Swimming & Diving
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach
- Email:
- rfujan@ia.ua.edu
- Phone:
- 205-348-0977
Reed Fujan joined the Crimson Tide staff as an assistant coach in June 2019 and was promoted to associate head coach in July 2022.
With Fujan on board, the Crimson Tide women earned its highest finish at the NCAA Championships in program history in 2022, taking fourth place with a school-record 288 points. The Alabama men would post their eighth-consecutive top-15 national finish that same season, taking 14th at NCAAs. The men and women would see a combined 17 swimmers and divers earn 58 All-America honors.
At the Southeastern Conference Championships, the Tide men were second, their best finish since 1987, while the women were third, their best finish since 1994. The men and women combined to earn 23 medals at the conference meet, including 11 gold.
Under Fujan’s guidance, Crimson Tide distance ace Kensey McMahon continued to come up big for the UA women in 2022, medaling in both the 1,650 and 500 at the SEC Championships and taking bronze in the 1,650 freestyle at the NCAA Championships and taking seventh in the championship finals of the 500.
2022 Crimson Tide rookie Charlie Hawke is another distance success story. After just one season under Fujan’s guidance, Hawke dropped major time, including setting the Alabama long course meters (LCM) record in the 200-meter freestyle with a 1:47.50, and competing internationally as part of the Australian ‘A’ Team.
Overall, the Crimson Tide broke 13 school records during the 2021-22 season. On the women’s side of the slate, every swimming record but one (the 400 individual medley) was held by a member of the 2021-22 team.
Following the collegiate season, McMahon would once again earn a place on the United States National Team, this time in open water, and would be named to the 2022 U.S. FINA World Open Water Championship Team in the 25-kilometer event.
During the 2020-21 season, the Crimson Tide continued to rise, with the women matching their then highest national finish in program history, taking fifth at the NCAA Championships, while the men took 15th at the NCAA Championships, marking their seventh-consecutive top-15 national finish. The men and women combined to earn 20 medals at the 2021 SEC Championships, including 10 golds.
McMahon also continued to come up big for Alabama during her junior campaign, taking silver in the mile at the SEC Championships and scoring in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles at the NCAA Championships, helping boost the Tide to its historic fifth-place finish.Â
During Fujan’s first season as part of the Alabama staff, the Tide enjoyed phenomenal success, qualifying 24 student-athletes for the NCAA Championships, earning 57 All-America honors, winning a league-best nine SEC titles, setting SEC records in four different events and breaking 23 school records over the five days of the SEC Championships.
Fujan also helped McMahon to an amazing sophomore season in his first season on deck, during which she swam away with the SEC 1,650 freestyle, winning by more than seven seconds, destroyed the school 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle marks and earned the No. 2 seed in the mile heading into the NCAA Championship that were eventually canceled due to the global Corona Virus pandemic.
A 2017 graduate of Notre Dame, Fujan served as a volunteer assistant at Indiana. The Hoosiers won their second-consecutive Big Ten Championship and finished third at the NCAA Championships while Fujan was part of the staff. Fujan went on to serve as head coach of St. John’s University swimming and diving during the 2018-19 season.
Prior to embarking on a coaching career, Fujan swam for Notre Dame, serving as co-captain his senior season. A two-time Academic All-ACC honoree, he earned a degree in management consulting major in 2017. A three-time All-American, he clocked the second-fastest 200 freestyle time in Notre Dame history during his career. He earned the Irish’s Most Improved award and the Charles Blanchard award as a sophomore.
A native of Byron, Minn., Fujan was a three-time Minnesota state champion while competing for the Rochester Swim Club Orcas. He earned the team’s most valuable award from 2010-13.
