History
Auburn's swimming and diving program got off to a modest start in 1932. Swimming in the basement of the Alumni Gym (which no longer exists on campus) the Tigers swam in a small pool which only had room for three lanes. Swimmers were timed and results were telegraphed to other schools for comparisons. The first real competitions were held in 1936, with ten swimmers competing. The Tigers first swam in the SEC Championships in 1940 and placed 5th. With the outbreak of World War II, Auburn stopped all intercollegiate sports and swimming was not reinstated after the war due to inadequate facilities.
The team was reinstated in 1947, and reentered the SEC Championships by 1948. Auburn's new pool was built in 1970 as the SEC swimming teams started to gain recognition nationally. Auburn finished 3rd in the SEC and 17th in the NCAA meet in 1974, the highest finish in school history at that time. The Tigers climbed up to second in the NCAA's by 1978, in which Auburn captured the first individual NCAA champion in school history when Scott Spann Sr. won the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke. Women's swimming was added as an SEC and NCAA sport (before 1982 it was an AWIA sport) in 1982, after the women's Auburn team was already competing. The women finished fourth in that year.
In 1990, Auburn hired David Marsh who would take the Tigers to new heights. He led the 1994 men to an SEC title, the first in school history. That same year, the Tiger women won the 200-yard (180 m) medley relay, becoming the first team outside of Stanford, Texas, or Florida to win a NCAA title in a relay at the NCAA meet. The men would go on to win the 1997 National Championship, the first team in Auburn history to win an NCAA title. The women swimmers became the first Auburn women's team to win an NCAA title in 2002. The women would then win the SEC title in 2003 for the first time, with the men also winning an SEC Championship (their seventh consecutive) marking the first time the men's and women's SEC championships were held by the same school. Later that year, the Auburn teams combined to sweep the NCAA titles, another first for men's and women's teams coached by the same person. Auburn had established itself as a national swimming power. Auburn had another first for a swimming program in 2005. After winning the 2005 national title the Auburn men's team became the first men's swimming and diving team invited to be honored at the White House by then President George W. Bush. The women joined the men the next year.
David Marsh's career as Auburn Head Coach ended in March 2007 after leading the Tigers to the 2007 Men's and Women's national titles in his fourth sweep of the events. Marsh finished with 17 SEC Championships and a record-tying 12 National Championships. The coach he tied is incoming Tigers coach Richard Quick who won 12 combined national titles as the Women's Head Coach for Texas and Stanford.
In 2008 the Auburn women finished second to Arizona Wildcats while the men finished in fifth place.
In 2009 the Tigers reclaimed the Men's national title by edging out second place Texas by 39 points. The 2009 title was the eighth for the men and the 13th overall for Auburn. It also marked Richard Quick's 13th title after winning twelve at Stanford and Texas. He moved ahead of former Auburn coach David Marsh for the most titles for a coach in his career and became the first coach to win national titles at three schools.
During the 2008-2009 season Brett Hawke, a former Auburn swimmer himself, took over the day to day running of the men's program after Richard Quick was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After the season Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs announced that Hawke would be promoted to Co-Head Coach and would work with both the Men's and Women's programs while consulting with Quick.
Read more about this topic: Auburn Tigers Swimming And Diving
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