Dave Durden Signs 3-Year Contract Extension to Remain at Cal

Cal men’s head swimming & diving coach Dave Durden has signed a 3-year contract extension to remain the head coach in Berkeley, California. The extension will silence rumors that he might return to Auburn, where he was a long-time assistant during the program’s glory days, as head coach. His current contract at Cal was due to expire on April 30th. The contract is reported to have come with a significant raise from the $157 thousand base salary that he received in 2017 (which came to around $215,000 with bonuses).

Durden has been the head coach at Cal for 11 season and led last year’s team to a runner-up finish at the 2018 NCAA Championships. That continues a run of 9 consecutive seasons where Cal has finished 1st or 2nd at that meet, including titles in 2011, 2012, and 2014.

Durden is a four-time NCAA Division I Coach of the Year (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014), a 6-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016) and was the 2016 ASCA Coach of the Year. He also led Team USA at the 2015 and 2017 World Championships and was an assistant at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Games.

6 Cal swimmers he coached qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games where they won 11 medals, including 8 golds and a 100 back World Record from Ryan Murphy.

Prior to his arrival at Berkeley, Durden was the head coach at Maryland from 2005-2007 and an assistant at Auburn from 2002-2005, where the men’s and women’s teams combined for 6 NCAA team titles.

Durden will be looking for a new assistant coach this year to replace Yuri Suguiyama, who left to become the head coach at Wisconsin.

YEAR

NCAA FINISH

PAC-12 FINISH

2007-2008

4TH

2ND

2008-2009

4TH

2ND

2009-2010

2ND

2ND

2010-2011

1ST

2ND

2011-2012

1ST

2ND

2012-2013

2ND

1ST

2013-2014

1ST

1ST

2014-2015

2ND

3RD

2015-2016

2ND

3RD

2016-2017

2ND

2ND

2017-2018

2ND

1ST

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bobo gigi
6 years ago

Great news for Cal, the college swimmers and pros there.

Jewelindapool
6 years ago

Go Bears! Congratulations to Coach Durden!

PowerTower
6 years ago

I was told and our coach Jake… With all of his performance bonuses this year made $325k.

Most of his performance bonuses were paid based on all of the new times achieved in our new great pool

Scott Stubblefield
Reply to  PowerTower
6 years ago

I doubt he made $325k but even if he did….that is like $175k in Texas

Brutus
6 years ago

Good for Dave. He has a great gig at Cal. Never in a moment did I think he would end up in a cow pasture in Alabama! Go Bears.

hopefulswimmer
6 years ago

Damn, thought he was headed to George Washington 🙁

Stan Crump
6 years ago

Leverage.

johno
6 years ago

Curious to see how much he’ll be at now. Cal’s been investing in the swim programs for years now, so not surprised they opened up the wallet.

SwimGeek
6 years ago

You had to believe CAL wasn’t going to let Yuri and DD walk at the same time. Sounds like a good extension for both sides.

MrsTarquinBiscuitbarrel
Reply to  SwimGeek
6 years ago

Very shrewd comment… go Golden Bears!

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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