James Winchester Adds Four Coaches To Staff At TCU

Newly hired TCU swimming and diving coach James Winchester has announced the hiring of four coaches to his staff. He will be bringing on Anthony Crowder, Nathan Lavery, Birkir Jonsson,and Jean Madison.

“I’m really excited about the staff we have assembled,” Winchester said. “The administration and myself took our time to make sure we found the right fits. In doing so, we found a phenomenal and hungry staff with championship experience at all levels and we’re excited to move forward and put TCU back on the map.” 

Crowder comes to TCU after four years at George Washington University where he coached under Winchester as the head diving coach.

“It is a pleasure to bring Anthony on board as our new diving coach,” Winchester said. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with him for the last three years and he’s been a key part of our championship success at GW.   He’s a passionate coach, very relationship-oriented, and I know he’s going to be a major success here.”

Lavery previously was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech for the 2017-18 season, and before that was with Villanova for five years.

“Although we had a great pool of candidates, Nathan really stood out to  the administration and myself during the process,” Winchester said. “He’s well-articulated, brings Power Five experience from his time at  Georgia Tech and championship experience from his time at Villanova. I know he’s excited to be back here in Texas.” 

Like Crowder, Jonsson is also coming over from George Washington, coaching for the Colonials for six seasons and also acting as their men’s recruiting coordinator.

“I had the pleasure of working with Birk for many years,” Winchester said. “He swam for me at the University of New Orleans and we worked together for the last three years at GW. He was a big part of our success there, in charge of our men’s recruiting and sprint programs. He’s really grown and developed as a coach these last few years and I’m excited to see what he will do at this level.” 

As for Madison, she’ll return to TCU after spending a year coaching with William Jewell University. Before that, she was a graduate assistant with the Horned Frogs for two years.

“Jean is going to be a tremendous asset to our program right from the  start,” Winchester said. “Her technical knowledge is pretty high, especially swimming in the 3s system down at FIU under Randy Horner, the  same system we will use here at TCU. As a young coach, she has  definitely shown her grasp of the sport, is a relentless recruiter, and already has key experience here at TCU. She’s one of the bright young  coaches in our profession and I’m excited to see what she can do here. 

“As we build a culture of success here at TCU, it was important to me to bring in a staff that has had Championship level success, has high standards and a keen eye for people development. My staff and I will provide our student athletes with the tools needed to be successful in the classroom, pool, but most importantly in life as well. We are here to do something special and I look forward to taking the journey together with this staff.