Betsy Graham Tabbed to Lead UT Rio Grande Valley Program<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The new women\u2019s swimming and diving program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has a head coach in Betsy Graham, hired Tuesday.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/betsy-graham-tabbed-to-lead-new-program-at-ut-rio-grande-valley\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Betsy Graham Tabbed to Lead New Program at UT Rio Grande Valley\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new women\u2019s swimming and diving program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has a head coach in Betsy Graham, hired Tuesday.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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{"id":581233,"date":"2024-03-19T13:25:51","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T20:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=581233"},"modified":"2024-03-19T13:25:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T20:25:51","slug":"betsy-graham-tabbed-to-lead-new-program-at-ut-rio-grande-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/betsy-graham-tabbed-to-lead-new-program-at-ut-rio-grande-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Betsy Graham Tabbed to Lead New Program at UT Rio Grande Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Betsy Graham Tabbed to Lead New Program at UT Rio Grande Valley<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new women\u2019s swimming and diving program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has a head coach in Betsy Graham,<\/strong> hired Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Graham has experience in the space, having been the founding head coach of Catawba College\u2019s men’s program in 2006<\/a>. She\u2019s been in Texas for the last four years as the head men\u2019s and women\u2019s coach\/aquatics director at the University of Texas Permian Basin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am honored and thrilled to accept the position of head coach for UTRGV\u2019s inaugural women\u2019s swimming & diving program,\u201d Graham said in a university statement<\/a>. \u201cMy heartfelt appreciation goes out to Chasse and (Deputy Director of Athletics) Molly (Castner) for their vision and support in bringing this program to fruition, bringing college swimming & diving to South Texas, and believing in me to lead it. My objective is clear, and that is to achieve competitive success while nurturing the personal academic growth of our student-athletes I\u2019m looking forward to collaborating with our students, coaching staff, athletic administration, and university of administration. I am committed to fostering a culture of excellence, dedication, and teamwork in the classroom, the pool, and in life. I\u2019m excited about leading our student-athletes to both individual and collective greatness.\u201d<\/p>\n

UTRGV announced the addition of swimming in November<\/a>. It will compete at the Division I level.<\/p>\n

Graham swam at Texas Tech, where she qualified for NCAAs in 1986, and the University of Wyoming. She received her bachelor\u2019s degree at the University of Northern Michigan. The native of Richmond, Va., was an assistant coach at Northern Michigan from 1988-90, Ferris State from 1990-91 and Arkansas from 1996-2001. In between those college stints, she was the head coach of Aqua-Tex Swim Team in Texas.<\/p>\n

Graham joined Catawba in 2001 and spent 14 years there. She initially led the men\u2019s team and oversaw the launching of the women\u2019s team in 2006. She mentored five Division II All-Americans, six Division II qualifiers and World Paralympic Championships medalist Ashley Owens.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After Catawba, she spent six years leading Arena Club Aquatics in Bel Air, Maryland. She won ASCA Coach of Excellence Awards in 2013 and 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Coach Graham as our first head coach for swimming & diving at UTRGV,\u201d director of athletics Chasse Conque<\/strong> said. \u201cThroughout our national search, Coach Graham impressed us with her leadership experience, her love for the sport, and her already proven ability to start and develop a new program. Coach Graham\u2019s strong Texas ties, track record developing young people, and her nearly 20 years of college head coaching experience make her the right leader for our program. We are all excited to watch swimming & diving develop under Coach Graham\u2019s leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"