s programs in May 2021 to Head Men’s Swimming Coach in June 2023. Kelly Kremer is the director of swimming and diving at Minnesota, and while Joyce was technically the head men’s coach, the role is akin to an associate head coach position at other schools.
Throughout his Minnesota experience, Joyce focused on coaching the backstroke, butterfly, and IM events. Under his guidance, Minnesota swimmers broke seven school records.
The 2024-25 season saw the Gophers send 10 swimmers to the NCAA Championships, where they finished 28th. Freshman Jacob Johnson earned All-America honors in the 200 butterfly while also claiming Big Ten silver in the event.
Several standout performances highlighted Joyce’s Minnesota years. In 2022-23, Desmon Sachtjen lowered his own 200 backstroke school record, while Kaiser Neverman qualified for NCAAs and established new standards in the 100 and 200 fly, plus the 200 IM. The following season saw freshman Davide Harabagiu take Neverman’s 100 fly record, while Neverman also lowered his marks in both the 200 fly and 200 IM.
Joyce’s coaching journey included three seasons at Auburn (2018-21), where he guided 12 swimmers to 36 All-America recognitions and helped produce three top-six SEC Championship finishes for the women’s team.
During the 2017-18 campaign at Arizona State, Joyce contributed to the Sun Devils’ 20th-place men’s finish and 23rd-place women’s result at the NCAA Championships.
Prior to ASU, he was at Princeton for two years, where he coached sprint and middle-distance events. With his help, the Tigers captured the 2016 Ivy League title. He developed four individual conference champions, three relay champions, and seven Scholar All-Americans during his time with the Tigers.
Before his stint with Princeton, Joyce spent two years as a volunteer assistant at NC State during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons, where the men won the ACC title and the men’s and women’s programs combined for 45 school records and 15 conference records. He worked there in parallel with 2 seasons as the head age group coach and senior assistant coach at Raleigh Swimming Association.
He also spent time with the Gator Swim Club both with the age group and elite programs at his alma mater, the University of Florida.
Joyce swam at Florida from 2007-2011, which included a 6th-place finish in the 400 IM at the NCAA Championships during his senior season. A two-time Olympic Trials qualifier, he graduated with a B.S. in Event and Recreation Management in 2011 before obtaining his Master of Education in Educational Leadership and Administration in 2015.
“I am honored to join Coach Versfeld and the staff at the University of Georgia,” Joyce said. “This is an exciting time for Georgia men’s swimming and diving, and I am thankful for Neil’s confidence in me to help this program further its success. My family and I are grateful for our time in Minnesota, and we will carry those memories with us forever as we head to Athens.”
Last season, the Georgia men finished 7th at the NCAA Championships, a significant improvement from their 11th-place showing in 2024. They placed 4th at the 2025 SEC Championships after finishing 3rd in 2023, which was before Texas, the NCAA champions this past season, joined the conference.
L move
Was heavily recruited by him during his time @ Auburn, but UGA is so lucky to have him, such an awesome, caring and knowledgeable coach!
Mike is a passionate coach and tremendous human being. I’m sure he Kirsten and boys will be happy at UGA. Congrats
it always shocks me how late in the year head coaches shift around in the swim world. tough on the athletes. wonder who will replace him?
Why head coach to assoc head coach? Is the writing on the wall for the 2nd tier P4 teams? They may not be cut, but resources will be very thin and pretty tough to compete with the top of the P4 teams. It was already tough enough pre-House.
“head coach” at Minnesota does not per se translate well to “head coach” at most combined programs. The role was effectively an associate head coaching role.
As of today Joyce is still listed on the Minnesota website.
I don’t know what your point is. SIDs are slow in the best of times, in summer they’re really slow.
Good word (“slow”). I was going to say lazy.
No particular point, Braden; just a factual observation which seemed connected to the story.
Well yea, just look at their recruiting classes. Minnesota has one competitive recruit in the 2025 guys class and 0 in 2026. Big10 is a quick conference and they’re going nowhere fast
Minnesota was 5th at B1Gs this year even with new additions to the conference… just hating for no reason
Oh no, another snowflake. I’m so sorry I hurt your feelings by pointing out that Minnesota isn’t set up to improve, and is being outperformed in the recruiting department by the other top 6 schools in the conference. We don’t need to speak about the bottom 2 teams. We can basically split up the conference
Indiana
Michigan
OSU
USC
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Northwestern
Purdue
Penn State
Quit hating man
It’s not hating, it’s simply a critical analysis. 2025 they have 1 top 100 recruit, 1 top 200, and the rest are over 200. 2026 2 top 200. Just think and look at it objectively. I split them up pretty well above and those also show different recruiting tiers. Except maybe Penn State, they get some good kids they just dont develop
They got some solid recruits but one of the 2026 doesn’t have a winters cut so you may be correct there
Go dawgs! Excited about this hire!
What a grab from UGA! The Bulldogs are lucky to have you Mike.
Congrats Mike!!