A pillar of high school swim coaching has called it quits.
Rory Fairbanks, who in 2022 was named National Swim Coach of the Year by the National High School Athletics Coaches Association, announced his retirement as head coach of Hutchinson High School in Minnesota.
Hutchinson is located roughly an hour west of Minneapolis.
Fairbanks spent the last 25 years as head coach of the girls’ program at Hutchinson, and was the head coach of the boys’ program during two separate stints, from 2008-16 and from 2018-2025.
“Hutchinson head a strong program when I came in,” Fairbanks said to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I didn’t want to mess it up.”
During his tenure, the Hutchinson girls’ won Class 1A state titles in 2003, 2004 and 2010, while the boys’ garnered a third-place finish in 2024.
“It was a good, long run,” Fairbanks said. “I was fortunate to have the support of the kids, their parents, the school and community through the years.”
Fairbanks said he will continue to teach physical education at the high school, but is stepping away from coaching to have more leisure time.
“I will now have more time to spend with my family … wife, kids and three grandkids with a fourth on the way, and my dog,” he said.
Two notable swimmers currently swimming for Power Five programs, Grace Hanson and Conner Hogan, were under the tutelage of Fairbanks at Hutchinson.
Now a sophomore at Missouri, Hanson holds Minnesota high school state records in the 50 and 100 freestyles and won 14 total state titles between individual and relay events at Hutchinson.
Hogan, who just finished his freshman season at Wisconsin, won a state title in the 100 butterfly at Hutchinson.
