EASTON, Mass. (November 22, 2019) – Stonehill College has named Caleb Potvin, a successful coach at the club level in Vermont, as the first head coach of the women’s swimming program, which will begin competition for the 2020-21 academic year. The announcement was made today by Dean O’Keefe, ’94, Director of Athletics at the College, and Potvin will begin his duties on December 1.
“We are excited to welcome Caleb Potvin as the first head coach of our women’s swimming program,” said O’Keefe. “Caleb has an impressive background as a club swimming coach in the New England region, who has taken great strides to improve his credentials at the collegiate level during his time in Texas. He brings the passion and energy that will be needed to start the women’s swimming program here at Stonehill, and will provide our student-athletes a mentor who will foster a culture of personal growth and development in the pursuit of academic and athletic excellence.”
Potvin, a three-time nominee for New England Swimming’s Local Swimming Committee (LSC) Coach of the Year, brings ten years of coaching experience to Stonehill at the club level in Vermont prior to spending the last year in College Station, Texas, where he has continued to build his coaching resume. Potvin has volunteered with the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs at Texas A&M University, observing head coaches Jay Holmes and Steve Bultman, a two-time U.S. Olympic Team coach, and the coaching staff of two of the elite programs at the NCAA Division I level. He has served as camp counselor with the Aggies’ swimming camps this summer.
Potvin was a senior level assistant coach for Aggie Swim Club in College Station, Texas, for one year, where he had regular involvement with planning, coordinating and facilitating senior level workouts, training plans and competitions, working with advanced age group/club level athletes. He trained swimmers who qualified for USA national circuit meets such as sectionals, futures and winter junior nationals. He is a current USA Swimming coach member and earned American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Level 3 certification.
“One of my greatest motivating factors to coach at a high level is the opportunity to be able to give back to all of the athletes, coaches, and the sport that has given so much to me,” said Potvin. “To be able to help usher in a new opportunity for women to continue swimming is both humbling and exciting – but to be able to do so at Stonehill College is a unique privilege. Stonehill has a tradition of excellence with its student-athletes. With focuses on a commitment to excellence, a continual holistic growth for each individual, and community involvement, Stonehill is a perfect fit for my coaching philosophy and vision of excellence for the women’s swimming team. I am looking forward to working alongside such terrific faculty and staff at Stonehill in addition to learning from the many amazing students.”
Prior to moving to Texas, Potvin was head coach of The EDGE Swim Club outside of Burlington, Vermont, for five years. He received the Champlain Valley Swim League Coaching Excellence Award and served as primary coach for senior level swimmers, qualifying athletes for USA national circuit meets. The program captured five consecutive league and state championships between 2014 and 2018, posting a 41-1 dual meet record after the program had not placed higher than fourth at the league/state meet prior to his tenure. He also produced the club’s first US Junior National Qualifier that competed at the Irish Open Championship, while seeing his swimmers qualify for USA SPEEDO Junior National and USA Winter National Championship meets and earn National Club Swimming Association (NSCA) All-America honors.
Potvin was the primary contact for college coaches and had direct involvement in the NCAA recruiting process with the club athletes. He saw 50-percent of the club alumni recruited to NCAA varsity programs, including Division I scholarship athletes, who went on to receive All-America and Conference Rookie/Swimmer of the Year accolades.
Potvin, a native of South Burlington, Vermont, is a 2012 graduate of fellow NE10 member Saint Michael’s College. He was a member of the Purple Knights men’s swimming program as a freshman and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in history from the College. During his undergraduate years, he was a USA Swim Club assistant coach and Summer Swim Program head coach.
Prospective student-athletes and currently enrolled Stonehill students interested in competing as a member of Stonehill’s women’s swimming program can contact Stonehill Athletics at [email protected] for further information.
With 22 intercollegiate sports, after announcing the addition of women’s swimming for the 2020-21 academic year, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. Stonehill has won the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents’ Cup five times, all coming within the last 14 years. The Skyhawks have received the NCAA Division II Presidents’ Award for Academic Achievement each of the first nine years of the program’s existence of honoring institutions with an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90-percent or better. Stonehill has earned a 95% Academic Success Ranking (ASR) by the NCAA, which considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes, good for tenth among all NCAA Division II institutions, with nine Skyhawk teams receiving a perfect rating of 100%. Stonehill won five NE10 Championships during the 2018-19 academic year, with nine programs earning NCAA Division II Championship bids and the equestrian program capturing its tenth Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 1, Region 4 championship.
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