It has been a week of big coaching changes in collegiate swimming & diving as programs scramble to fill vacant positions ahead of the start of the academic and practice seasons, and the University of Wisconsin has been on both ends of those moves this week.
After Trevor Maida was announced as a new assistant coach at Louisville, Cauli Bedran will back-fill his slot at Wisconsin, joining the Badgers as an assistant. Already well-familiar with the Big Ten, Bedran spent the last two seasons as a full-time coach at Michigan and three before that as a volunteer assistant.
Bedran, a native of Brazil, has worked primarily with the sprint group during his time with the Wolverines.
Prior to that, he spent 1 year as an assistant coach at Bowling Green, where the women’s program finished 5th in the MAC in 2018. He also spent 1 year as head coach and aquatics director for NCAA Division II school Olivet College in Olivet, Michigan after 6 years as an assistant at Division II Wayne State.
Bedran is a 2010 graduate of nearby Wayne State University, finishing a degree in political science in 2010. He also worked on a Ph.D. in comparative politics while serving as an assistant coach.
As an athlete, he was part of one of the top D2 swimming programs in the country at the time. He personally earned 24 All-America honors out of a maximum 28 possible and was part of three top 3 team finishes at the NCAA D2 National Championship meet. In the 2009-2010 season, he was named the Wayne State Male Student-Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the Wayne State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2016.
“We feel extremely fortunate to add Cauli to our coaching staff,” Wisconsin head coach Yuri Suguiyama said. “The more I moved through this process with him, the more it became clear that he would be a perfect fit for our program. Not only has he had success at every level he’s coached, but his personal values and the importance he places on the development of his athletes directly aligns with the values of our program. Cauli has a tremendous reputation across the NCAA and I have no doubt that he’ll impact us on day one. Welcome to Madison, Cauli, (wife) Lauren, (children) Mila, Cohen, and Lenna!”
Bedran was not retained at Michigan by new head coach Matt Bowe, who replaced the retiring Mike Bottom in the offseason. The only holdover from that staff who Bowe brought back was the program’s lone female assistant Priscilla Barletta.
Because he didn’t have another job, this hiring begins to put some brakes on the coaching carousel, as no position needs to be back-filled.
Last season, the Wisconsin women finished 15th at the NCAA Championships, led by 2nd place finishes from Phoebe Bacon in the 200 back and Abby Carlson in the 500 free. Paige McKenna also picked up First Team All-America honors with a 3rd-place finish in the 1650 free. All three swimmers return this season.
Wisconsin was led by Jake Newmark, who placed 4th in the 500 free at the NCAA Championships as part of a 23rd-place team finish. He also returns as a senior next season.
At the Big Ten Championships, both the women and men finished 4th – the women were out of 12 teams and the men out of 8. For the women, that was their best finish since 2017. In both cases, they finished one spot behind Bedran’s Michigan squad.
He made a commitment this year to Bowling Green and then backed out. Poor.
To be head coach? I’m not disagreeing that it’s poor for him to have backed out, but being an assistant at bowling green would not have been a permanent position for him, would have likely only been a year
Right. But he made a commitment to be an assistant. Very poor.
Still no actual diving coach named?!
BTW…”BRAKES” not “breaks”…..
… ? Yahya has been the dive coach for a few years now.
NOPE…
YOU are misinformed!
If you’re talking about Michigan, yes you wold be correct
Congratulations Cauli!
The University of Olivet is DIII
Great hire, go well Cauli!