Courtesy: Wilmington Athletics
(WILMINGTON, Ohio) – Wilmington College Director of Athletics Matt Croci announced this afternoon the hiring of Michael Branch as the Quakers’ new Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach. Branch becomes the third head coach in program history.
“We are excited to welcome Michael back to Wilmington,” Croci said. “He has great knowledge of the community, swim program, and our alumni. That will help him hit the ground running and move our program in the right direction.”
After competing collegiately for four years at fellow Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) institution University of Mount Union, Branch began his coaching career right here in Wilmington under longtime head coach Trip Breen as an assistant and recruiting coordinator.
Branch spent two seasons at Wilmington before moving on to NCAA Division II institution Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, as an assistant coach.
He then moved on to an extremely successful NAIA program in the Olivet Nazarene University Tigers for two seasons as an assistant. Branch helped guide the women’s team to a 3rd place finish nationally in 2021-22 and 2022-23 while the men’s team finished 8th nationally in 2021-22 and 9th in 2022-23.
His final stop was as an assistant with the Wittenberg University Tigers for the last two seasons. Branch’s main duties over the last several years as an assistant coach has been developing seasonal and daily practice plans, recruiting across multiple states, assessing talent, on-deck coaching, one on one training, underwater video analysis, among several other duties.
Another job Branch has done over the years has been working as an Aquatics Coordinator. In this role, he oversaw the daily operations of the facility, managed a staff, coordinated the pool schedule, and ensured the proper safety regulations and emergency procedures were followed.
Branch also worked as a head coach in high school and for several youth and club programs for a few years before and during his college coaching career.
He graduated from Mount Union with a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training and a minor in Exercise Science. He also has a Master of Business Administration degree from Olivet Nazarene.
