BATON ROUGE — Sean Schimmel, who served as associate head coach for LSU’s swimming and diving teams the past two years, has been named the head coach at Maryland, Maryland athletic director Deborah A. Yow announced Monday.
Schimmel joined the Tigers staff prior to 2006-07 season. The Ridgewood, N.J. native served as team’s recruiting coordinator and helped bring in some of the top recruits in the country which helped push the Tigers into the top 20 last season.
“Of course, we are all going to miss Sean and the two years he was here, but I am happy for him and his family in getting the opportunity to coach at the University of Maryland,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “When you have assistants going on to becoming head coaches, that is a positive sign that we are building a strong program at LSU. It is truly a testament to what we have been doing here at LSU.”
This past season, Schimmel helped produce six male All-American honors. He helped guide five Tigers to NCAA All-America honors on the men’s and women’s teams in 2007.
Before his arrival in Baton Rouge, Schimmel served as an assistant coach at Harvard for seven seasons where he was a valuable recruiter and asset in attracting elite athletes for the Crimson.
Schimmel helped guide the Harvard men to four Eastern Intercollegiate Swim Conference championships, a 58-4 dual-meet record and NCAA top-25 finishes in five seasons. The Crimson’s highest NCAA finish during Schimmel’s tenure was 17th in 2002.
Under the tutelage of head coach Tim Murphy, Schimmel earned coaching experience in all events at the Ivy League school. Individually, his expertise led Harvard to 25 All-America honors — first team and honorable mention — and 12 Olympic Trial qualifiers during the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials. The Crimson also broke 14 school records during his tenure.