Wisconsin Adds Carrie Nixon as Assistant

MADISON, Wisconsin, June 11. THE University of Wisconsin swimming and diving program has landed one of the nation's top coaches to fill a vacancy on its staff with the hiring of Notre Dame women's head coach Carrie Nixon as an assistant for the 2008-09 season.

Eric Hansen, who enters his 10th season as the Badgers' head coach, announced the move Wednesday.

"I am extremely excited to add a coach of Carrie's caliber to our staff," Hansen said. "Her experience is evident in her long list of accomplishments as a head coach, and she brings with her a proven track record of success, both as a coach and an athlete. I've known Carrie for a long time, and I'm elated to have the opportunity to work with her on a daily basis."

Nixon will work with the Badgers' sprinters and middle-distance swimmers as well as heading up the team's domestic women's recruiting efforts. She joins a Wisconsin program that saw its women's team finish 22nd and crown five All-Americans at the 2008 NCAA Championships.

Nixon, the two-time defending Big East Conference Women's Swimming Coach of the Year, leaves her alma mater – and a team that has won a record 12 consecutive Big East women's titles – to make the move to Madison. A 2002 graduate of Notre Dame, Nixon was a 12-time All-American for the Irish and spent the past four seasons on the program's coaching staff.

Nixon returned to South Bend in 2004 as an assistant coach after serving one season as an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Clemson and took the reins of the Irish program a year later, when she was named head coach prior to the 2005-06 season. In her first campaign, Nixon's team claimed the Big East team title and crowned a pair of individual conference champions, finishing the season ranked 24th with a 6-2 record in dual meets.

The Irish made another step forward in Nixon's second season, again claiming the Big East team title and crowning league champions in 10 individual events and two relays. That performance earned Nixon the first of two consecutive Big East coach of the year honors.

Notre Dame finished the season 8-1 and ranked 19th in the nation after qualifying eight swimmers for the NCAA Championships.

The 2007-08 campaign saw the Irish claim their 12th-consecutive Big East team championship to go along with titles in seven individual events and a pair of relays. Nixon again was named Big East coach of the year and saw three of her athletes qualify for NCAA competition.

In the pool, Nixon racked up 12 All-America honors in just three seasons, as she was sidelined for the 2000-01 campaign with a shoulder injury. She laid claim to a total of 18 Big East individual titles, including wins in all seven of the events in which she competed at the 2000 Big East Championships. That performance earned her the league's most outstanding swimmer honors.

Also in 2000, Nixon set an NCAA record in the 50 freestyle and finished fourth in the event at the NCAA Championships. She went on to compete in three events at that year's U.S. Olympic Trials.

Between four years a student-athlete and four more as a member of the Notre Dame coaching staff, Nixon led the Irish to a conference title in each of those eight seasons. She graduated from Notre Dame in 2002 with a double major in anthropology and computer applications.

A native of Ouray, Colo., Nixon was the valedictorian of her Ouray High School graduating class in 1997 and was a five-time Colorado state high school champion. She received the 1996 Colorado Sportswoman of the Year award and, in 1997, was named the state's high school swimmer of the year.

Nixon is the second new addition to the Badgers' coaching staff in the last month, as former UW star Robert Pinter also was hired as an assistant on May 23.

Special thanks to Wisconsin for contributing this report.

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