Wales Named Head Coach at Hawaii

HONOLULU, Hawaii, October 8. VICTOR Wales, the head women’s swimming and diving coach at San Jose State University, has been hired as the head coach at the University of Hawaii.

Wales spent the past four years at the helm of the SJSU women’s swimming and diving programs. Wales was named the women’s swimming head coach on April 24, 2002, after serving as interim head coach in 2001-02. While with the Spartans, his athletes broke 17 school records and he produced 15 Academic All-Western Athletic Conference selections.

“This is a great opportunity for me to work with the fine student-athletes at UH and help them achieve their goals,” Wales said. “I’m very fortunate to have worked with some high-quality athletes in the past and now I can pass my knowledge on to the student-athletes at UH.”

Wales came to San Jose State from Arizona State University, where he was the head assistant men and women’s swimming coach from 1998-2001. During his tenure in Tempe, Ariz., he coached five school record-holders, four All-Americans, five Olympic Trials qualifiers and three Olympians.

Before ASU, Wales was the associate head men and women’s swimming coach at his alma mater, UC Santa Barbara, over two different periods (1992-96 and 1997-98). In his final season, he tutored two school record holders, two All-Americans, four Olympic Trials qualifiers, and a future 2000 Olympian. He spent the 1996-97 season at the University of Illinois as the head assistant women’s swimming coach.

Wales earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara in 1992. As a Gaucho, he was a four-year member and two-time captain of the swim team from 1988-92. A 10-time Big West Conference champion and one-time NCAA Division I All-American (1990), Wales qualified for the Olympic Trials in both 1988 and 1992.

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