Nathan Townsend Announced As Little Rock’s Next Head Coach

University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced that it is hiring Nathan Townsend to be the program’s next head swimming and diving coach.

Townsend takes over the program after Amy Burgess resigned from the head coaching position back in April to be able to spend more time with her family.

Little Rock Athletic Director George Lee announced the hiring saying: “I am happy to have Nathan join the Little Rock Athletics team. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will be perfect to help create the next champions in the pool and classroom.”

Townsend most recently was the assistant coach at Division II McKendree University, where he was the programs first-ever assistant swim coach. There he helped the program under Head Coach Jimmy Tierney become one of the top Division II programs. Most notably, the McKendree men were 3rd and the women were 11th at 2023 Division II NCAAs. Jackson Lustig set a Division II Record in the men’s 200 fly with a winning time of 1:40.75.

Prior to McKendree, Townsend was an assistant coach Oklahoma Christian University, coaching alongside Olympic gold medalist Josh Davis.

Townsend graduated with a degree in Kinesiology in 2017 from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. During his time at Southwestern, Townsend was a member of the men’s swimming team, notably earning All-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Team honors from 2015-17.

The Little Rock swimming program only features a women’s program, meaning this is the first time Townsend will not be coaching a combined program. This past season, the Little Rock women were ninth out of 10 teams at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships. Jaelle Carlson was the team’s highest scorer by a wide margin scoring 68 individual points for the team. Carlson will enter her junior season.