{"id":647025,"date":"2026-07-18T13:37:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=647025"},"modified":"2026-07-18T13:37:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T20:37:23","slug":"uc-san-diego-hires-matt-martinez-molly-spano-as-assistant-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/uc-san-diego-hires-matt-martinez-molly-spano-as-assistant-coaches\/","title":{"rendered":"UC San Diego Hires Matt Martinez, Molly Spano as Assistant Coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

UC San Diego Hires Matt Martinez, Molly Spano as Assistant Coaches<\/strong><\/p>\n

UC San Diego on Friday announced the hiring of Matt Martinez<\/strong> and Molly Spano<\/strong> as assistant coaches. Martinez will also hold the title of recruiting coordinator on head coach Marko Djordjevic\u2019s<\/strong> staff.<\/p>\n

Martinez\u2019s experience has taken him to Kentucky, Wisconsin and the University of California in Berkeley. He spent the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky, where the Wildcats men\u2019s team posted their highest finish at NCAAs in more than 15 years.<\/p>\n

Martinez was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2022-25 at the University of Wisconsin. He worked with the breaststroke group of the both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams, helped coach NCAA champion and Olympian Phoebe Bacon<\/strong> and led the Badgers\u2019 men\u2019s team to its two best Big Ten Championships finishes in program history.<\/p>\n

He was an assistant coach in Berkeley in 2021-22, again working with the breaststroke group. He coached with Warringah Aquatic Swim Club in Sydney, Australia, as its lead coach for age-group swimmers. The native of Walnut Creek, Calif., received his bachelor\u2019s degree in interdisciplinary studies at Arizona State in 2014 and a master\u2019s in student personnel administration from Saint Louis University in 2017.<\/p>\n