By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The Bob Bowman era of the Texas swimming & diving program is underway, as the newly-announced men’s head coach has made his first hire, adding Erik Posegay to his staff.
Posegay was announced as the new associate head coach of the Texas men’s team on Thursday, aligning the two coaches who previously worked together at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC) for four years.
Most recently, Posegay served as USA Swimming’s National Junior Team Director and National Coach.
Posegay held the National Junior Team Director role for over two years, taking over that position in March 2022, and was promoted to add the National Coach title in September 2023.
The promotion came after the Allentown, Pa., native led the U.S. team to the top of the medal table at the 2023 World Junior Championships, and then in January, he followed up by being named the head coach of the U.S. team at the 2024 World Championships. The Americans once again topped the medal table, earning Team of the Meet honors.
Prior to USA Swimming, Posegay was on staff for four seasons at Wisconsin, working three years as an assistant coach (2018-21) before being promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2021-22 campaign. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach at Penn State for two years. At both schools, Posegay worked primarily with the distance and IM groups.
Posegay’s time at NBAC came during Bowman’s second stint with the club following his time at the University of Michigan. Posegay started as an assistant under Bowman in 2011, and when Bowman left for Arizona State in 2015, Posegay was promoted to head coach and CEO of NBAC.
On April 1, Bowman was named the new Director of Swimming and head coach of the men’s team at Texas, taking over the latter role from the legendary Eddie Reese following the conclusion of his last NCAA Championship meet after 46 seasons in Austin.
The news broke less than 48 hours after Bowman finished the job at Arizona State, leading the Sun Devils to their first NCAA title in program history.
Upon news of Bowman’s hiring, there was an assumption that longtime Texas coach Wyatt Collins would be heading elsewhere—especially after Carson Foster essentially said his goodbyes to both Reese and Collins in an Instagram story—and the hiring of Posegay seems to confirm that.
Last season, Reese and Collins were the only two full-time swimming coaches listed on Texas’ staff along with volunteer assistants Will Glass and Manny Pollard.
Bowman said in his introductory press conference that diving coach Matt Scoggin would remain on staff.
With the Texas men’s and women’s teams set to become more “combined” in a sense moving forward, with Bowman’s new Director of Swimming role made to share resources between the two teams after they were previously completely separate, the Longhorns now have two former National Junior Team Directors on staff.
Prior to Posegay, Mitch Dalton, the current associate head coach of the Texas women’s team, was USA Swimming’s Junior Team Director for nearly five years from 2015 to 2020.
The Texas men are coming off their lowest finish at the NCAA Championships since 2005, placing 7th last month in Indianapolis.
Posegay has plenty of international experience under his belt beyond his two recent appointments as the head coach at World Juniors and the World Championships, having worked on U.S. staffs at the 2015 Open Water World Championships, the 2013 Duel In The Pool and the 2010 Junior Pan Pacs. He’s also worked on staff for North Macedonia (head coach at 2016 Olympics) and France (assistant at 2014 Euros).
Before he joined Bowman at NBAC, Posegay was the head coach at Parkland High School and Parkland Aquatic Club in his hometown of Allentown for six years, winning a Class 3A high school state title in 2006. He started his coaching career as an assistant at Emmaus Aquatic Club and Emmaus High School (Emmaus, Pa.) from 2002 to 2005.
SwimSwam: Erik Posegay Named Associate Head Coach At Texas, Marking Bowman’s First Hire
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