At Miami University, Hollie Bonewit-Cron Reflects on Being Female Coach of Combined Program
Hollie Bonewit-Cron, the current head coach at Miami University’s Division I swimming and diving program, has 20 years of coaching experience (and wisdom) to share.
Her collegiate story began during her own swimming career at Ohio University, where she was an All-American, 17-time Mid-American Conference champion and a school record-holder. Her coaching path has also been very successful. She went to graduate school at Georgia Southern University, and in a unique set of events, landed her first official coaching position.
“I found myself wanting to coach when I entered graduate school,” she said in an interview with Swimming World. “I decided then to do an assistantship with the swim team, which kept me closely connected to the sport I loved. Halfway through my second year at Georgia Southern, I was placed into the head coaching position because the former head coach had been let go. That experience helped solidify why I was coaching and launched me off into this field.”
Although she was only the head coach at GSU for a semester, the experience jumpstarted her career. Afterward, Bonewit-Cron landed several other successful positions on very competitive teams, including the University of Florida.
“At GSU’s conference meet, I happened to link up with the University of Florida coaches, who were looking for a female assistant coach,” she said. “They interviewed and selected me, and I became the assistant coach at Florida, which happened to be Ryan Lochte’s freshman year. I coached there for six years, during 2002-2008, before my husband’s job took us down to Miami, Florida.
“Then I decided to volunteer at the University of Miami under Christie Shefchunas. She gave me the opportunity to train my own group, the breaststrokers and IMers. However, the next year there was a Division II program that was brand new at Nova Southeastern University. I spent seven years there, where I really created my craft and took things from Florida while also trying out new things. There, I had my own autonomy, and it is that concept that brought me to Miami University.”
The rest of her coaching career has been leading the Miami RedHawks’ men and women’s combined team. The unique team dynamic was a big draw for Hollie Bonewit-Cron, as it hit home in a personal way.
“When I was in age group, I swam with the boys, and in college, I was on a combined program too, just like Miami,” she said. “Now as a coach, I see no reason why a woman cannot be the head coach of a combined program.”
In a time when barely 40 percent of NCAA women’s teams have a female head coach, the number is much lower for combined teams and men’s teams. The success of female coaches, such as Bonewit-Cron, cannot be underplayed. In 2019, her career reached a major peak, when the Miami men’s swimming and diving team won the Mid-American Conference. Not only did she lead them to victory, but she was also recognized as the first woman to ever lead a men’s MAC team to a championship in any sport.
“The accomplishment was our men’s team winning a championship,” she humbly said. “However, I do value it. I do think that it’s important because it paves the way for other females to break that glass ceiling that is sometimes above us, and I really feel diligent to continue breaking barriers like that. Not for myself, but for the entirety of female coaches and women in general. I think it’s important to show the women on our team, as well as my own daughters, that if you want to achieve something, there should be no doubt in your mind that you can do it.”
Although she recognizes that there are barriers for female coaches to break, she mentions that during her career, she has not felt limited by her gender. This may be a positive reflection of the swimming community in general, or of a woman with a very determined heart.
“I’m sure from time-to-time, gender has played a role in my career, but I personally do not feel like I have felt that as much, and I sincerely hope that I never do,” she said. “I feel very good about the positions that I’ve had and the administrations, too, who have been very selective with who they are hiring as well. Those are the programs I want to be a part of.”
After walking through her past swimming and coaching career, Hollie Bonewit-Cron had words of advice for other women and young girls who want to become a coach.
“Whether you want to be a head coach for swimming or another sport, a CEO, a manager of a hotel, whatever the case may be – stay the course,” she said. “Be a master of your own craft and go after what you seek to achieve. If something doesn’t go your way – I say, good. You’ve learned from it, you’ve grown from it, and you are going to rise from it.”