Bobby Folan has been named interim head coach for the UNLV men’s and women’s swimming and diving program, Director of Athletics Tina Kunzer-Murphy announced on Friday.<\/p>\n
Folan takes over the head role after spending the past three seasons as head assistant coach under Jim Reitz, who announced his retirement on April 14 after a 35-year career of guiding the Rebel swim program.<\/p>\n
“After an evaluation of the program following Jim’s retirement announcement we felt that naming Bobby as an interim coach was the best direction at this time to keep the team performing at a high level,” said Kunzer-Murphy.<\/p>\n
Folan was hired as head assistant coach in September 2012, and under Reitz helped the Rebels win three straight men’s conference titles (part of a streak of 10 championships in 11 years), while the team finished in the top 30 at the NCAA Championships all three seasons, including a program-best 19th-place finish in 2014.<\/p>\n
In his role as coach of the sprint program as the head assistant coach, Folan developed and implemented all the aspects of that program, including drylands, weight training and practices. He also managed the day to day operations of the staff, as well as having overseen the annual budget and supervising the recruiting program.<\/p>\n
Folan came to UNLV after spending the previous four years coaching in Australia. From 2008 though the summer of 2010, Folan worked at the CISAC Swim Academy, serving as the head coach of the Ginninderra Swim Club. While with the academy, he placed four swimmers on the Australian National Teams.<\/p>\n
Folan then moved onto the University of Sydney as the head coach in June 2010, and he was named a finalist for the Premier Club Coach of the Year in 2012. He coached the school to four medals in the Australian Open Nationals, while 16 more swimmers were finalists in a total of 35 events.<\/p>\n
He was a four-time Big East Academic All-Star selection while swimming for Connecticut from 2001-05, and received a double-major from the school, a bachelor of science degree in finance in May 2005, and a bachelor of arts degree in math in August of that same year. Folan then moved on to Texas, where he received a master’s of education degree, specializing in sport management in 2008. While at Texas, he was a volunteer assistant coach for the UT men’s team and also was an assistant coach for the Longhorn Aquatics club team.<\/p>\n