NCAA Division I Drexel University in Philadelphia has announced the hiring of Nathan Lavery as the new head coach of its men’s and women’s swimming & diving program. He becomes the 11th coach to lead the men’s program and 7th for the women.
He replaces Adam Braun, who spent the last 6 seasons as head coach. Prior to that, Braun was an assistant for 2 seasons. Braun has left coaching and is now working as a consultant at the Beacon Hill Staffing Group in Philadelphia.
Lavery comes from TCU, where he spent 2 seasons as an assistant coach at TCU. There, he led the sprint group for the Horned Frogs.
Prior to that, he spent 1 season as an assistant at Georgia Tech, where he coached the middle-distance group, 1 year in an administrative role at SCAD in Georgia, and 5 years as an assistant coach at Villanova University.
In that sense, this is a bit of a homecoming for Lavery: Drexel is located only about 10 miles away from Villanova.
“We are thrilled to welcome Nathan Lavery to the Dragon family as our new head swimming and diving coach,” Drexel Assistant Athletic Director of Compliance Bridget Snyder said. “Nathan brings a strong combination of experience and passion for collegiate athletics. His dynamic coaching style focuses on challenging each of our athletes uniquely, while encouraging the high level of academics to which Drexel is accustomed. We are excited to have Nathan on board and we are looking forward to the growth of the men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs under Nathan’s tenure.”
A native of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Lavery swam collegiately at Texas A&M, primarily as a breaststroker. He earned All-America honors on the Aggies’ 200 and 400 medley relays as a sophomore.
Last season at the CAA conference championship meet, the Drexel men finished 3rd out of 5 teams. That 3rd-place finish broke a 4-year streak of runner-up placings behind William & Mary, which has announced that it will cut its swimming & diving programs after the 2020-2021 season.
The Drexel women placed 4th out of 7 teams at last year’s CAA Championships.
The Drexel men have sent a diver to the NCAA Championship meet 6 times, including most recently Anthony Perry each year from 2002 through 2004. They have never sent a swimmer.
For the Drexel women, the most recent NCAA Championship appearance came in 2018, when Alexa Kutch qualified to swim the 100 and 200 back individually. That marked the third year of a consecutive streak of swimming qualifiers for the Dragons, after Rachel Bernhardt swam the 100 and 200 breaststrokes at NCAAs in both 2016 and 2017.
The women’s team has scored at the NCAA Championships 3 times: 2008, 2009, and 2017. The men’s team has scored twice, in 2002 and 2003.
Upon learning of their coach’s departure, the TCU Swimming & Diving team released this emotional tribute to Lavery:
You got a good one, @DrexelSwimming. Thanks for everything, @TCUswimNathan.
Cheers. 💜 pic.twitter.com/GtBD35Y6Jl
— TCU Swim & Dive (@TCUswimdive) September 10, 2020
In this era of turmoil, I was ecstatic to see such fantastic news this morning.
Nate is an outstanding coach, but more importantly, an exceptional human being. Prospective athletes and parents – Nate is absolutely the kind of person you want as your (or your son/daughter’s) teacher, leader, and mentor. I truly cannot speak highly enough about him, and I will be excited to see what he is able to build at Drexel in the years to come!
Best of luck Nate!
Great hire, who will take of the whole person & do a great job coaching !!
Congrats Young Grasshopper!
All smiles until the program gets cut
Go Dragons!
Nathan is the best. He will take great care of every athlete, parent, and coach on his staff. This is a case where a truly fantastic person, and a highly-skilled coach, has worked hard and ethically to earn this opportunity.
It’s a questionable time in our sport but this is very good news.
Lavery was recruiting one of Binky’s kids to TCU. Class act – always conducted himself in a positive, professional manner.
Our son contacted TCU and Lavery explained the class was full and offered “If there’s anything we can do to help you in your college search, please feel free to ask.” I remembered that as it was an unusual and very nice remark/offer.
I’m surprised they went away from Ted Dickerson here… seems like the obvious candidate.