Swimming & Diving
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- cstickels@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-0977
It didn’t take head coach Coley Stickels any time at all to make a huge impact on The University of Alabama’s swimming and diving program after being introduced as the eighth head coach of the Crimson Tide’s combined men’s and women’s program in April 2019.
In his first year as Alabama’s head coach, Stickels’ saw 24 UA student-athletes qualified for the 2020 NCAA Championships – 12 men and 12 women. It was largest number of Alabama women to earn national championship berths in better than 25 years, more than doubling its number of individual qualifiers from the year before. On the men’s side of the slate, the Tide doubled the number of student-athletes who earned a spot in individual events from the year before with eight in 2020.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic forcing an end to the season just days ahead of the national championships, the Tide men, based on seeding heading into NCAAs, were projected to post another top-10 finish, while the women were predicted to post a top-12 finish, which would have been the their first top-20 finish since 2003. A total of 22 UA swimmers and divers would earn a total of 57 All-America honors, including 11 men and 11 women. It was the highest number of All-Americans for the UA men since 1990 and the most for the women since the 1985 season.
The Tide’s national championship berths and All-America accolades came on the heels of an incredible week at the Southeastern Conference Championships where Stickels’ squad combined for an SEC-best nine conference titles while setting SEC records in four different events including Rhyan White in the 100 and 200 backstroke and Zane Waddell in the 100 backstroke as well as Waddell, Liam Bell, Tyler Sesvold and Jonathan Berneburg in the 400 medley relay.
In all, UA won 15 SEC Championships medals (8 women's, 7 men's; 9 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze), led the league in combined men’s and women’s First Team All-SEC honors with nine and men’s First Team All-SEC honors with six. Between first-team, second-team and All-Freshman accolades, the Tide earned 17 SEC certificates in 2020.
Alabama also broke 23 school records over the five days of the 2020 SEC Championships, with the UA women bettering 16 and the men seven.
Waddell, who started his senior season by winning the FINA World Championship and the World University Games 50-meter backstroke titles during the summer, capped his UA career by earning the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy (high point scorer at the SEC Championships) and becoming a SEC Male Athlete of the Year finalist, while diver Tanesha Lucoe started off her Tide career as the SEC Freshman Divers of the Year.
In the classroom, Stickels’ squad earned a trio of CoSIDA Academic All-America honors and 34 CSCAA Scholar-All-America accolades while Waddell was voted the SEC Swimming and Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned an SEC Postgraduate Scholarship.
“It really was an amazing season,” Stickels said. “It was a sprint from the moment I stepped on campus in April until the very last day of the season, but it was an extraordinary experience to say the least. The only thing that slowed us down was the pandemic. While I ache for everyone who had their season cut short, especially our seniors, I couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished or more excited about the foundation we set and where we’re headed from here.”
And those are just some of the highlights of the Tide’s first 10 months under Stickels’ direction.
“The University of Alabama has continually set the bar for collegiate athletic programs, and I cannot express how excited I am to be a part of it,” Stickels said. “I’m excited to be a part of the rich traditions, winning culture and the fantastic resources Alabama provides its student-athletes.”
Stickels joined the Crimson Tide following a two-year stint as Indiana’s associate head sprint coach. The Hoosiers had a program-first sweep of the men’s and women’s Big Ten team titles in 2019. It was also the men’s third-consecutive team championship, while the women captured the league crown for the first time since 2011. In all, the men won 24 medals – 13 gold, six silver and five bronze, and the women took home 14 medals – seven gold, one silver and six bronze.
At the NCAA Championships, Stickels helped guide the Indiana men’s team to back-to-back top-3 finishes for the first time in 44 years. The 2019 third-place finish was thanks to a trio of individual NCAA titles and the 400 medley relay championship. In all, 13 Hoosiers earned a total of 38 All-America honors.
Highlighting the women’s accomplishments was Olympic gold medalist Lilly King, who became the first woman in NCAA history to win eight breaststroke titles, completing her four-year sweep of the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. As a team, Indiana placed ninth overall, earning the program’s fifth-straight top-10 finish and 10th top-10 in school history.
In 2018, the Hoosier men finished third at the NCAA Championships with three IU swimmers winning NCAA titles, the most for the program in 45 years, while also winning the 400 medley relay title, the program’s first NCAA relay title since 1977. That same season, Indiana became the first program in history to sweep all four NCAA titles in the breaststroke in one season.
In February of 2018, the Hoosier men captured the program’s second-straight Big Ten Championship, and 26th overall, winning 24 medals – 14 gold, seven silver and three bronze – as well as four of the five relays for a second-straight year, a program first.
Prior to joining the staff at Indiana, Stickels served as head coach of the prestigious Canyons Aquatic Club in Santa Clarita, Calif. from 2012-17. During his time with the Canyons Aquatic Club, he helped lead the team to unprecedented success with over 50 Southern California swimming records broken, five American records, one world record, six national age group records and four national high school records.
Stickels also helped guide World, U.S. Open and American record holder Abbey Weitzeil to gold and silver medals at the 2016 Rio Olympics as well as 2015 World Championship bronze medalist Santo Condorelli to an Olympic final in Rio.
On the international level, Stickels’ swimmers have earned World Championship gold and bronze medals, Pan-Am Games silver and bronze medals, World University Games gold, silver and bronze medals, Pan-Pacific silver medal and Short Course World Championships gold and silver medals. In 2013-14, Canyons swimmers qualified and competed in the Junior World Championships, as well as Junior Pan-Pacific Championships.
Since 2013, Coley has been a USA National Team coach, including as a staff member of the 2014 Short Course World Team in Doha, Qatar.
Before coaching at Canyons, Stickels was the head coach of Phoenix Swim Club where he helped coach international sprint superstar and former world record holder Roland Schoeman. Schoeman placed fifth in the 2012 in the Olympic Games.
In addition, Stickels coached National Age Group champions, Junior National Champions and nine Olympic Trials qualifiers in 2012, as well as the youngest swimmer at the meet (13 years old).
From 2003-2011, Stickels coached Lake Oswego Swim Club where his swimmers broke eight national age group records and qualified the youngest swimmer in history to the 2008 Olympic Trials (age 12). In 2010, Stickels was named coach to the South African Pac Pacific team.
In total, Stickels has coached swimmers to 15 national age group Records and over 50 No. 1-nationally ranked age group swimmers and relays.
Stickels began coaching in 2001 at Dartmouth College, serving as the men’s and women’s assistant.
During his collegiate career at the University of Arizona, Stickels was a 14-time All-American, graduating cum laude in 2001. He was named First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-American and First-Team Academic All-Pac 10 in 2000. He was also a member of the U.S. National Team from 1999-2000 and swam for Team USA at the Short Course World Championships in 1999.
Stickels and his wife, Lindsay, have a son, Cal.
