Anytime coaches step into positions previously occupied by a five-time coach of the year to run the reigning No. 3 team in the country, they just about have to make their mantra that old Latin motto that doctors chant: Primum non nocere. First, do no harm.<\/p>\n
That is exactly the position Arizona native Nathan Rhoads<\/strong> assumed on Aug. 3 when he joined the Brenau University Athletics department staff as head swim coach of the Golden Tigers. Before she left earlier this year to take an assistant coaching job at NCAA Division I Dartmouth in the Ivy League, Blaire Bachman<\/strong> during her five years at Brenau earned four coach of the year titles in the Appalachian Swim Conference and shared the national Coach of the Year title in 2014 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics \u00a0\u2013 all after starting her career as the youngest head coach in the nation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no doubt that Coach Rhoads has some huge shoes to fill,\u201d Golden Tigers Athletics Director Mike Lochstampfor<\/strong> conceded. \u201cBut he has the skills to make it work and continue building on what Coach Bachman began here in swimming.\u201d<\/p>\n “We set out to find a college coach with the background and experience necessary to take over the reins of a championship-contending NAIA swim team and, with Nathan, I think we achieved that goal,\u201d Lochstampfor continued. \u201cHe has a great vision for the future of the program and comes with the tools needed to propel this team forward. I am confident in his abilities and elated that he will be joining our Golden Tigers staff.”<\/p>\n Rhoads, who grew up in Phoenix, is a Level 4 Coach in the American Swim Coaches Association, which is awarded only to the top-ranked swim coaches in the nation. He has coached swimmers who have qualified for NCAA Division I championship meets as well as those who participated in Olympic trials, the U.S. Open and USA Swimming senior and junior nationals. He has also coached club swimmers who have been ranked in the top 10 in the United States and members of high school All-American and Scholastic All-American teams.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to be here. Brenau is one of the top NAIA swimming programs in the country,\u201d said Rhoads. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to have an opportunity to compete for a national championship. I am determined to help make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Rhoads received a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies from Arizona State University in 2003. He comes to Brenau with 16 years of experience, three at the collegiate level and 13 as a USA Swimming club coach. Most recently, Rhoads served as assistant coach at Gardner-Webb University from 2012-15.<\/p>\n \u201cI have enjoyed the sport of swimming all my life. I swam competitively in high school and began coaching while in college. I love working with swimmers because they are unique, hard-working, exceptional people and excellent students.\u201d<\/p>\n