Notre Dame Names Chris Lindauer New Head Coach

Photo Courtesy: Notre Dame Athletics

Notre Dame Names Chris Lindauer New Head Coach

Notre Dame on Thursday announced Chris Lindauer as the program’s new head swimming coach, bringing Lindauer in after a decade at Louisville.

Lindauer rose to the rank of associate head coach for the Cardinals last June, leading the men’s team to an NCAA title plus 12 NCAA championships. He’s worked with a number of Olympians at his alma mater, where he was an All-American swimmer and Big East champion.

“I’m humbled and honored to have the opportunity to be the Peterson Family Head Coach of the swimming & diving program at the University of Notre Dame,” Lindauer said in a university statement. “It’s truly a dream come true and my family and I are beyond excited to build a tradition of excellence at Notre Dame.”

The Louisville men finished second at ACCs and the women third at ACCs before tallying top-12 finishes at NCAAs. Among Lindauer’s pupils was Nick Albiero, the two-time ACC Swimmer of the Year. He also worked with Serbian Olympian Andrej Barna, as well as NCAA champions Mallory Comerford and Kelsi Dahlia.

Lindauer graduated from Louisville in 2008 with a degree in biology. He was a four-time Big East champion on relays, including as part of the first Louisville relay to score at NCAAs. In his senior season, he won the program’s 2008 Coaches Award and the 2008 Most Memorable Performance Award.

A native of Colorado, he was a state champion and high school All-American at Stanley Lake High School. He worked as the assistant head coach and head conditioning coach for Louisville’s club team, Cardinal Aquatics, where he mentored age-group swimmers. He was hired to the college staff in 2009.

“After a long and thorough search, we are thrilled to welcome Chris Lindauer into the Notre Dame family,” swimming and diving administrator and Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Engagement Juli Schreiber said. “When we started this process, we knew we were seeking a coach who understood the importance of academics, who has enjoyed great coaching success and has an innate ability to connect with student-athletes. We found that coach in Chris.

“In collaboration with Coach (Bob) Groseth and Notre Dame swimming alums Marie Labosky and Tony Fonseca, it was immediately clear to us that Chris has a passion for developing each individual not only from an athletics perspective, but also as a whole person. The experience and success he will bring to our team is phenomenal and we are excited for the future of the program.”

Notre Dame had been without a full-time head coach since October when Mike Litzinger abruptly stepped down after a lawsuit over the work environment he’d created. Associated head coach Aaron Bell also stepped down at that time. Longtime Northwestern coach Bob Groseth was installed as an interim coach; he is no longer listed among the Notre Dame coaches.

On Wednesday, the school announced it would endow the swimming and diving head coach position in the name of the Peterson family, in honor of former swimmer Karl Peterson, a 1992 graduate.

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