University of Arizona Head Coach Eric Hansen has an impressive history of success in the sport of swimming. Hansen earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Iowa State in 1988. At Iowa State Hansen swam collegiately where he was named Big 8 Conference Swimmer of the year in 1987 and 1988 and was named Iowa State’s athlete of the year in 1988. Hansen was also a six-time All-American at Iowa State. Hansen later decided to attend the University of Arizona where he swam post-grad and earned his masters in exercise physiology in 1990.
Head Coach of the Phoenix Swim Club
After his post-grad career, Hansen started his coaching career as Head Coach of the Phoenix Swim Club in Sioux City, Iowa, where he coached two world record holders, four American record holders, and five members of the U.S. National Team. Hansen coached here from 1992-1995.
University of Florida Assistant Coach
Hansen spent one season as an assistant coach at the University of Florida after his time as a head club coach at Phoenix.
University of Arizona Assistant Coach
Hansen became an assistant at the University of Arizona to head coach Frank Busch from 1996-1999. As an assistant in Tucson, Hansen coached six national champions, 11 All-Americans and multiple Pac-10 champions.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Head Coach
Hansen left Tucson for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was head coach for 12 seasons. During his time at Wisconsin, Hansen coached the women’s team to ten top-20 NCAA finishes, including the UW Women’s team first ever NCAA champion Maggie Meyer in the 200-yard backstroke.
While at Wisconsin, Hansen coached two of his swimmers on to the Olympic scale. Adam Mania represented Poland at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Carly Piper also attended the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens where she was a member of the Gold-winning 800-meter freestyle relay that broke the 17-year old world record.
University of Arizona Head Coach
In 2011, Hansen was offered the head coaching position at the University of Arizona as head coach Frank Busch decided to leave Arizona to become USA Swimming’s National Team Director.
Since Hansen’s time at Arizona he has coached the men’s team to a third and fourth place finish at the NCAA Championships including eight national titles. On the women’s side, Hansen has coached the women’s team to two fifth place finishes at NCAA’s, including three NCAA titles. In his two seasons his swimmers also broke five American records at the NCAA Championships.
On the national and international levels, Hansen has been named the coach of multiple national teams. Hansen was assistant coach for the World Championships in 1994, the head coach for the Pan American Games in 2003, the head coach for World Short Course Championships in 2002 and 2006, the men’s assistant coach for the Pan Pacific Championships in 2006, and the head coach for the World University Games in 2011.
Resigns as Head Coach of the University of Arizona
Hansen started his third season as the head coach of the University of Arizona swim team in 2013. Only a couple of months in to the season, Hansen took a sudden leave of absence for personal reasons. Several months later, Hansen resigned as the head coach, and assistant coach Rick “Rocket” Demont took over the team.
Since retiring as head coach of Arizona, Hansen has gotten back to swimming by getting in the water for Masters Swimming and also doing private swim coaching.
-Originally Developed by Elle Meinholz
