Coaching Staff Neal Studd
Head Coach - 4th season/FAU ‘98 Neal Studd enters his fourth season as the women’s swimming and diving head coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. Studd was selected to begin the women’s swimming and diving program at FGCU in July of 2006. Studd picked up his second CCSA Coach of the Year after leading the FGCU women’s swimming and diving team to its second consecutive CCSA Championship in 2010. The Eagles finished 194.5 points ahead of second place Davidson last season to take home the title. Under his guidance, 15 athletes earned All-Conference accolades including seven gold medals while 22 earned All-Conference Academic team honors. Once again, the team was recognized as a Scholar All-American Team by the College Swim Coaches Association for the third year after posting a combined grade-point average of 3.35.
In 2009, Studd’s squad combined for 21 new varsity records and 12 new freshmen records. They also brought home every possible piece of hardware from the CCSA Conference meet. The Eagles ran away with the CCSA team title by over 200 points and Studd was honored as Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year. The Eagles also produced the Rookie Swimmer of the year as well as the Conference swimmer and Conference Diver of the year. Studd’s guidance led to 13 CCSA All-conference first team members and 16 All-Conference Academic team members. The squad was recognized as an Scholar All-American Team by the College Swim Coaches Association for the second consecutive year. Studd’s first head coaching season was highlighted with a second place finish at the Costal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA) conference championships where his team was first amongst all Atlantic Sun squads. Along with earning more gold medals than any other school (seven), the Eagles produced the Rookie Swimmer of the year and the Conference swimmer of the year. His guidance led to nine CCSA All-conference first team members and 11 All-Conference Academic team members. The squad concluded the year ranked 18th in the Collegeswimming.com NCAA Division I mid-major poll and was recognized as a Scholar All-American Team by the College Swim Coaches Association. Prior to joining the FGCU athletic department, he spent eight seasons with the Florida Atlantic University swimming staff. He rejoined the team in the fall of 1999 after a successful one-year stint with the Wall Street firm of Morgan Stanley following an outstanding collegiate swimming career at FAU. While he enjoyed the business world, he elected to return to college, where he could work on a master’s degree in business. Upon his return, Studd began working with the sprinters, a group that has rewritten the FAU record books as well as many of the records that Studd previously held. During the last eight seasons, several sprinters have won NIC and Sun Belt Championship titles, achieved NCAA cuts and placed on national teams, including one athlete who competed in the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials and one who qualified for the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. In 2004, the women’s freestyle relays rewrote the National Independent Conference (NIC) conference records, while a freshman qualified for the NCAA Championship in the breaststroke. In 2005, the men’s 200 medley relay posted a school and Sun Belt Conference record. A sprinter also competed in the 2005 World University Games. As an FAU swimmer (1994-98), Studd held several varsity records, served as the men’s captain and was an NIC champion and two-time Olympic Trials qualifier. The Ipswich, United Kingdom, native commenced swimming at an early age and held no less than 12 county (state) records. He was the National Junior Champion and the captain of the National Junior Team. Studd was also the 200-meter freestyle National Junior Championship record holder. Studd is a 1998 graduate of FAU with a B.S. in Finance, and received his MBA from FAU in 2002.
8
Back-To-Back CCSA Champions