John Hargis Out After Six Seasons as Head Coach at Pitt
John Hargis will not return as the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams, the university announced Monday.
Hargis has spent the last six season in charge of the program, hired just after the 2015-16 season ended.
“On behalf of Pitt Athletics, I want to thank John for his work and commitment to Pitt swimming,” Director of Athletics Heather Lyke said in a school release. “We wish him the very best in his future pursuits. Our work to conduct a national search to find new leadership for our men’s and women’s swimming program begins immediately.”
The Panther had several meets cancelled due to COVID-19 in 2021-22. The team qualified three divers – including four-year qualifier Amy Read – and one swimmer (Cooper van der Laan) to NCAAs in 2022. Pitt’s men’s team finished 9th at the ACC Championships. The women were 11th, both out of 12 teams.
Hargis is well traveled in the college realm. He was the head coach at Penn State from 2008-13, where he tutored 74 All-America performances. He was an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2011 World University Games. He was the head coach of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s women’s team in 2007-08.
The native of Clinton, Ark., also had stints as an assistant coach at UNLV from 2002-03, Penn State from 2003-06 and Arkansas-Little Rock in 2006-07. He was the associate head coach at Auburn from 2013-16.
Hargis won a gold medal in the pool for the United States in the medley relay at the 1996 Olympics. He helped lead Auburn to its first SEC and NCAA championships as a swimmer.
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As someone lucky enough to have 2 meetings in Hargis’ office, I can confirm he has a way worth words. A way to make everyone despise swimming and want to quit.
The best thing to hope for from Hargis was the silent treatment when he would stop listening to you mid conversation and walk away.
The best thing we can hope for is for Hargis to never be hired as a coach again. He is not only the worst coach I had, but also the worst person I met in the swimming community in my 15 year swimming career.
I can only hope there is enough evidence for athletic directors to show that having no coach at all is better than having John Hargis.