Tamber McAllister Named Head Swimming & Diving Coach at BYU

By Charlotte Wells on SwimSwam

Tamber McAllister was announced as the new Brigham Young University swimming and diving head coach Wednesday morning. She will be taking over from Shari Skabelund, who served as the head coach for three years and coached at BYU for a combined 37 years.

McAllister will oversee both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs, while Tyce Routson will retain his position as head coach of the men’s and women’s dive teams.

“It is an honor to serve as the head coach of swimming and diving as we continue to embark on our journey into the Big 12 Conference,” McAllister said in a statement. “The legacy established by previous BYU coaches has laid a strong foundation for the team’s future success, and I am genuinely thankful for that. The unwavering pride and spirit of the Cougars is unparalleled, and I eagerly look forward to remaining a part of it.”

McAllister’s appointment as head coach comes after a three year stint as the assistant coach at BYU, where she worked alongside Skabelund from 2021-2024. During this time, she helped the team navigate its first season in the Big 12 Conference, which saw the men’s team finish 3rd in the conference and the women’s team finish 5th.

During the 2023-2024 season, McAllister helped lead the BYU swimming and diving program to a historic performance at the NCAA Championships. The Cougars set school records for individual and relay entries, with eight and three respectively, and registered their first team points and All-American honors since 2016.

While these last three years were McAllister’s most recent tenure as assistant coach, it was not her first time on the BYU coaching staff; she has served as the assistant coach for a combined 16 years across three separate periods.

McAllister first joined the BYU team in 2005 and held the assistant coach position until 2011, when she left to lead the Wasatch Front Fish Market club team for a season. She returned to BYU a year later, coaching from 2012-2018 before she took up the head coaching position at Utah Tech.

McAllister remained at Utah Tech from 2018-2021 and was honored as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year in 2020 before returning once more to BYU.

Throughout McAllister’s years as the BYU assistant coach, the Cougars have set 37 new school records and seen nine All-American performances, 49 individual conference championship titles and eight team conference titles.

BYU’s associate athletic director and swim and dive sport administrator Chad Lewis commented on McAllister’s new role as head coach in the article put out by the athletic department.

“Tamber is ready and qualified to lead our swim and dive team with vision and energy,” Lewis said. “We are very excited about the future of this program.”

McAllister will begin her first season as the swimming and diving head coach during the 2024-2025 academic year.

SwimSwam: Tamber McAllister Named Head Swimming & Diving Coach at BYU