About the Program
5/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Alabama Swimming and Diving has produced...
56 Olympians
Six Olympic Gold Medals
19 Individual National Collegiate Titles
22 National Top-10 Team Finishes
166 All-Americans
15 SEC Coach of the Year Honors
13 SEC Athlete of the Year Honors
Head coach Eric McIlquham leads one of the nation's most storied programs, having taken over the reins before the 2003-04 season.
The Alabama Crimson Tide’s history of excellence continued last season when Vlad Polyakov won his second NCAA 200 breaststroke title. It marked the fifth year in the last six that an Alabama swimmer or diver has won an NCAA title. In 2004 Lane Bassham went undefeated through the regular season off the one and three-meter board, won the one and three-meter boards at the Southeastern Conference Championships and won Alabama’s first women’s national diving title, taking first off the three-meter board at the NCAA Championships. She also took second off the one-meter board and was named NCAA Diver of Meet. She was named SEC Diver of the Year while long-time diving coach Pat Greenwell was named NCAA Diving Coach of the Meet as well as being named SEC Coach of the Year for the fifth time. And before Polyakov and Bassham, Stefan Gherghel won back-to-back 200 butterfly titles in 2002 and 2003.
Alabama's mentors have long been recognized as being among the nation's finest. Gambril coached five U.S. Olympic teams, including serving as head coach of the 1984 squad, as well as taking Alabama to a 270-49 combined career mark.
He retired after the 1990 season and handed the torch to his first NCAA Champion, Jonty Skinner. Skinner carved out his own mark, coaching both the men and the women back into the nation's top-10 and earning Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year honors in 1994. After that season, Skinner was tapped by United States Swimming to direct the U.S. Resident National Team, a program that prepares the nation's top athletes for Olympic competition. Skinner was followed by Chuck Horton, who gave way to Don Wagner.
Diving has always been a point of pride for the Crimson Tide, which has seen its athletes win SEC Diver of the Year honors 11 times since 1981. The Tide's diving coaches, starting with Bob Webster in 1981, have earned SEC Diving Coach of the Year honors 10 times. Alabama's current diving mentor, Pat Greenwell, has earned the honor five times since 1990.
Alabama's swimming and diving program began when the men's team got underway with the 1959-60 season under the late John Foster. Since that first season, the Crimson Tide men's program has put together an impressive run that includes over 350 dual meet wins and along with a pair of SEC team titles, both of which came under the tutelage of legendary coach Don Gambril. Alabama has finished in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships a dozen times including a program high second place finish in 1977. Individually, the Tide men have produced NCAA Champions with Gherghel and Polyakov joining a long line of winners.
Alabama's women came together as a team for the 1974-75 season under the tutelage of Gary Illman. Alabama's women have put together almost 200 dual meet wins over the past 25-plus years. In 1985, under Gambril's direction, Alabama's women won the Southeastern Conference title. The Tide has posted nine top-10 national finishes and earned seven individual national titles with Bassham earning the latest titles.
