Bishop Returning to Bolles School as Head Man

JACKSONVILLE, Florida, May 23. RICK Bishop has been hired as the Head Swimming Coach and Aquatics Director at The Bolles School. Bishop will guide the upper school swimming and diving teams as well the Bolles Sharks club program. Bishop returns to Bolles, where he served in various roles from 1998-2002, including assistant swim coach, academic advisor, physical education instructor and residential staff member.

“I am extremely excited to be a part of the Bolles swimming program again,” Bishop said. “To be able to serve as the head coach of an internationally recognized program, one of the finest high school teams in the nation, athletes from around the world, and at one of the best schools in the country is a great opportunity for me.”

Bishop rejoins the Bolles staff after four years at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He replaces Jeff Poppell, who last month accepted the job as head women's coach at the University of Arkansas after 11 years at Bolles.

At Baylor, Bishop served as aquatics director, head swimming coach of the high school and club level teams, economics instructor and residential staff member.

As head swimming coach, Bishop led Baylor to state titles in 2004 and 2006, a national ranking of ninth for the boys’ team in 2003, and a national ranking of seventh for the girls’ team in 2005. Individually, he coached two national champions as well as 38 All-Americans. With the Baylor Swim Club, Bishop coached Olympic Trials qualifiers and U.S. National Championships finalists. The club was also awarded USA Swimming’s 2006 Silver Medal Club of Excellence honor. He took on the role as aquatics director at Baylor in 2004, assisting in the design and coordinating the maintenance and scheduling of the school’s new $7 million aquatic center.

Bishop has extensive international coaching experience as well. He coached the Jamaican and Brazilian national teams in various world championship competitions, most notably serving as the Brazilian women’s national team head coach at the 1996 Olympic Games. At those Games, he guided a finalist and helped the team to several South American records.

On the college level, Bishop served as an assistant coach with the Harvard University men’s swimming program from 1988-91. He coached numerous NCAA and American record holders and All-Americans. Bishop also served as Aquatic Facilities Manager at Harvard from 1991-92.

Bishop’s club swimming experience includes serving as head coach and CEO of the Clearwater Aquatic Team, head coach of the University of Memphis Tiger Swimming program, and senior coach of the Mass Bay Marlins in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bishop earned a degree in exercise science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he was captain of the swim team. He and his wife, Pamela, have three sons: Liam, Aidan, and Killian.

“It is a great pleasure to welcome Rick Bishop and his family back to Bolles,” said John E. Trainer, Jr., Ph.D., president and head of school. “He was selected from a list of candidates that included over a dozen of the top school and collegiate coaches in the country. We are convinced that he will lead our programs to even greater national and international prominence.”

The Bolles boys and girls swimming and diving teams currently hold a total of 49 state championship titles and 9 national titles. Since 1972 Bolles has had swimmers represented at every Olympics. A total of 50 Bolles students or former students have participated in the Olympics, representing 26 countries and claiming six gold, three silver, and four bronze medals

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