Hawaii Promotes Assistant Elliot Ptasnik To Men’s & Women’s Head Coach

With former University of Hawaii head coach Dan Schemmel making the leap to coach the Stanford men, Hawaii has filled his role with former assistant Elliot Ptasnik, who will now become the head coach for both men and women.

Ptasnik has been with the Hawaii program for the past three seasons, working as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. The Hawaii women have won MPSF team titles in all three of his seasons on the women’s side, and won the men’s title in 2019. Ptasnik has also had a role in coaching Phoebe Hinesthe team’s current standout swimmer in the distance freestyles.

Ptasnik has head coaching experience at the club level: he headed up the Manhattan Makos club in New York, starting with the club’s establishement in 2009. He’s an alumnus of the University of Iowa, where he was a four-year letterwinner in swimming.

The move solidifies another Division I head coaching opening in what’s been a pretty busy offseason for NCAA coaching turnover. We now have new head coaches at Stanford (for the men’s program; Schemmel), Alabama (former Indiana assistant Coley Stickels), North Carolina (former Missouri assistant Mark Gangloff), Hawaii (Ptasnik), Princeton (former William & Mary coach Matt Crispino) and Missouri (former assistant/interim head coach Andrew Grevers) among several others.

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Anonymous
5 years ago

It seems odd for an athletic department to promote. But I like it! What is the general history of college level coaching? Were promotions like this more common? Did coaches stay put more? The last couple of years seem wild to me, but I just started paying attention.

JB Hansbury
5 years ago

Amazing!!
Congrats

Sam Kendricks
5 years ago

Congrats on the promotion Elliot! You have yourself a great some great diving coaches in Mike and Anita. All the best to you and your team!

Dcswim
5 years ago

I’d coach at Hawai’i just for the shirts! Congrats!

Sergio Lopez Miro
5 years ago

Congrats Elliot!!!! So very happy for you 😉

speedoswim
5 years ago

Great job!@!!! Good luck Elliot!!!

David
5 years ago

YES!

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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