The West Virginia Mountaineers have hired on former volunteer coach Rick West as the program’s new assistant coach, the team announced today.
West has been volunteering with the WVU program since 2012, but has an extensive background as a college coach prior to that.
West was an assistant with Ohio State for a short stint in 2002. From there, he moved into a head coaching role with Duquesne, helping the program pick up its first-ever Atlantic 10 event title.
After a year at Duquesne, he moved to Pitt as an assistant coach, competing in the Big East Conference against the Mountaineers, his future coaching home.
West was also the head coach at Wheeling Jesuit from 2007 through 2012, when he started volunteering with the West Virginia program.
“Rick brings a high quality of coaching expertise, and I look forward to him making our program better in and out of the pool,” WVU head coach Vic Riggs said in the team’s press release.
“Rick’s enthusiasm for coaching and the sport is what I am excited most about him bringing to the program. These aspects will enhance both the day-to-day operations of our program and in our recruiting,” said Riggs.
West, a West Virginia native, called the position a dream come true:
“I am thrilled to accept the position at West Virginia University,” he said. “The focus on swimming well at the Big 12 Championship, the NCAA Championship and the Olympic trials have helped Vic Riggs and his staff to build a competitive program that has consistently performed well in those meets.
“The opportunity to become a part of a program on the rise, which also happens to be my home state, is a dream come true,” he said. “Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer.”
I’m disgusted. First the Steelers hire Michael Vick and now WVU hires Rick West. Doesn’t anyone care about character anymore? I would not trust him around ANY females. Being a coach is a position of trust – do not trust him.
Is SwimSwam going to look into these strong accusations? If true it seems like a poor hire and/or a lack of vetting during the hiring process. If false I believe these comments should be taken down.
In a sport where our coaches continue to face “black eyes” from a seemingly growing handful of predators that use and abuse their influence as authority figures on the individuals they are supposed to protect. We can’t allow coaches who have shown poor judgement in the past to continue coaching at a different venue when we have so many that do their job with the highest levels of integrity and quality.
My apologies for dipping into the rumor mill, but didn’t WVU… Read more »
Hi Asking, unfortunately, I think that WVU made a big mistake overlooking his past history with other teams.
It is my understanding that at his last coaching position, he was openly having an affair with one of the graduate assistants/assistant coaches.
While yes, she was an adult, it was still an inappropriate relationship because he was the head coach, and she was a graduate assistant. Plus, he was married with children.
He “resigned from the position” before the previous team ever did anything about it, but the university did then promptly fire the remaining assistant coaches/graduate assistants because they were aware of the situation and covered it up. I do believe that he is now actually married to said graduate… Read more »
Asking & Also A Former Swimmer: Yes that is true but the relationship began when she was a swimmer at the college before a graduate assistant. Enough Said!
Asking. We can only hope they look into the allegations. I promise you they did not call the administration at his former school. He was virtually ran out of town.
That being said, I swam damn fast under Rick West. Were his sets garbage? Sometimes. Was he a good technician? Not even a little bit. Was I highly motivated? Yes. Many of his “coach of the year” wins came in made up, weak conferences. Did we like to win? Sure. But our competition was not exactly lighting up the pool.
He is a good recruiter. He will make a lot of promises and he will charm the pants off of every recruit he meets (literally). He’s a good motivator.… Read more »
It is unfortunate that West Virginia seems to have looked past his indiscretions. One could argue that having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a swimmer turned graduate assistant might violate some ethics rules somewhere. If I was a parent, there is not a chance in hell I would send my daughter to swim for WVa.
I really wonder if WVU is aware of how much he screwed up his past team? Not just in his actions, but verbally as well. Not exactly the nicest guy. Honestly if I were a female on that team, either swimmer or grad assistant especially, I’d be a little bit uncomfortable.
Interesting hire considering his past indiscretions.