Sergio Lopez Leaving Singapore for Auburn University

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Photo Courtesy: Singapore Swimming Federation

Sergio Lopez will be leaving his post in Singapore after the Olympics, and returning to the United States to take the Associate Head Coach position at Auburn.

Lopez began what was supposed to be a five year position with the Singapore Swimming Association in January 2015. While with Singapore, the national swimmers saw unprecedented success, earning 23 gold medals at the Singapore SEA Games.

During his tenure, Lopez worked with Joseph Schooling who dominated the NCAA scene this year, and also earned bronze for Singapore at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan. American breaststroke star Kevin Cordes traveled to Singapore to Train with Lopez as well.

Lopez told The Straits Times, “When I took up this job, it was because it was more than a job; it was a role in which I felt I could make a real difference in. I’ve had a wonderful journey over the past 15 months, and garnered much success with the wonderful talents in Singapore.”

The opportunity at Auburn, however was one he could not pass up. Lopez assured that he remains committed to his athletes through the Rio Games.

He will return to an NCAA scene where his former Bolles swimmers, Caleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy, and Schooling have shined. The trio even shared the honor of CSCAA 2016 Swimmer of the Year.

Before his stint abroad, Lopez was at the famed Bolles program in Florida. He has also held positions with other NCAA programs- Arizona, Northwestern, and West Virginia. Auburn was a historically impressive program, but neither the men nor the women have been in the top 5 at NCAAs in the past seven years.

Auburn Press Release:

AUBURN, Ala. – Sergio Lopez Miro, who has coached current NCAA Champions Ryan Murphy and Joseph Schooling and has spent the past two years as the head high performance coach of the Singapore Swimming Association, was named the Associate Head Coach for Auburn Swimming and Diving, head coach Brett Hawke announced on Thursday.

“We’re extremely excited to have a coach of Sergio’s caliber join the Auburn Family,” Hawke said. “I’ve always admired his work from a distance. He has a way of getting the best out of his athletes and has always done a masterful job of building a team. Young men and women really love swimming for Sergio. I truly believe we have gained one of the world’s leading coaches. The future of Auburn swimming and diving looks really bright.”

“I want to thank Coach Hawke and Auburn University for offering me this opportunity to work at one of the strongest athletic departments in the country,” Lopez said. “It is an honor for me to be part of such committed student-athletes, coaches and staff. I have no doubts that working alongside Coach Hawke and his coaching staff we will be able to make the Auburn tradition even stronger.”

Before making the move across the Pacific Ocean, Lopez led the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., from 2007-14. During his time there the Bolles School high school team won the boys National High School Team Champion titles in 2009-10 and 2011-12 while the girls finished as the runner-up in 2009-10.

A member of the Spanish national team from 1984-96, Lopez won a silver medal at the 1993 World Championships and has held European and U.S. Open records as well as 14 records in Spain. He won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics in the 200 breaststroke for Spain and was also on the 1992 Olympic team after swimming collegiately at Indiana, where he earned nine All-America honors.

Lopez began his coaching career as a volunteer at Arizona from 1994-96. From 1996-97 he was the technical director at the Cantabric Swimming Foundation in Santander, Spain, and from 1997-00 he was the head coach at Hillenbrand Aquatics in Tucscon, Ariz.

From 2000-03 Lopez served as an assistant at Northwestern before being promoted to the associate head coach in 2003. While there he helped Northwestern produce seven All-Americans, eight Big Ten champions, a Big Ten Swimmer of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

Lopez served as the head coach at West Virginia from 2004-07, where he was twice named the Big East Men’s Coach of the Year (2006 & 2007).

Lopez and his wife, Sandy, have two children; Harley and Cobi.

Lopez replaces John Hargis, who was named the head coach at Pittsburgh earlier this month.

Courtesy of Aurburn University Athletics.

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