Eddie Reese, legendary Texas swimming & diving coach, to retire in June 2024
Texas men’s swimming and diving head coach Eddie Reese, a legend in the sport who has helped Texas to 15 team NCAA titles, 13 national runner-up finishes, and 36 top-threes at the NCAA Championships, will retire following the conclusion of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in late June, UT announced on Friday.
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Reese, entering his 46th season at Texas, has helped the Longhorns win 44-straight conference titles and place in the top-10 at the NCAAs in 43 consecutive seasons.
“Where we are today and where I am today is made possible by everyone who has swum here before and is swimming here now,” Reese said in a statement. “They are the reasons behind the success of this program. When people get together with the mindset of accomplishing something, even though it is tough during that year in time, it adds up to something truly amazing. I want to thank those guys who trusted me, did all the hard workouts and made the sacrifices in and out of the water.
“Working with swimmers has been one of the true joys of my life In my life, I’ve discovered that the most important thing for us to do in this world is help others, whether it be for something simple or complex. It has been an honor for me to be a part of this program.”
Reese retired for the first time in the spring of 2021 after the Longhorns won the program’s 15th team national title. A few months later Reese elected to return to the program, a move Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte and president Jay Hartzell had fun with on social media.
“Eddie Reese is truly the greatest coach ever,” said Del Conte. “His records speak for themselves, but the way he led his program, trained and prepared his student-athletes to perform at their best in the pool and all facets of their lives, is just exemplary and extraordinary. Nobody has or will ever do it better.”
Reese was hired in 1978 by Darrell Royal, then the Longhorns athletic director. Texas won 17 straight Southwest Conference titles beginning in 1980, a stretch that also included national championships in 1981, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1996. Upon joining the Big 12, Reese’s program has dominated the league winning every men’s swimming and diving championship during the conference’s existence. The Longhorns have also won the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021 national championships as members of the Big 12.
Reese is an eight-time NCAA coach of the year, a four-time College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America coach of the year, and a four-time American Swimming Coaches Association coach of the year. Seventy-five Longhorns have won individual national titles, and 55 relay teams have been the best in the land under his watch.
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Twenty-nine Olympians have come from Reese’s program and have earned 63 medals, including 39 gold. Reese is a member of the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor.
The swimming and diving program’s outdoor training pool was named in his honor in 2020. A national search for Reese’s successor will begin at the conclusion of the NCAA Championships season in March, per the school.
“To coach swimming well, it cannot be a job. It’s got to be a lifestyle,” Reese said. “In reality, I haven’t had a job for the 58 years that I’ve coached. It has been an incredible part of my life. And the incredible part has had nothing to do with winning and losing. It has to do with the people that I’ve been lucky enough to be around. They have kept me young, and they showed great acceptance by continuing to laugh at my bad jokes.
“For those who add to the program, from the parents of the swimmers to compliance to academics to nutrition to the training room, and to The University of Texas, this could not have been accomplished without your contributions.”
The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials are scheduled to take place June 15-23, 2024 in Indianapolis.
Per release, Reese and his wife, Elinor, have two daughters, Holly and Heather, and four grandchildren. Holly and her husband, David Bowman, have two sons: Reese and Luke. Heather and her husband, Travis Ormond, have one daughter, Evan, and one son, Beck. An avid fisher and hunter, Reese also has a soft spot for the family dogs, Red and Pearl.
