Fordham swimming head coach Steve Potsklan announced the hiring of Jen O’Neil as assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s teams on Monday.
O’Neil comes to Fordham after serving as an assistant coach at Central Connecticut State, helping lead the Blue Devils to the 2015 Northeast Conference Championship. The Blue Devils won nine events at the Championship, while individually Maddy Garber was named the Rookie of the Meet.
O’Neil assisted with all facets of the program, including recruiting, in-pool practices and dryland workouts, and travel coordination.
In addition to working with the Central Connecticut women’s team, O’Neil also worked with the Blue Devil Aquatics Swim Club, formerly known as the SONOCO Swim Club. She served as the assistant head swim coach for the club, as well as the Master’s Swim and Triathlon head coach. She wrote and instructed on all workouts for the Master’s and Triathlon programs, as well as handling National, Senior, and Age Group Level practices.
Prior her stint at CCSU, O’Neil coached at the high school level at Hamden High School, where she was the boys’ head coach for the 2012-13 season, and Newtown High School, where she was the girls’ assistant swim coach in 2012. At Hamden, she had 11 swimmers qualify for the SCC Championship and eight for the CIAC LL Trials.
Before coaching, O’Neil was a multiple-time NCAA Division II All-American in the breaststroke events at Southern Connecticut State University. A two-year captain at SCSU, she graduated with school records in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, the 200 and 400 medley relay, and the 200 freestyle relay. She earned Northeast-10 event titles in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events, as well as the 200 and 400 medley relay, setting conference records in all four events.
O’Neil graduated from Southern Connecticut State in 2012 with a degree in Exercise Science with a concentration in Human Performance.
Swimming news courtesy of Fordham Swimming.
