Eastern Illinois has announced the hiring of Scott Teeters as the new head coach of its varsity swimming program, making him the Panthers’ 4th head coach in 4 seasons.
Teeters is a veteran coach who has previous NCAA Division I stops at Eastern Michigan and Oakland Universities in Michigan as an assistant coach; as the head coach at Gardner-Webb in the 2018-2019 season.
He also led NAIA power Olivet Nazarene to three national championships. The team won back-to-back men’s championships in 2016 and 2017 and a women’s title in 2017. His women’s team also had the highest GPA in NAIA swimming at 3.63 in 2017. During his championship run at Olivet Nazarene, the NAIA side had faster times than EIU’s NCAA Division I side did in most events.
Teeters built the ONU program from scratch, becoming its first head coach in 2011.
Since leaving Gardner Webb, Teeters spent the last five years teaching and coaching high school swim in Kankakee, Illinois. Under his direction, Teeters’ girls team went undefeated in 2019, while his boys team scored the most points in a sectional in 22 years.
Kankakee High and Olivet Nazarene are both located about 2 hours north of the EIU campus.
Teeters also has three years of experience at Novi High School in Novi, Michigan, where he produced 12 High School All-Americans.
“We are excited to welcome Coach Teeters as the head swim coach of the Panthers program,” said athletic director Tom Michael. “Scott brings with him an accomplished background developing championship swimmers both in, and out of the pool. I look forward to him providing some stability and leadership for the young men and women who are EIU swimmers.”
“I would like to thank Dr. Jay Gatrell and Tom Michael for this exciting opportunity”, said Coach Teeters. “Their leadership goals for the EIU swim program align perfectly with my vision for transforming Panthers swimming into a life changing endeavor. I want to create a place where our athletes can come back in 10 years and still feel like they belong”.
The EIU men’s and women’s team both finished last out of 8 teams at the 2024 Summit League Championships.
Did you know that the original Jimmy John’s is one minute from their Pool and athletics complex
I did not know that. Should definitely be in the recruiting materials.
Never understood how someone with a personal connection to an incoming coach gets down voted on SS for posting a positive comment.
Why all the turnover?
No money
how did it take eastern illinois a few weeks to hire, and xavier plus other d1s are still open??
Xavier is done just not announced.
about time. It’s been 3 months!
why has Eastern Illinois gone through so many coaches recently. Coach Ray was there for 40 years
Poor resources, low salary, very little support from the athletic department, Hired young coaches that were inexperienced and over their head. Take your pic of any of the reasons why.
Obviously, this gent has been coaching for a few years. Which is great. Good for EIU landing someone of his experience. He won’t mess it up, he’ll treat the team well, the training will be quality.
Coach Scott is amazing! Helped reinvigorate my son’s love for swimming. My daughter swam for him at Oliver in 2017. Awesome guy.
He’s a great guy and a fantastic coach. I’ve known him for years and he always put a lot of heart into whatever he does.