BYU Head Swim Coach Shari Skabelund Retires After 37 Seasons with the Cougars

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

BYU head swim coach Shari Skabelund is retiring this offseason after nearly 37 years of coaching with the Cougars swimming & diving program, including the last three as the program’s head coach.

Skabelund has been the head coach of the BYU program since 2021. She started coaching at BYU as a part-time, women’s team assistant to coach Stan Crump in 1987, and other than taking a year off (1990-91) to have daughter Natalya, she has been with the Cougars ever since. After the men’s and women’s programs were combined under coach Tim Powers in 2008, Skabelund was invited to lead the Cougars’ sprint group.

Last season, Skabelund led the Cougars in their transition into major-conference swimming as BYU joined the Big 12. The BYU men finished 3rd at the Big 12 Championships and 35th at the NCAA Championships with 7 points.

That was the team’s first time scoring at NCAAs since 2016, when the team finished 21st.

Skabelund, who coached both the men’s and women’s teams at BYU, was one of the few women to lead a men’s NCAA Division I swimming & diving team. Fellow Big 12 head coach Mandi Disalle-Commons at Cincinnati is another notable example.

Before coaching for BYU, Skabelund was head coach of the girls’ and boys’ swim teams at Springville High School from 1982-87. There, she guided the girls’ squad to state 3A titles in 1985 and 1986.

Skabelund also served as a head club coach for the Springville Seals (1980-2004) and Utah Valley Aquatics (2004-2023). Three of her club swimmers, Brady Wells (2012), Tanner Nelson (2020) and Harrison (2020), have posted Olympic Trials qualifying times. Both Harrison and Nelson also swam under Skabelund at BYU.

“When Stan Crump asked me to join his staff in 1987, I said, ‘No.’ He persisted, and it’s been a great run,” Skabelund said. “My life has been blessed by the student-athletes, my fellow coaches and the athletics-support staff who have become lifelong friends. I thank Elaine Michaelis for her trust, guidance and support. She and Stan championed my first priority: being a mother. I thank Tim Powers for asking me to stretch myself and work with sprinters. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been part of the sport of swimming as it has grown and changed. It’s been a beautiful journey. Finally, I deeply appreciate my family for all of the support they’ve given me over the years. BYU Swim and Dive has experienced incredible progress during the past three years; I hope it can continue for many years to come.”

Skabelund swam for BYU under coach Tim Powers before graduating in 1981. While competing for BYU as a student-athlete, she won Region 18 titles in the 100-yard individual medley (1978) and the 100-yard butterfly (1980) and qualified for the AIAW Nationals in 1978 and 1979. She was the first female swimmer at BYU to complete four years of eligibility.

Current BYU Assistant coach Tamber McAllister has been named the interim head coach while a national search is conducted.

SwimSwam: BYU Head Swim Coach Shari Skabelund Retires After 37 Seasons with the Cougars