Ohio State Hires Stefanie Williams as Assistant Coach

COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 16. STEFANIE Williams was a four-time national champion and a 24-time All-American swimmer. She helped lead Georgia to three consecutive NCAA championships. She is called "one of the greatest competitors ever at Georgia" by 2008 U.S. Olympic swim team coach Jack Bauerle, her college coach. And today Stefanie Williams is a Buckeye, as new Ohio State swimming coach Bill Dorenkott has named her as his assistant coach.

"Our goal is to develop a championship culture of excellence within Ohio State swimming," said Dorenkott, who was named women's swimming head coach at Ohio State April 29, "and bringing Stefanie Williams on board will have an immediate and significant impact on our program.

"Stefanie represents the best in NCAA athletics, having excelled as both a student-athlete and as a coach. She will be a terrific ambassador for The Ohio State University and our sport."

Williams, a 2003 Georgia graduate with a degree in sports communications, has been the assistant men's and women's swimming coach at the University of Missouri for the past three seasons. She has assisted head coach Brian Hoffer in all aspects of the program, from training the men and women sprinters and implementing dry-land training and season training plans to administering to travel and the budget, and assisting in all aspects of recruiting.

She also has served as an assistant coach with the Mizzou Swim Team, a USA Swimming club team, for the past three years. Williams' first coaching position was at Bloomsburg University, where she was an assistant coach during the 2004 season.

"I am extremely excited to be coming to Ohio State," Williams said. "Ohio State has a great tradition of winning and I am looking forward to becoming a part of that. I think Bill Dorenkott is an outstanding coach and I am looking forward to helping him do great things at Ohio State.

"The McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion is truly awesome, as well. It is one of the nicest pools I have ever seen and I can't wait to start coaching our student-athletes in one of the great facilities in the country."

A native of Bloomsburg, Pa., Williams was a dominant performer at Georgia. She held the Georgia school record in the 200-yard freestyle and she was a two-time Southeastern Conference champion in the event. She was NCAA runner-up in both the 100 and 200 freestyle events at the 2002 NCAA championships. In 2002 she became the first female at Georgia to be honored with the school's Sportsmanship of the Year Award.

In addition to earning 24 All-America honors, Williams swam on four national championship relay squads and was a team captain as a senior. Georgia not only won three NCAA titles (1999, 2000 and 2001), but it also won three SEC crowns and was both NCAA and SEC runner-up the years it didn't win the respective conference and national titles.

"Stefanie knows about winning," said Bauerle. "She's been around big-time swimming and she knows what winning is all about. She has worked hard for her accomplishments and she will help Bill in many great ways. She is also a loyal young lady who is going to be a terrific asset to Ohio State."

Williams, who was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll two times, competed at both the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Olympic swimming trials. She has won three silver medals in international competition: at the 1999 Pan American Games, the 2001 World Championships and 2003 World University Games.

Both Williams and Dorenkott will be beginning their Ohio State coaching careers in mid-July and judging by the comments from Bauerle, the future of Ohio State swimming looks extremely promising.

"This is an exciting time for Ohio State swimming," Bauerle said. "Bill Dorenkott is an accomplished coach and a highly thought-of individual. He and Stefanie are going to do terrific things with the program."

Special thanks to Ohio State for contributing this report.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x