The University of Michigan has relieved associate head swimming and diving coach Bryon Tansel of his duties, sources told SwimSwam on Monday night.
Tansel is no longer listed as a member of the coaching staff on the Michigan Athletics website, and the link to his coaching bio is no longer active.
Tansel was in the midst of his third season with the Wolverines as an associate head coach, having been hired in August 2023 by Matt Bowe, who took over head coaching duties in Ann Arbor two months earlier.
During Tansel’s time at Michigan–which began with a completely new coaching staff–the Wolverines have seen improvement year-over-year, starting out with the women placing 12th at the 2024 NCAA Championships and the men placing 14th. Last season, the women climbed into the top 10, placing ninth, while the men were 11th.
At the conference level, both Michigan teams placed third at the Big Ten Championships in 2024, and the men climbed to the runner-up spot last year, edging out Ohio State, while the women maintained their position in third.
This season, the women’s team has been on a tear, thanks in part to the addition of transfer Bella Sims, and they’re currently ranked fourth in the most recent edition of the SwimSwam Power Rankings, while the men sit 13th.
Tansel was hired by Bowe after spending the 2022-23 season at the University of Louisville, helping the Cardinals men’s and women’s teams to third-place finishes at the ACC Championships. Prior to that, he had a five-year stint at Ohio State, contributing to three straight top-10 NCAA finishes for the men and a seventh-place finish for the women.
A native of Dundee, Michigan, Tansel spent the 2016-17 season as a sprint coach at LSU, and prior to that, he served as an assistant for three seasons at Eastern Michigan.
His coaching career got started with the Oakland Live Y’ers swim club in Troy, Michigan, and also had stints with Poseidon Swimming Inc. and the Dallas Mustangs Swim Team before transitioning into college coaching.
A graduate of Oakland University, Tansel was a decorated swimmer with the Golden Grizzlies, being named Summit League Swimmer of the Year in 2005 and receiving All-Summit League First Team honors from 2003-08. He was also elected team captain during his final two seasons at Oakland.
With Tansel’s departure, Michigan still has Aaron Bell on staff as an associate head coach, along with assistants Gunnar Schmidt, Priscilla Hoffman and Jared Daigle, and diving coach Brandon Loschiavo.
SwimSwam has reached out to Bowe for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Daniellle Tansel news:
https://www.wgil.com/2026/04/08/danielle-tansel-galesburg-aquatics-recreation-supervisor-2026/
hmm… is she going solo?
Never trusted him. I had a recruit one year at EMU and Tansel after practice told me to basically be an asshole to him because he didn’t want him. Super shady.
SwimSwam… can you reach out to Bowe and see if he will speak to it…?
I bet there’s a 0.0001% chance that will happen.
that’s possible… it’s a 0.00000% chance if you don’t ask. Matt Bowe was surprisingly candid earlier this season when SwimSwam called to check on several swimmers absent from the team.
We asked, and did not receive a response. That’s not unexpected.
Whatever happened will eventually come out. It always does.
For now, the old adage applies … Those who know don’t say. Those who say don’t know.
If they let him go before Bell then theres some deeper issues there
It appears that Tansel was the deeper issue considering he’s out.
NW Coach
Unless you have proof of something specific that happened at Michigan that your willing to discuss, then maybe let’s stop slandering Aaron Bell.
Athletes have brought incidents to the attention of head coaches and ADs and Bell just moves on to the next team.
Deep dive to find out why bell left Louisville… and notre dame.
All I have to say is since Covid started Michigan has not been the same.
The men won big tens in 2021…
And haven’t sniffed being competitive since. NCSU Women placed 2nd at NCAAs in 2021, haven’t been in the top 4 since. 5 years ago is an eternity in the “what have you done for me lately” world of college sports
there are a few things:
1. the end of the Mike Bottom era was clearly going downhill. Talent was not developing under his leadership. Speaking as an outsider, it appears the culture was also not great. As a result, *many* top swimmers were departing for their 5th year (eg Maggie McNeil) and transferring out (eg Jake Mitchell)… or simply retiring from swimming before Nationals.
With Matt Bowe leading the program… development is back on track (many examples) and culture seems far better. The team is on the right trajectory.
2. As far as team titles, Ohio State women have been particularly outstanding the past few years. They have done an incredible job of recruiting and developing. Indiana is obviously building… Read more »
The Michigan women are pretty elite. They would have won Big Tens last year, if you took out the diving points and are even stronger now with the Bella Sims transfer.
Definitely. I’m excited to see them race at Big Tens and Nationals this year!
Michigan Man…
Men like him will always get what’s coming to them
dont we all wish that was true