With the NCAA offseason already in motion, it’s time to look at what Division I head coaching positions are open.
Programs that still have a head coaching position open (as of the morning of April 10th):
- Iowa State: Head coach Duane Sorenson led the team for 27 years and announced his retirement. The school is home to a women’s-only program.
- BYU: Shari Skabelund announced her retirement after leading BYU for 37 seasons. Skabelund was one of few women to lead a Power 5 men’s and women’s program.
- Cal Poly: Phil Yoshida was placed on a leave of absence at the start of the 2023-2024 season and the athletes have now been informed that he will not return to his position.
- Georgia Southern: Allyson Sweeney stepped down from her head coaching position after two years with the Eagles.
- Boston College: The Boston College staff will look entirely different this fall as the school parted ways with the staff in January after hazing allegations surfaced last September.
- Penn State: After head coach Tim Murphy spent most of the season on an unspecified leave of absence, the school announced that they would not renew his contract.
- Texas A&M: With the retirement of head women’s swimming coach Steve Bultman, the school announced that it would combine the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. The school’s indication included “A national search for a Director of Texas A&M Swimming & Diving has begun as the department continues its work with search firm TurnkeyZRG.”
- Fairfield: Jacy Dyer left the program to become the new head coach of Toledo (See below). Dyer spent two years at Fairfield
- Illinois State: After head coach Caitlin Hamilton departed for Kentucky, Sean Sullivan was named interim head coach
Programs that have already filled their head coaching positions:
- Texas: Eddie Reese retired and Bob Bowman took over with the announcement coming just two days after the Arizona State men won the 2024 NCAA title
- Arizona State: Soon after Bowman left to head to Texas, Herbie Behm was promoted from associate head coach to new head coach of the Sun Devils
- Bowling Green: Rickey Perkins did not have his contract renewed this offseason. The position was filled by Tanner Barton who most recently was head coach at Division III John Carroll University in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
- Toledo: Brie Globig was “relieved” as head coach and the position has now been filled by Jacy Dyer who was most recently the head coach of Fairfield (see open position above). Dyer graduated from Toledo in 2011.
- St Thomas (Minnesota): Matt Bos was hired as head coach on March 27th. St Thomas moved from Division III to Division I during the 2021-2022 season.
Illinois State also has an interim situation. Imagine they will be announcing soon.
WVU soon???
Jason Calanog incoming
Pls
WVU soon???
What’s the deal with the UMass Head Women’s Coach position?
The programs combined during COVID under a single head coach and are now separating
Wow. When was the last time that happened??!!
I can’t find Boston College’s posting anywhere. Wondering if they are quietly pulling the plug on the program after such a loud year
For a school that is just intending to cut a program. They certainly made a lot of noise about how they intend to bring it back in the fall.
Then again, if they were planning on bringing the team back in the fall, It makes no sense to part with that caliber of a coach. So who knows.
The athletes received a week-by-week plan after Spring break which has been on target so far to be back in for Aug 2024. The plan is to have a coach hire before the end of the semester so they could get together with the athletes currently on campus that will be swimming in the Fall (freshman and juniors). The athletes continue to train as a team. Fingers crossed …
As much as I hate to admit it, I’m afraid you may be right. They had a top notch staff!
University of St. Thomas in MN is now D1 and looking for a HC of their combined program
That’s been filled. https://tommiesports.com/news/2024/3/27/mens-swimming-diving-matt-bos-named-head-swim-and-dive-coach.aspx
What’s funny (and kinda strange) is that many of these schools – and others – don’t even advertise the position. At least, not on the NCAA job site, not on ASCA Job Board, not on USA Swimming Job Board, and not on their school’s employment pages.
They don’t need to advertise positions. Especially the Power 5 programs. Most midmajors do their homework on who they want, and the big Power 5 positions can work with a search firm to find candidates
Some state schools have laws/rules about having to post jobs, but yes that’s correct.
You might see their assistant positions posted more often, though.
Most ADs are not posting their job unless required, and they will do it for a few days to meet that requirement.
They connect with other administrators and head swim coaches to see who is on their list of who to hire. Helps narrow down their search. Bigger programs will also use search agencies which do something very similar. Utilize a profile of head coaches in the conference and then reach out to coaches that meet that profile.
So it’s not even really worth applying?
Applying is free, and if you’re serious about your career, I always think it’s worth putting your name out into the world. Worst case admins learn your name, which can’t be a bad thing.
Just gotta be realistic with expectations. If you’re the top assistant at NC State or Virginia or Cal, definitely apply, and then let your head coach and AD know that you’re interested, because they’re definitely going to be in the loop with the search committee. If you’re the head coach of a brand name mid major that the AD might know well, (think Villanova head coach applying to Penn State), definitely apply. If you’re the head coach of a mid-major that hasn’t sent swimmers to NCAAs,… Read more »
They run a Coach Academy that helps prepare assistants to be better at their job and/advance to HC positions.
I believe that networking seminar exists and it’s called the “Open Bar” almost every night at the CSCAA convention. The challenge is getting there if you’re not a vendor and not currently on a college coaching staff.
That’s not really a challenge. If you know where convention is (public information online) and the schedule you can usually pop in and say hello. Coaches even in college not registered have stopped in for the socials. Kind of like the club socials held at meets and college coaches get invited.
Cal poly job not posted yet, also not a member of ASCA
Cory Chitwood to TAMU
Andrew with all the brightest ideas…
Well, if you’re the HC, you don’t have to break in the office when you’ve got a set of keys.
@Braden Keith – will you do a full speculation article on some of these vacancies??
I don’t know fam, maybe? I assume one of the Penn State assistants is going to get promoted, A&M we already speculated on (though maybe it’s worth re-speculating now that it’s a director job), the rest are just kind of bullets in the dark, and every coach who doesn’t get named is going to be in my inbox yelling at me for ruining their career, so not sure that a speculation article would provide much value to anyone.
Will poke around on A&M though.
Insider trading for Braden
Hopefully A&M realizes the guy they want is the guy they have.
Anyone that understands A&M’s brass knows they want to win championships and, after the Bowman hire, want to make a splash. With money seemingly pouring out of their pockets (note: >$75m buyouts), paying a big name $600k or $1.2m is almost inconsequential if it brings in the swimmers and championships. Holmes has to be on the list, but I’d look at bold and splashy hires. My mind goes to: Dave Durden, Ray Looze, Todd DeSorbo, and Greg Meehan. It’ll be interesting, for sure!
I’d be shocked if any of them took the job, but that would be awesome if a real big name took it.