USC Star Harry Homans Joins Fordham’s Coaching Staff under New Head Coach Tom Wilkens

Multiple-time PAC-12 finalist and 2018 Junior National Champion Harry Homans has been announced as the new Assistant Coach at the Division 1 Mid-Major program, Fordham University. Speaking about the new opportunity, Homas said,

“I am super excited to begin my coaching career as a part of the Fordham Swimming & Diving program. I want to thank Tom Wilkens for giving me the chance to showcase my skills and knowledge for the sport of swimming, while being able to mentor and support the next generation of Division I athletes. I cannot wait to become a member of the Ramily and I am ready to positively contribute to the next chapter of the Fordham Swimming & Diving program.”

 

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Homans was a member of the USC program for four years, having just completed his collegiate eligibility and graduating this past spring. In his time with the Trojans, Homans scored at the now-defunct PAC-12 Championships all four years, finishing as high as 7th in the 200 fly (2023). He was also a part of USC’s 2021 NCAA Team, where he anchored the 18th-placed 800 Free Relay in 1:35.94.

Before his time at USC, Homans spent one year at Georgia; at the 2019-2022 SEC championships, he placed 3rd in the 200 fly (1:42.02) and 6th in the 200 back (1:41.88), qualifying for the NCAA Championships but was ultimately canceled due to COVID-19.

Outside of collegiate swimming, Homans was a two-time Olympic Trials qualifier (2021 & 2024) and, while representing the Attleboro Bluefish in 2018, won the 200 fly (2:00.29) at Junior Nationals and placed 7th in the 200 back (2:05.16).

Homans joins the Bronx-based program in the midst of a large change. In August of 2023, long-time head coach Steve Potskian abruptly left the program. By the start of the season, no new head coach had been appointed, but 2000 Olympic Bronze medalist Tom Wilkens, whose son was on the team, was helping to guide the team. Wilkens would then be named interim head coach in mid-October and helped lead the combined program from then on through to the NCAAs.

In the regular season, the women went 9-0, and the men went 8-1. At the Atlantic-10 Championships, the Women placed 3rd out of 11 teams, while the men placed 6th out of 8 teams. At the Women’s NCAA Championships, this past March, junior Ainhoa Martin, who swept the 200 breast, 200/400 IM at A-10s, became just the school’s second-ever NCAA swimmer, placing 38th in the 200 breast.

At the Olympics, Fordham’s Alexander Shah, representing his home nation of Nepal, placed 59th in the 100 free, swimming a new personal best of 51.91. At the A-10 Conference meet, he was 6th in the 100 free (44.30).

Wilkens’ interim tag was removed as he was hired as the full-time coach this past April. The swim and dive staff is rounded out by Zhihua Hu, who has been the diving coach at Fordham for over 25 years.

As an aside, the author of this article swam for ABF and graduated from Fordham.