By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Grand Canyon University alumnus Paul Root will return to his alma mater as the new associate head coach of the swimming & diving program. Root is a 2013 graduate of GCU, where he swam for one season while it was an NCAA Division II program.
“We are thrilled to have Paul joining our staff,” said GCU head coach Steve Schaffer. “Paul will bring great energy to our recruiting and coaching, and he will have a huge impact on helping us in the emerging new era of NIL development. The fact that he is one of our alums just adds all of the upsides of bringing him into our staff.”
This is Root’s first NCAA coaching job. Most recently, he has been the head coach of the Arizona Dolphins from 2019 through 2025. He led the team to four top-10 finishes at the Western Senior Zones meet and set 41 LSC Records. He also coached Delaney Barbee to the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, where at 15 she was one of the youngest swimmers in attendance. In 2022, Barbee turned heads when she split 21.59 on a relay anchor at just 13 years old.
During his time with the Arizona Dolphins, he also spent four seasons as the head coach at Boulder Creek High School, where his teams won 10 Arizona Division I High School State Championships. The girls’ team finished 7th at the fall 2024 championship meet among the state’s largest high schools.
While this is Root’s first NCAA coaching experience, it is not his first collegiate coaching experience: from 2016 through 2020, he was the first head coach at NAIA Arizona Christian University. There, his athletes won five All-America honors and the women’s team finished 12th at the NAIA National Championships in 2019.
Before his work with the Arizona Dolphins, Root was the head of development at the Phoenix Swim Club from 2013 through 2019.
Outside of the pool, Root is the Senior Vice Chair of the Arizona Swimming LSC Board of Directors.
Root is a native of Prescott, Arizona.
The Grand Canyon men finished 4th out of 6 teams at the 2025 WAC Championship meet, while the women finished 3rd out of 9 teams. The program is currently betrothed to the MPSF next season and the Mountain West Conference for the following season among a big conference shakeup out west.
He will replace Chris O’Linger in the associate head coach role; O’Linger has not yet announced what his next job will be. Grand Canyon’s staff also includes assistant coaches Takahisa Ide and Scott Trompeter.
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