(Ames, IA) – The Iowa State Swimming and Diving program has a new face at the head coaching position for the first time in 27 years. Former Washington State swimming Head Coach Matt Leach has been named the new Head Coach of the Iowa State swimming and diving team.
Leach has more than an extensive resume after coaching at Washington State for six seasons and developed a program that hadn’t produced an NCAA Championship qualifier in almost a decade. He was able to turn that around, producing a qualifier every year for Washington State. The Cougars were able to get their first NCAA Championship scorer for over 17 seasons and had one of their top performances in the PAC-12 Conference Championships. The Cougars broke a total of six school records and earned a pair of medals while totaling 498.5 points to earn the program’s second-highest point total since 1987.
As a former Indiana University graduate, Leach was a four-time All-American from 2000-04 while helping the Hoosiers to a Big Ten Conference title in the 200-medley relay. The Oregon native still holds the school records for the 200-freestyle relay and the 400-medley relay. He also competed in the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The former Indiana graduate will take over the Iowa State program on May 13th to replace retiring Head Coach Duane Sorenson.