The Centenary athletic department has announced an unusual move in their men’s and women’s swimming program: current assistant coach Brad Langford is being promoted to head coach, while current head coach Butch Jordan is going to become an assistant coach.
Jordan has been the head coach of Centenary for over 19 years, beginning with the program’s inception during the 2001-2002 season. The 2019-2020 season was coach Brad Langford’s first with the program.
The program had great success under coach Jordan, but hit some rough spots over the past few years. When Centenary switched from Division 1 to Division 3 in 2011, the program was ranked in the top 3 in its conference on both sides with both teams finishing 3rd at the SCAC championships, but the program struggled in recent years with the both the men and women finishing 4th and 5th, respectively in 2018.The women’s team rebounded slightly this past season, finishing 4th at the SCAC championships, their highest finish since 2017, while the men struggled with a 5th place finish, their lowest in school history.
Shreveport, La. – Centenary athletics has announced changes on the swimming program’s coaching staff.
Current assistant coach Brad Langford has been promoted to head coach while current head coach Butch Jordan will now serve as his assistant. Langford came to Centenary prior to last season while Jordan just completed his 19th season at the helm of the Ladies and Gents’ program.
Langford, a native of Mason, Ohio, came to Centenary from the Hillsborough Aquatic Club in Hillsborough, NC where he coached for one season. Prior to Hillsborough, Langford coached for three and half years for the North Carolina Aquatic Club. While at NCAC he coached swimmers to North Carolina High School State Championships, Futures, and USA Swimming Jr. Nationals.
Langford swam for the Cincinnati Marlins as well as a season for Mason Manta Rays in Mason. While competing for Mason High School, he was a multiple school record holder and three- time All-American. He then swam four years for the University of Cincinnati and during his time as a Bearcat, he was a four-year Lettermen recipient.
It is a great opportunity to take over the Ladies and Gents from a coach like Butch Jordan as he has had a great career and has built a great foundation to build off of,” said Langford. I was humbled when I got the phone call from our director of athletics and recreation Marcus Manning to take over as head Coach. This has been a dream of mine to be a head coach at the collegiate level.”
I am looking for the team to continue to grow in the classroom and in the pool. Our goal is to represent Centenary at the highest level we can,” said Langford.
Right now we are small but we have the talent to compete with the bigger schools in our conference and I feel that we can finish top four in both the men’s and women’s at conference this coming season. Our upper class is strong and have some great leaders that can make that happen, and in the near future I feel we can be competing for the SCAC Championship.”
“Brad will bring new energy to the head coach position,” said Jordan. He has been involved with competitive swimming all his life and has been mentored by several top coaches in the country over the last several years.
“New ideas are good for the team. Last year I was impressed with his energy and knowledge of our sport. I love our school and team and I will continue to help improve both as Brad’s assistant,” said Jordan.
The Centenary swimming teams finished competition at the 2020 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in February. The Ladies placed fourth overall while the Gents finished fifth.
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Congrats Butch. You have done an awesome job at Centenary with your student/athletes. You are a class act and have helped so many swimmers in Shreveport. You are a legend my friend. Brad and Butch will be a great coaching team.
Agreed! Butch is definitely a class act!