Rose Bowl Aquatics has named Andrew Nguyen as their next head coach, according to a release put out by the team. Nguyen currently serves as the head coach of Scottsdale Aquatic Club in the Greater Phoenix area, a role which he took on just this past August. He will start in his new role at Rose Bowl in August.
Although his stint at Scottsdale Aquatic Club turned out to be short-lived, it wasn’t without its highlights. Under Nguyen’s leadership, Scottsdale Aquatic Club won the team title at the Speedo Sectionals in Austin, Texas this March.
Nguyen is one of the rising stars in U.S. club coaching, having spent the early years of his career at Bellevue Club Swim Team in Bellevue, Washington. He served as an Age Group coach in Bellevue from 2009-2016, then was head coach of the esteemed club from 2016 to August of 2021, when he moved to Scottdale. While head coach at Bellevue Club Swim Team, the team was a Gold Medal club and won the 2019 Winter Junior Championship – West team title. Under Nguyen’s leadership, Bellevue Club Swim Team was also among the top 5 clubs in the country for the 2020 USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Team. The team also recorded a 6th-place finish at the 2019 Speedo Summer Junior Nationals under Nguyen’s watch.
Nguyen also specializes in strength and conditioning, having served as a strength and conditioning coach for the Fitter and Faster Tour.
Nguyen was an accomplished swimmer in his own right, having swum collegiately for the University of Washington. He was a Pac-10 finalist in all 4 of his years at Washington, graduating in 2010. Before his college career, Nguyen grew up in La Canada, California and swam for Rose Bowl Swim Team and Swim Pasadena in his youth.
Rose Bowl Aquatics Center president and executive director Jimmy Francis said of the hire, “Andrew is a highly regarded coach who distinguished himself during a very competitive search process. His commitment to character development, inclusion, community building, and competitive excellence will be instrumental in continuing the long history of success of the program.”
Rose Bowl won the men’s team title at the 2021 Speedo Winter Junior Championships West meet this past December. They also won the men’s title at the 2021 Speedo Summer Championships West meet in August of 2021.
Great hire! Andrew was the best coach I’ve ever had and if you’ve ever been coached by him as well as experienced other coaches, you would know. Andrew, good luck in So Cal!
I totally agree! I am so excited that Andrew will be in So Cali!
Good pickup by Rose Bowl! If I had to pick 3 coaches to train me, I’d pick him 3 times.
Here come the champions to tell the others why they are wrong to feel the way they do.
Don’t know what happened in Scottsdale…Perhaps things did not work out as planned for both parties..
Since Andrew is from CA…perhaps he wanted to be closer to family…who knows…
Andrew is a great recruiter and when he became head coach at BC it was the time when a few top clubs in the area imploded with issues and all the PNS top swimmers came to BC for 1-2 years. He was very fortunate to be at the right place at the right time.. BC won many Championships due to the performances of these top swimmers during that time, not because of Andrew’s coaching.
Andrew is a great individual but it makes me laugh when I read this article and it… Read more »
Lol
For real, get a load of this guy
Lol
“perhaps he wanted to be closer to family…who knows…”
An actual “BC swimmer” would know
And you are??
How would I know that? Do you think he told us why he went to AZ?
Not everyone shares their personal issues or decisions with their swimmers.
That’s your discredit clause? 😂
Andrew is the Goat. He is one of the best coaches I’ve had. He gives instructions and you have to give it your all and do your best if you want to succeed. He can’t control your success it’s your own duty to do so.
Oh, hello there
Just based off the first few words of this comment I already know this is just another bitter parent. Andrew is easily one of the best coaches I’ve had, and that’s coming from an actual swimmer. His hard work and success speaks for itself.
A real BC swimmer would know why Andrew moved. We were well aware of him leaving. Honestly That’s on you for not knowing.
Coach Andrew will hit the ground running as it is a program that has a dedicated and highly skilled coaching staff in place.
Where the loyal coaches at?
Also, to those saying Rose Bowl is a step up from SAC – you’re wrong. It’s a lateral move. Maybe he has family there – whatever – but if you bail on one team you’ll bail on another.
To add perspective to the comments about Andrew leaving a team so quickly…Rose Bowl Aquatics was built by Jeff Julian (and his wife, Kristine). They were the cornerstones of the team for almost two decades. To say the team was “gutted” when they shockingly left, with no advance notice, is an understatement. In the same way the swimmers in Scottsdale are being short changed by Andrew leaving them so quickly there are also 450+ young swimmers who have been in limbo hoping for a *decent* coach to take the helm in Pasadena. If the draw to return to his hometown played just a small part in Andrew’s decision to take this position we can’t fault him for that and are… Read more »
You are completely right about the Rose Bowl Aquatics team that they deserve a decent coach. You said it – a coach is the cornerstone of a team. At the same time you cannot justify the fact of a coach leaving one team to save another. And maybe SAC is better off without him. During Andrew’s tenure the team slipped dramatically in ranking.
Andrew is a great recruiter, at BC he had the perfect storm of a few teams imploding. All the top kids to came to BC at the same time and made Andrew look like a great coach although they were all developed by someone else. The Bellevue Club has the perfect set up in the PNS they swim out of one or 2 pools while every other team has to scramble to get water space. For the younger kids your family needs to join the Bellevue Club (and it is not cheap) but if you are an older really good swimmer they could by pass that requirement!
If you weren’t one of the elite swimmers the culture wasn’t great on the team during that period, he expected everybody to bask in the glory of the championships but from day to day it was a random assortment of new people on the team that nobody had any connection with, The younger kids don’t miss him at all.
Agree! Andrew was all show. Hope things are getting better there now!
Congrats