Florida State men’s and women’s swimming & diving head coach Neil Harper has been fired, sources close to the program have confirmed today. The team was told in a closed meeting this afternoon of the decision.
Harper was with the Seminoles for 14 seasons, and was a 3-time ACC coach of the year (2004, 2006, and 2007).
The move comes as the Florida State program seems to be on an upward swing; the Seminoles haven’t won the ACC title since their men did so in 2007, but this year seemed to be making steps in the right direction. That includes breaking both the men’s 200 medley and freestyle relay ACC Records and placing 4th overall as a team at the conference championship meet.
The men ultimately didn’t place as high as expected at the NCAA Championships. They came in 23rd place in Indianapolis, though two DQ’s in the 200 and 400 free relays didn’t help their cause (they were projected to finish in the top 8 of both of those races, probably).
The women’s team had big successes at the ACC Championships as well, with Tiffany Oliver winning both the 50 and 100 freestyles and our Swimmer of the Meet honor to go with it; they too didn’t place quite as high as many anticipated at NCAA’s.
Harper previously was the head women’s coach at Ohio State. The London native is a 1984 and 1988 Olympian. He swam collegiately himself at LSU.
Braden, any news on where Harper is ending up?
Haven’t heard anything.
I wonder where Neil will end up? Assuming he wants to keep coaching
Job goes to Frank Bradley
I can’t think of any ACC team that has fulfilled any of the above listed criteria at the NCAA Meet.
touche! i agree. the ACC was horrendous at the Men’s NCAA meet and they should all be fired!
they talk the most on here and on college swimming but haven’t learned to let their swimming do their talking! it is a 3rd rate swimming conference right now.
sorry, i meant to say mid to late 90’s
and yes, he left a positive impact. i met Neil when he was at LSU, and i almost went there because of him. Very fast swimmers at the time like Todd Torres and Keith Anderson (butterflier i believe) spoke highly of Neil. He contributed to FSU recruiting as spon as he got there.
i will bet that frank bradley will be the next coach! also, U F always gets the best florida swimmers….maybe it has something to do with academics too.
Yeah…because Ryan Lochte is so smart!
I bet I can find examples of “smart” and “not so smart” at nearly every University.
The “high end kids” at “Stanford, Cal, etc…” from which perspective?
You seem to assume that the top 5% of swimmers are also the top 5% of intellectuals.
I don’t think that is true.
2012 SAT scores 25-75%:
Florida 1170 1360
FSU 1110 1290
My point being there is a statistical, but probably insignificant, difference in the test scores of the enrolled student bodies.
This is mostly due to a perceived difference in the education one receives, but is it reality?
Advice to FSU: Go get a young, well-respected coach who can recruit the best… Read more »
Why is no body talking about Donny Brush from Indiana? He comes from great pedigree – both Reese brothers, has coached multiple ncaa champions and world record holders, With the talent already at FSU, – with Donny, couldn’t FSU be a top 12 team next year?
Shhhh he is IU’s “ancient chineese secret” to quote an old Calgon commercial. Leave Donny right where he is. He is doing great things for IU, recruiting and coaching some solid talent to continue to grow that program. They are a solid top 10 school with some chances at a run for a top 5 finish if they continue to grow with his scouting. They have a good coaching staff there and they work well together lets just let them quietly grow back into the powerhouse they once were. Shhh…
Seriously though if they brought him in it would be a solid choice but he may be a little bit under the radar for what they would look for… Read more »
Props to my friends in Tallahassee. FSU has a good coaching change in April and the
ACC thread goes silent?! Typical!! Congrats of course to the swimmers- its a shame because I know if UVA, UNC or NC State had done that, everyone on here would have their knee pads out and the thread wouldn’t have died 9 days ago?!?! .Only disappointing thing was that I heard through the grapevine that the Noles were swimming for cash
and then boldly displaying it on the wall at FSU. Way to “Make It Rain!”