By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
USA Swimming has spun the carousel again. Precluding what was expected to be a quiet offseason for coaching changes, head coaches from two big Power 4 programs have left to lead the redesigned USA Swimming National Team department.
That includes most lately Wisconsin’s Yuri Suguiyama, who took a role as National Team Senior Director and Coach.
This opens up a pretty interesting job in the Big Ten, one of the two conferences that is leading the way into the new world of college swimming. Wisconsin is in an interesting position – the women’s team has won six NCAA event titles during Suguiyama’s tenure, all on the women’s side. The men’s team has had some moments of success on the conference and national stage, but haven’t been able to land many big-time recruits and haven’t cracked the top 20 at the NCAA Championships since 2017.
The Wisconsin women finished 4th at the Big Ten Championships and the men finished 6th, both a big gap from the big three of Ohio State, Indiana, and Michigan.
This feels like a job that is most likely to grab a current associate head coach or a mid-major head coach – though it would be a step up in the Power 4 rankings for a lot of head coaches.
An aside: we mentioned Neil Caskey at Stanford, but he also spent 5 years as an assistant at Wisconsin. He’s 6 months into a full-time career in the ‘real world’ now, but otherwise might have been in line for either of these jobs.
Suguiyama was making around $188,000 per season.
Keeping it In House
The most obvious place to look for these replacements is in-house: coaches that the AD and team are quite familiar with. In the case of Wisconsin, there are two good choices:
Kristy King, Associate Head Coach – Wisconsin – King is an alum of Wisconsin, graduated in 2008. After spending a year working in the school’s compliance department, she’s had assistant coaching stops at George Mason, Iowa, Michigan, and for the last 7 years back home in Madison, Wisconsin. She would provide continuity, it would bring an alumnus back home (which ADs always like, especially Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh who was an internal promotion at Wisconsin), and she has been responsible for most of the recruiting lead on the women’s side, which has been the more successful of the two programs in recent years. If she wants to move up, the job should be hers. If she doesn’t, the new head coach would be foolish not to keep her, as rare as that might be.
Erik Posegay, Associate Head Coach, Texas – Posegay, who is one year removed from Wisconsin and coaching the defending NCAA Champion Texas men, was responsible for the distance coaching that led Paige McKenna to an NCAA title in the 1650 free in 2022. In total, he spent four years at Wisconsin, ending as associate head coach. Before that, he did two seasons at Penn State, so he has deep Big Ten ties. Right now, being the #2 at Texas might be as good of a job as being #1 at most other colleges, given the status of college swimming, but he’ll certainly get a call to test the waters.
Guys with Regional Ties
Brian Peresie, Head Coach, Akron – One of the most successful mid-major coaches in the area, Peresie has surely had other job interviews and offers. This might be the one that makes him jump, as it’s not too far of a move. Akron just announced a new AD last week, so depending on how that goes (he comes from Gardner-Webb, a swimming school), Peresie might be more motivated to make a move.
Dave Rollins, Head Coach, Florida Gulf Coast – An All-American swimmer at Arizona, Rollins spent 4 years as an associate head men’s coach at Ohio State before leaving in 2016 to take over Florida Gulf Coast. Whether anyone says it out loud or not, Ohio State and Michigan drive the biggest busses in the Big Ten, and picking up a coach with Ohio State on their resume does mean something at a school like Wisconsin (from an AD perspective). He is currently only coaching women at Florida Gulf Coast, where the program has upward lift and momentum thanks to some high profile freshmen last season and high profile transfers next season. His experience as specifically an associate head men’s coach at Ohio State should counterbalance his current focus, though.
Cory Chitwood, Associate Head Coach, Indiana – The Hoosier men and women are the most successful co-gender program in the country outside of Texas, and as a Big Ten school, Wisconsin’s athletics director surely knows that. He has stops at Virginia and Arizona on his resume as well and swam at Arizona. There are some historic Arizona/Wisconsin ties in swimming, so maybe that has an impact here too if someone asks Frank Busch for a recommendation (Frank Busch gets asked for recommendations a lot).
Returning to the Role
This is a group of coaches who had D1 mid-major head coaching jobs, stepped back into associate roles at wildly-successful Power 4 programs, and might now be primed for a big break back to the top.
Rich Murphy, Associate Head Coach, Tennessee – Both the Tennessee men and women had good seasons, though the men and their NCAA Records in the 200 and 400 free relay were the stars this year for a program where the women have historically held most of the cards. He is “responsible for the men’s team’s athletic and cultural development” according to his official bio, and that’s a great claim to walk into an interview with right now. Murphy was the head coach of the women’s team at the University of Houston from 2013-2014 and has also spent time at Arizona, Arizona State, and Bowling Green, as well as a decorated club coaching career that really launched him on the collegiate scene.
Jake Shrum, Associate Head Coach, Virginia – Shrum had a successful run as the head coach at Towson, including leading the men’s team to its first-ever CAA Championship in 2021. He also developed All-American Brian Benzig, among others. A Virginia alum, two seasons in an associate role with the 5-time champion Cavaliers fills in a crucial blank on his resume, which is Power 5 coaching experience.
Other Names to Consider
Jack Brown, Associate Head Coach, UNC – The North Carolina men had a good rebuilding year. Brown has no head coaching experience on his resume, but a lot of associate head coaching at big programs, and a PhD. Plus he was an elite swimmer himself.
Michael Norment, Associate Head Coach, Georgia (Men) – He’s got Luca Urlando and Nic Fink on his resume, and folks in the Southeast are clamoring over Norment’s quality as a coach. No collegiate head coaching experience, and lots of deep ties to the state of Georgia, but whatever program takes a chance on Norment might find themselves a diamond in the rough.
Geoff Hanson, Head Coach, Southern Illinois – A mid-major program that has made a habit out of training All-American backstrokers (which, by the way, is an event that Wisconsin happens to have a long history in as well). Hanson was an assistant head coach at Wisconsin for 10 years, plus another 2 as an assistant, before heading to Arizona for 2 seasons. Bonus: he could bring his assistant Johno Fergusson and his wife Maggie (Meyer), back to Madison. Maggie was the first swimmer in Wisconsin history to win an individual NCAA title when she topped the 200 back in 2011. In an era where fundraising is becoming increasingly important, that whole ecosystem could be of value.
Who else did we miss? Are there any Wisconsin alums climbing the coaching ladders?
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Wild Speculation: Who Will Steer the Ship for the Wisconsin Badgers Swim Team?
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