Courtesy: McMurry Sports
ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University made a splash with a new head coaching hire on Monday, as Vice President for Student Affairs and Intercollegiate Athletics Sam Ferguson announced veteran coach Arthur Wang will lead the men’s and women’s swimming programs.
Wang brings over three decades of coaching experience to Abilene, including that last two years as the head lead coach for Waterloo Swim Club in Austin, Texas. Prior to Austin, Wang was the head swimming coach at NCAA Division III member SUNY Fredonia from 2003-2019.
“Coach Wang is a proven developer of scholar-athletes who will add value to our athletics experience,” said Ferguson. “We’re excited to work with him and see him position our scholar-athletes for success in all areas of their college life. Coach Wang’s head coaching experience will serve him well as we work to Develop Champions for Life. We look forward to watching him build on the firm foundation our program currently enjoys. Our program is once again in good hands.”
At Fredonia, Wang led a program that had 13 individual D3 All-Americans and 22 conference champions. He also coached the Blue Devils’ first-ever national champion, diver Kelly Sponholz, during the 2008-09 season.
He also serves as the head counselor for the Longhorns Swim Camp at The University of Texas at Austin and has been with the camp since 2004. At Texas, he works closely with several Olympic swimmers and head U.S. Men’s Olympic coach Eddie Reese.
Outside of Reese, Wang also worked alongside US. Olympic head coaches Richard Quick and Skip Kenney at the Stanford National Swim Camp for eight summers. He also spent one season as the head swim coach at Ithaca YMCA in 1996-97.
A native of Ithaca, N.Y., Wang began his coaching career as an assistant at Ithica College. He has since made stops at Cornell University, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges as interim head coach and Washington University. At Washington in 2003, he was named the AFLAC National Assistant of the Year.
“I’m excited for the challenges and development ahead of me at McMurry,” said Wang. “I’m looking forward to recruiting the great state of Texas. I appreciate this great opportunity from Sam Ferguson, Coach Bev Ball and everyone at McMurry University.”
Wang graduated from Ithaca College in 1994 with a degree in exercise science and later completed the teacher certification program at SUNY Cortland in 1998.
He addition to his coaching skills, he is a lifeguard training instructor and is certified in Coaching Safely, CPR/First Aid and AED. He is also fluent in the German language and semi-fluent in Chinese and French.
Wang relocated to Abilene this weekend and begins work immediately.
Great Hire! Arthur’s passion for swimming and development of athletes and individuals will greatly help McMurry at all levels. Congrats and good luck!
Huge respect for Arthur! Congrats to him and the team! He’s a big part of making UT Swim Camp one of the best in the world, hope we can all meet back at UT Camp soon!