American Coach of the Year: Todd DeSorbo Continues Leading Virginia Women on Dominant Run
He has been the guiding force to the country’s most dominant college program, with the University of Virginia having already won four consecutive NCAA titles in women’s swimming and diving, and the Cavaliers are set to win a fifth in 2025, which would tie the 1990s Stanford teams for most consecutive wins all-time. He coached four athletes onto the U.S. Olympic team before leading the American women to a dominant performance in Paris, winning medals in all but three individual events.
Todd DeSorbo has not been considered among the country’s elite swim coaches for very long, only in his eighth season at Virginia after six as an assistant at NC State, but his results over that span have been undeniably brilliant. In 2024, Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass provided the highlights as they completed their ascension to the group of world’s top swimmers.
Walsh was the clear top performer at the NCAA Championships, crushing the fastest times ever in the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle after setting the new standard in the 100 backstroke at the ACC Championships. In long course, Walsh broke the world record in the 100 fly before qualifying for her first Olympic team and capturing four medals, including two gold, in Paris. She then achieved a historic performance at the Short Course World Championships, winning seven gold medals and setting nine individual world records.
Kate Douglass — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Douglass captured her first Olympic gold medal in the 200 breaststroke amid a four-medal performance in Paris before setting short course world records in the 200 breast and 200 IM. Douglass has incredible range, with her specialty events also including the sprint freestyle range, and DeSorbo’s tactics have been key in allowing her versatility to blossom. Notably, he allowed and even encouraged Douglass to take a break from the 200 IM in 2022, knowing that time away from that event would be refreshing and lead to impressive results upon her return.
Also qualifying for the Olympic team from Virginia were Alex Walsh and Emma Weber. The elder Walsh sister also won three individual titles at the NCAA Championships, and she nearly captured her second consecutive Olympic medal in the 200 IM, only to be disqualified. Weber was the surprise No. 2 qualifier in the 100 breast at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and she won gold as a prelims relay swimmer in Paris.
On the college level, Virginia won at least four relays at the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year, with the Walsh sisters, Jasmine Nocentini, Ella Nelson, Aimee Canny, Cavan Gormsen and Tess Howley all recording individual top-five finishes, with Noah Nichols doing the same at the men’s meet. In addition to Virginia’s Olympians, Claire Curzan and Jack Aikins just missed qualifying for Paris, finishing third at Trials by tiny margins, while Nichols, Howley, Nelson and Anna Keating all qualified for finals.
The future looks bright for the Cavaliers as well, with Curzan, two-time Olympian Katie Grimes and talented freshmen Leah Hayes and Anna Moesch added to the women’s roster this year while Olympian Thomas Heilman and National High School Swimmer of the Year Maximus Williamson set to star for the men’s team beginning with the 2025-26 season.
Given the results that previous star recruits have produced under the guidance of DeSorbo and his staff, we expected impressive swimming from these swimmers and others during their Cavalier careers, with more national titles and accolades sure to follow.