British Swim Coach Dave McNulty Inducted to University of Bath Hall of Fame

David McNulty: Photo Courtesy: Team GB

British Swim Coach Dave McNulty Inducted to University of Bath Hall of Fame

Dave McNulty, who has coached a bevy of British Olympic swimming stars, was inducted to the University of Bath Hall of Fame for Sport this week.

McNulty has spent the last 14 years at Sports Training Village, which hosts the British Swimming National Centre Bath. Among the pupils there are Tom Dean and James Guy. McNulty’s swimmers accounted for 13 medals over the last three Olympics, including seven golds from Tokyo last year. He was named Team GB’s Coach of the Year in 2021.

“Thank you to the University of Bath for this award,” McNulty said in a press release. “I remember seeing the Hall of Fame pillars going up a few years ago and thinking ‘I would love to be a part of that some day,’ so this is a great honour.

“I think this is an amazing place – what a city, what a university – and the STV is just outstanding. I’ve been to a lot of venues around the world and I’ve never been to a place that feels like this, with so many different sports under one roof and so many coaches. It absolutely oozes performance and it’s an amazing place to work.

“I’ve done three Olympic Games here and we’ve won 13 medals. It’s a legacy I want to keep going, I want more medals for British Swimming and I want to do it here at the University of Bath, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

McNulty briefly served as the interim head coach of British Swimming in 2012. Among his Olympic medal-winning pupils are Joanne Jackson, Jazz Carlin, Michael Jamieson, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Chris Walker-Hebborn. He is just the 29th inductee to the Hall of Fame for Sport.

A native of County Durham, McNulty transitioned to coaching after his competition career. He eventually became the head coach of Durham Athletics and was part of his first British Swimming staff in 2001. The 2004 Athens Games was his first Olympics on staff. He moved to Bath to become the lead coach after the Beijing Olympics.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony were Dean and British Swimming CEO Jack Buckner.

“There are three main attributes I can think of that make Dave such a great coach from an athlete standpoint,” Dean said. “The first is his incredible breadth and depth of knowledge and experience within the sport; then there’s his attentiveness and care for his athletes, you can approach him with any question be it in or out the pool; and most importantly, something I’ve learnt in the last year, is his prowess on the world arena. Some people crumble but when Dave walks out at an Olympic Games he is so comfortable and that confidence is infectious.”

“Across all the major championships – Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth – Dave’s swimmers have won a total of 111 medals,” said Buckner. “That’s a quite incredible achievement but I think more important is Dave the man, he’s a great coach and you have the sense he is always there for his swimmers.”

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