TALLAHASSEE, Florida, May 7. FLORIDA State Director of Athletic Randy Spetman announced Wednesday the hiring of Frank Bradley as the head coach for men's and women's swimming and diving programs at FSU. Bradley, who swam for the Seminoles from 1994-1997, has been the associate head coach at Auburn for the past three seasons and previously served as head coach at Indian River Community College and as an assistant at South Carolina.
“We are so excited to have coach Bradley and his wife back home at FSU,” said Spetman. “It is always special to see one of our own do so well and then choose to come back to Florida State and lead one of our programs. Coach Bradley has been a success at Indian River and at Auburn and he understands what it means to be a Seminole. We couldn't be happier that he is back at FSU.”
“I'm thrilled,” Bradley said. “I've spent a number of years coaching and I've always thought that coming back to Florida State would be awesome. I got the call last week and it was incredible and I'm excited to lead the program.”
Bradley helped Auburn finish among the Top 15 nationally over the last three years working mainly with the distance group. The Tiger men's swimming team finished eighth at the NCAA Championships in March of this year, while the women's team took 13th. Auburn won the SEC men's championship in 2011 and 2012 and totaled 181 All-American honors during his three seasons.
Prior to joining the Auburn staff in the summer of 2010, Bradley spent five years coaching at Indian River State College, four of which he served as head coach. During his time at the helm of the NJCAA powerhouse, Bradley's student-athletes turned in 177 NJCAA national titles, 45 NJCAA national records and 53 school records, while 13 athletes garnered Swimmer of the Year accolades. In 2010, Bradley guided the men's team to their 36th straight national title while the women captured their 29th consecutive championship.
While at IRSC, Bradley worked with former Seminole All-American in Mateo De Angulo. De Angulo is the current FSU record holder in the 1000 free and 1650 free and was the 2012 ACC Swimmer of the Year. The Cali, Colombia native still owns the 500 free NJCAA national record in the 500 free, a mark which was earned while under the instruction of Bradley. De Angulo moved on to collect nine NJCAA national titles before transferring to FSU.
In just five years, Bradley was named the NJCAA Coach of the Year four times (Men- 2007, 2008; Women- 2009, 2010).
Bradley started out as an assistant at the University of South Carolina during 1999-2005. While with the Gamecocks, Bradley worked with 2000 SEC Swimmer of the Year — Zsolt Gaspar in addition to guiding the Gamecocks to 26- All-American honors, 34 school records and three SEC individual titles.
“Having worked at a couple different places, I'm focused on development,” Bradley said. “Regardless of speed, we would develop our athletes and go from there. Obviously in this scenario we'll have kids that will jump into that learning curve for four years but we also have student-athletes with a year or two left that will use their experience to help out with the younger kids.
Throughout his coaching career, Bradley has instructed several Olympians including Gideon Louw (RSA), Marcelo Chierighini (BRA), Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace(BAH), Miach Lawrence (USA) as well as De Angulo (COL).
Bradley returns to his alma mater after a 13-year absence from Tallahassee. While a Seminole, Bradley earned his Bachelor's Degree in social science in 1997 before serving as a graduate assistant for the swim team from 1997-1999. During his swimming career, Bradley was the 1995 ACC Champion in the 200 IM.
“The biggest thing is to build a close environment where they can be successful not just as athletes but as people,” Bradley said. “Even through the ups and downs, I want our student-athletes to look back and see that they grew as people and use those experiences after graduation and in life.”
A native of Woodbury, N.J., Bradley is married to the former Susan Hawkes who was a volleyball standout for FSU from 1995-1998 where she was a four-year letter winner and an All-ACC selection in 1997. Hawkes brought home the school's first-ever ACC Championship in 1998. They have two daughters, Grace and Paige.
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