Brad Langford was hired to become the new head coach at South Carolina Swim Club in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, in early August. The swimmer-turned-coach from Mason, Ohio has been quite the journeyman throughout his decade-long coaching career, most recently having been the head coach at Hillsborough Aquatic Club for the last two years.
Langford started his coaching career as an assistant at William Mason High School, his alma mater, where he helped the women’s team finish 3rd at the Division I Ohio State Championships in both 2013 and 2014. He then transitioned to club coaching, first spending a year coaching at the YMCA, before moving to Chapel Hill to become assistant coach at North Carolina Aquatic Club. During that time, he saw many of his swimmers compete at high levels, including appearances at Futures and Junior Nationals.
In 2019, he moved to Louisiana to become a Division III assistant coach at Centenary College, and after one year in this role, was promoted when he swapped positions with then head coach Butch Jordan in 2020. After a two-year stint as head coach, he returned to the state of North Carolina, where he coached for Team Charlotte Swimming for the 2022 season, and Hillsborough Aquatic Club, where he was aquatics director and head coach from 2023 until just last month, when he moved to South Carolina. To fill Langford’s two roles in the club, Hillsborough has moved Anna Varnell to aquatics director and Matt Graham has been promoted to head coach.
Prior to his coaching career, Langford swam for the Mason Manta Rays, a small Ohio club at the time, though it would eventually grow to become one of the premier clubs in the state. He stayed close to home during his collegiate career at the University of Cincinnati, and after being a part of the team for four years, he quickly moved into coaching.
Langford now joins a South Carolina Swim Club squad that has seen some regression the last few seasons, though still remains one of the best in the state. Their former head coach, Nate Murray, followed a similar path as Langford, swimming collegiately at a Division I program before taking on coaching gigs in the region. According to his LinkedIn profile, he will spend the next year working towards earning his M.B.A, though whether he will continue working as a coach elsewhere is unclear.
Nevertheless, Murray left on a high note, as South Carolina Swim Club came off a strong showing at Greensboro Futures in July. The men’s team finished 14th out of 136 teams competing at the meet, highlighted by William Slowey, who won the 50 free with a new personal best of 22.67, and Jack Troy, who finished in the top 4 in all three backstroke events. His new best times in the 100 back (55.44) and 200 back (2:02.00) were also good enough to qualify for Summer Junior Nationals.
However, Langford may still have his work cut out for him this fall, with Slowey returning to Rollins College for his final year, while Troy will begin his collegiate career at Arizona State. It’s now up to him to bring South Carolina Swim Club similar success as they had to end the summer, even if it’s without many of the same pieces.
Coach Nate did a phenomenal job at SCSC. He helped swimmers of all ages develop and succeed while navigating the club through challenging times. Any college program or club will be thrilled to have Coach Nate on their staff!
Over/Under line is 18 months. Anybody else care to set the line?
Similar to a team northeast of Houston… 18 months average!
No problem for Langford based on his resume
How many coaches at SCSC since it was founded? Its a merry-go-round!
This would be 5 head coaches (I believe) since SCSC began in April 2016: Pam Swander, Meredith David, Eric Lane, Nate Murray, and now Brad Langford.
Charleston should be a hotbed for swimming, being right on the water. But it, like many larger areas, has lots of drama surrounding the various teams and coaches. Add in the fact that almost all of the pools are run by municipalities (cities, towns, etc.) which can sometimes mean conflicting interests and battles for water time.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
A lot of Charleston area kids that go to college “late bloomers” and blow up there.