James Koval Named Head Swimming Coach At Washington College

Courtesy: Washington College Sports

Chestertown, MD– Washington College’s Associate Vice President and Director of Athletics, Thad Moore, named James Koval the next head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming programs.

“We are happy to welcome James to Washington College and to our swimming programs,” states Moore. “His desire to develop and empower the whole athlete resonated with the search committee and current athletes on the team. His coaching style and vision are the perfect match for our department and will allow us to continue to get better in and out of the pool.”

Koval comes to Washington College after serving as head coach of the Chatham University men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs from 2023 to 2025.  Koval’s time at Chatham produced five individual Presidents Athletic Conference champions, and he was named 2025 PAC Women’s Swim Coach of the Year after the Cougar women nearly doubled their conference championship points total from the year prior.

Prior to Chatham, Koval served as the assistant swim coach at Carnegie Mellon University from 2021-23.

Koval is originally from Charleston, South Carolina and graduated from West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 2018, and with a masters’ degree in the same in 2020.