RENO, Nev. (Nevada Press Release) – The University of Nevada has hired Reno native Brendon Bray as the head coach of the women’s swimming and diving program, athletics director Doug Knuth announced on Friday. A graduate of Reno High School and former collegiate standout swimmer, Bray joins the Wolf Pack with 12 years of coaching experience.
Bray arrives to Nevada following a successful stint at North Texas, leading the Mean Green for three seasons. Bray also boasts Mountain West expertise as a former associate head coach at San Diego State and additional west coast expertise as a former assistant coach at Washington.
“We are thrilled to welcome Brendon to Nevada athletics and to welcome him back home to Reno,” said Knuth. “His experience as a head coach, his strong recruiting ties throughout the west and the fact that he is a native Nevadan were major factors in this selection. We expect Coach Bray to continue the excellent tradition of this program and to keep us in contention for Mountain West titles and national rankings.”
Bray was born in San Francisco before moving to Reno, where he lived for 14 years until graduating from Reno High School as a three-time state champion. Bray swam collegiately at Utah and Washington before beginning his coaching career.
“I’m very appreciative of the opportunity to return home and coach at Nevada,” said Bray. “I aim to continue this program’s history of success both in the classroom and in the pool at the conference and NCAA level, and I look forward to meeting the team soon. I owe a great deal to Doug Knuth and Rhonda Bennett for giving me a shot and I will be hitting the ground running in Reno this July.”
Bray recently led North Texas to one of its best seasons in recent program history, highlighting Bray’s building process as the Mean Green transitioned into a new conference. North Texas posted a 7-4 dual record in 2015-16, finishing with the second-most dual wins and second-best winning percentage in school history. North Texas also placed fourth at the Conference USA Championships, which marked the program’s best league finish since joining the conference.
Bray helped freshman Rebekah Bradley win a conference title in the 200-yard backstroke, which marked the program’s first individual C-USA title. Bray coached Bradley and Claudia Kitching to all-conference honors while the team posted 15 NCAA “B” cut times.
In his second season at the helm, North Texas posted a 4-4 dual record with a fifth-place finish at the Conference USA Championships in 2014-15. The Mean Green opened the season with a 3-1 record, the best start in program history, and notched wins against Houston and Rice. North Texas also earned all-conference honors in the 400 medley relay and 400 IM. Seniors Krista Rossum and Mona Groteguth set three program records on the season.
In his first season at North Texas, the team’s first season in C-USA, the Mean Green set four program records and tallied NCAA “B” cut times in three events. The Mean Green placed fifth at the C-USA Championships.
In addition to all the success in the pool, Bray established a tradition of excellent academic achievement at North Texas. The Mean Green receiving CSCAA Scholar All-America Team honors for all three spring semesters under Bray’s command. His team also eclipsed 3.5 cumulative GPAs and ranked in the top 15 nationally in three straight seasons.
Bray arrived to North Texas from San Diego State, where he coached the Aztecs for six seasons from 2007-13 and helped turn the program into a national contender. Bray was an assistant coach at SDSU before being promoted to associate head coach.
Prior to Bray’s arrival at SDSU, the program had finished last at the conference meet for five straight seasons. After helping recruit the fourth-ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2009, Bray then led the Aztecs to its first Mountain West championship in program history in 2011 before repeating as league champions in 2013.
Bray elevated SDSU to a peak No. 9 national ranking in NCAA Division I according to CollegeSwimming.com and frequent top 25 CSCAA rankings. During Bray’s tenure, the Aztecs broke every single swimming and diving program record and posted a 77-14 overall dual record, becoming a conference and regional power. Bray coached three Mountain West Swimmers of the Year, six NCAA All-Americans and 13 individual NCAA Championship participants during his tenure. SDSU also posted a 26-1 dual record in three seasons following Bray’s promotion into the role of associate head coach.
Bray began his coaching career at his alma mater, Washington, where he served as undergraduate assistant from 2004-05 before being promoted to a men’s and women’s assistant head coach from 2005-07. As the program’s recruiting coordinator, Bray oversaw all recruiting operations and helped bring the top-ranked recruit in the nation to Washington in 2007. Bray also coached multiple NCAA qualifiers and NCAA Championship scorers while at UW.
After graduating as a three-time state champion at Reno High School, Bray went on to become a four-year collegiate letter winner. He began his collegiate career at Utah, competing for one season before transferring to Washington. Bray was a three-year letter winner with the Huskies and won the team’s most improved award as a junior and most inspirational award as a senior. Bray was a senior national qualifier and Pac-12 championship participant while at UW. He has also been a participant at the USA Swimming National Championships.
Bray received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington in 2005 before earning a master’s degree in intercollegiate athletic leadership at UW in 2007.
Swimming news courtesy of Nevada Swimming & Diving.
