Georgia Tech Swimming & Diving associate head coach Bill Koppelman has resigned his position with the school and will move away from coaching. He informed the team of the move Monday.
Koppelman says that while he loves the program and the track they’re on, the decision was more about a full-scale career change.
“I’ve always been an analytics guy, I’m just moving into a career with more stability and more predictable hours,” Koppelman told SwimSwam. “Hopefully I’ll work my way to giving back to the sport in another way in the future.”
He says while he wishes he could’ve stayed on until the NCAA Championships, a job opened up working for the Norfolk Southern Railway in Atlanta, and so the timing just didn’t work out for him to stay with the Yellow Jackets through the end of the season.
Koppelman has been with Georgia Tech since the 2012-2013 season, and prior to that spent 6 years as an assistant at TCU.
He also has previous career coaching stops at Utah and Wyoming.
“Bill Koppelman has been an extremely valuable member of the Georgia Tech swimming and diving staff for the last nine years. He has lead our recruiting efforts for the past several years and has helped take our team to the next level,” head coach Courtney Shealy Hart said of his departure. “As Bill moves on to the next chapter of his life, his friendship and coaching expertise will be sorely missed. We wish he and his family all the best. Go Jackets!”
Koppelman has a degree in mathematics from Wyoming, a Masters of Science in Mathematics from Utah, and a Master of Science in Analytics from Georgia Tech. He and his wife RheAnn have two children.
The Georgia Tech women finished 9th at the ACC Championships in February, while the men’s team finished 7th. The women’s team has two swimmers, Brooke Switzer and McKenzie Campbell, qualified for the NCAA Championships.
While men’s invites aren’t finalized yet, as there are two conference meets and lots of last chances still to come, it appears that the Yellow Jackets are on track to have 4 individual qualifiers for that meet as well.
Bill is absolutely one of the World’s good guys. Congratulations on a superb career. Best to you and your family.
Thank you for your coaching and compassion, Bill. I will always cherish the time you coached me!
Glad to see he is following his passion. DI swim coaching certainly lacks the stability and predictable hours he is looking for. That can be very hard for some with a family focus and who don’t make their career the top priority. We may see other coaches do the same after NCAAs. The pandemic may have given people from a variety of backgrounds time to reflect on their priorities. All the best to Coach Koppelman.
It’s not just D1 coaching, it’s coaching in general. You have to give your heart and soul to the sport and your team to get anywhere in any sport. Long hours, many ungrateful parents and entitled kids just to see those kids who are probably not the best on the team do well. Not to mention that the pay is awful.
Every program, team, and person you were a part of are better because of Bill Koppelman. A difference maker as an athlete and Coach. Thank you for all you did for the sport of Swimming.
Wait, no conspiracy theories, suspicion of wrong doing?! No way.
“They’re just trolls”
“Swimswam commenters just love to attack coaches”
These are the things we hear from guys like Coley Stickels and Brett Hawke who struggle to connect with their athletes.
But, this is evidence that it’s not inevitable as they’d like you to think. There are plenty of other coaches who don’t get ripped on here. Nobody says Jack Bauerle ruined their careers, nobody accuses Dave Durden or Greg Meehan of Title IX allegations.
Just remember that.
Yet you just managed to smear two excellent coaches (Brett and Coley).
And Jack has been ripped on here plenty. Remember his suspension for a year? How quickly we forget.
I guess you’ll need to get me caught up on Jack…I work with someone who was on the deck in Georgia when the “suspension” issue happened…it had NOTHING to do with how he treated any of his athletes…and DEFINITELY not a Title IX allegation.
Jack is a class act.
I always tell a story of when Jack was recruiting a Backstroker from my program and when I was on the phone with him…we didn’t talk about the athlete…he wanted to know about the Trout fishing up in the four corners area…the response I get…”yep, that’s DEFINITELY Jack!”
Masters degrees in math and in analytics. So basically just your typical swim coach.
Great Coach and even better person.
Best of luck – swimming will miss you!!
One of the most brilliant minds I ever met!! I’m honored to have worked with you and learned from you!! You will be missed on the pool deck, my friend!