Canales Tabbed Assistant at Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Michigan, November 8. UNIVERSITY of Michigan men's swimming and diving head coach Bob Bowman announced Monday that former U-M swimming star Fernando Canales has been hired as assistant swimming coach for the Wolverines. Canales served as head assistant coach at Michigan from 1982-87.

"I think Fernando brings a lot to the program," said Bowman. "First of all, he is a great Michigan man and one of the greatest athletes in Michigan history. He brings a real love for the school and for the program, which will be invaluable. His background in Olympic swimming, especially in sprinting, is going to be a huge asset for our program moving forward."

Canales returns to Michigan after serving as the head coach of the city of Keller, Texas, swim team for the past two years, and the city of Richardson, Texas, swim team from 1992-2005. He managed elite USA Swimming clubs at both locations and produced two Texas high school swimmer of the year recipients, a U.S. national team member, the 1994 national female high school swimmer of the year, 10 Olympic Trials qualifiers, numerous Texas state high school champions and All-Americans, and two Texas high school championship teams (Berkner High, 1995; JJ Pearce High, 2004). He earned the North Texas Senior Coach of the Year award as well.

From 1990-92, Canales was the head coach of swimming, diving and water polo at the University of California-Santa Cruz. In two seasons he coached five NCAA Division III Championship qualifiers and one All-American while his students earned 14 academic all-conference awards.

Prior to his time at UC Santa Cruz, Canales was the head assistant coach at Michigan from 1982-87. He served under legendary coach Jon Urbancheck and helped to produce 13 Olympians, multiple NCAA national champions and multiple USA Swimming and foreign national champions. He assisted the team in winning back-to-back Big Ten Conference team championships in 1987 and '88.

As an athlete, Canales was a four-year All-American at Michigan, where he graduated with a degree in education and exercise physiology in 1982. During his career, he won 12 Big Ten Championship titles, including four straight 100-yard freestyle titles. He also represented Puerto Rico on three Olympic Teams (1976, '80, '84) and was inducted into the Puerto Rico National Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.

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