The University of Texas has announced Brandt Nigro as its new associate head coach of the women’s swimming and diving program, joining the Longhorns after a seven-year run as the head coach at Army West Point.
Nigro takes over the role previously held by Mitch Dalton, who left his role as the Texas women’s associate head coach last month to take over as the head coach at Brown.
Like Dalton, Nigro will work under Carol Capitani, who has served as the head coach of the Texas women’s team for 14 years. The Longhorns have consistently been one of the top teams in the nation under Capitani’s watch, particularly in recent years, as they’ve finished either 2nd or 3rd at the Women’s NCAA Championships in six straight seasons.
“Brandt is an exceptional fit for Texas,” said Texas Women’s Swimming Head Coach Carol Capitani. “His most recent experience as Head Coach at Army West Point and at NC State brings immediate depth and credibility to our staff.
“Brandt’s energy, investment in his athletes, and his clear understanding of what it means to compete and succeed at this level made him a standout throughout this process. I’m looking forward to working together and continuing the sustained excellence that is Texas Swimming and Diving.”
Nigro heads to Austin after spending the past seven seasons leading Army, guiding the Black Knights’ program to new heights along the way.
During the 2025-26 season, he coached three female swimmers, Catriona Gilmore, Molly Webber and Angie McKane, to qualify for the NCAA Championships, marking the first three women to qualify for the meet since Army began competing in Division I in 1991. The Army women went 9-1 in dual meets and were the runners-up at the Patriot League Championships for the fourth straight season in 2025-26.
On the men’s side, Nigro coached Johnny Crush to a fifth-place finish in the 100 backstroke at the 2026 NCAA Championships, setting a new program record of 43.84, tying him for eighth all-time among Americans.
In 2025, Nigro led the Army men to their first Patriot League title since 2001, and the Black Knights also earned their first sweep over Navy since 1988.
During the 2023-24 season, Army swimmers set program records in 26 out of a possible 44 events during the season, and Kohen Rankin became the first Army swimmer to qualify for the NCAA Championships since 1987 when he made the cut in the men’s 100 and 200 breaststroke.
Nigro thanked Army West Point in a press release issued Monday announcing that he accepted a role at Texas.
“I would like to thank Director of Athletics, Tom Theodorakis, Superintendent Steven Gilland, and everyone at West Point for their support over the last seven years,” Nigro said. “It has been my great honor to lead Army Swimming & Diving through so many incredible moments and to work with such dedicated cadet-athletes. Together, we achieved NCAA appearances, conference championships, and much more.
“I will be proud of the progress and success we achieved as a program for the rest of my life. Thank you to the Army Swimming & Diving family for welcoming my family and me so genuinely. We will carry these memories and relationships with us into this next chapter of our lives.”
Prior to Army, Nigro served as an assistant coach at NC State for two years (2017-19), primarily working with the sprint freestyle and stroke groups while also assisting with recruiting. He also spent time coaching with Wolfpack Elite, working with elite international sprinters such as Cullen Jones, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Simonas Bilis and Christopher Reid.
Nigro also served as an assistant at Marshall University for one season (2016-17), and spent two years on staff at UMBC as the head coach of the club team, Retriever Aquatic Club, while also serving as an assistant aquatics director.
He began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Wesleyan University for one season in 2013-14.
Prior to joining the collegiate ranks, Nigro served as the head junior coach with the Cheshire YMCA Sea Dog Swim Club while also serving as the head coach at Brookfield High School in Connecticut.
A Bristol, Conn., native, he swam one year at the University of Connecticut before transferring to the College of Charleston, where he won a conference title as a member of the men’s 200 and 400 medley relay teams and was named to the Southern State all-conference and all-academic teams.
Army announced that Kelly Lennon has been named the interim head coach as it begins a national search for a new full-time head coach. Lennon has been at West Point for the past five seasons, including the last two as an associate head coach for the women’s team.
Big ups to Class of 2016 ASCA Fellows. Brandt was a standout in our group; at Marshall then, but he was poised and knew his stuff. Great job!
Happy for him, but it really suck when a swimmer in recruited by a coach just to find out latter that they are leavening. I feel bad for those swimmers that pick to go there for swim for him.
Of all places, you shouldn’t chose to go to Army if the head coach changing affects that decision.
My son committed there, and he is happy for Brandt and Hannah Saiz. He is also just as honored and excited to attend West Point.
The coach had just extended his contract with West Point until 2029, and now he leaves without hesitation. Of course, that’s his right—he’s an ambitious guy. But he just squeezed results out of a few top recruits, leaving the team with a complete mess of a development pipeline.
bunch of Texas boosters had to be talked off a ledge after hearing this news
THEY HIRED A HWHAT???
Steve exposing his true colors…
i’ve been a fairly big Texas hater for a while now
mostly b/c of that song all them said boosters love so much, sorta clicked as soon as I heard em singing it after a meet
Cue scene from Blazing Saddles when Bart rides into town.
Pretty funny play on words (name)!
Heard this was all part of Bob’s plan to get Johnny Crush in a Longhorn cap…you heard it here first.
Don’t worry, Henry Allan on the way
yea…. transfer rules are just a little different for the academies.
Congratulations coach from a former Connecticut swimmer and coach from Waterbury.
And I am sure you will do an outstanding job.
Pete Kennedy
Pete Kennedy:
Great to read your comments! Where are you viving? My email is [email protected]. love to hear from you.
hope you like all these newsletters i’m signing you up for buddy
It’s called a spam folder
Curious what the pay differential was. Assuming it was a decent bump up….
The Braden Holloway Coaching Tree keeps producing fruit! Impressive!
More like the Sean Farrell tree. Cheshire YMCA Sea Dogs making an impact nationwide!
Why would someone negative this comment? It’s truly admirable the amount of coaches coming out of NC State to have big success in other programs. As a minimum that says that Braden knows how to hire a good coach.
1) Virginia fans
2) UNC fans
3) Navy fans who will downvote anything Army
4) Army fans sad he’s leaving
5) People who don’t like extended metaphors
6) People who prefer vegetables
7) People who are hard to impress
8) Folks who are just generally cantankerous
Super surprised Andrew didn’t jump all over this thread. He’s the number one hater of NC State
Y’all aren’t special, Andrew hates everyone.
Great resume at Army no doubt. My question is the results were mostly with men’s team at the elite level. Was that because recruiting women at Army is more difficult or coaching women different?
This seems pretty elite for the women’s team. There are a lot more women’s teams out there so harder to recruit against.
If you look at the development of those athletes, it’s really hard to quibble.
The woman’s team used to be MUCH more than the men I’d say they are closer than pre Brandt. I could be wrong though. Does seem like Navy and Air Force have had an easier time get female swim recruits in the past.
West Point has by far the lowest number of female attendees (as a percentage) of all the service academies. It’s already tough for athletics, when only 20% +/- of the student body is female to being with.
Army also has the highest standards of all academies for the candidate fitness assessment and also the lowest number of medical waivers. All 3 combined make it tougher for candidates in general.
With the West Point admissions process, only some much of this is in the school(and athletic teams) control. There’s a lot of outside influence, including congress.