Josh Huger Joins Cal Swimming as Associate Head Coach

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Josh Huger Joins Cal Swimming as Associate Head Coach

Josh Huger has been named the newest member of the coaching staff for the Cal men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Huger comes to call after spending four years on staff at the University of Tennessee.

During his time at Tennessee, the Volunteer women were a top-10 team at the NCAA Championships every season while the men finished seventh last year. Huger has primarily worked with the sprint group at Tennessee, including last year’s breakout star Jordan Crooks, who won the national title in the 50-yard freestyle after also winning a short course world title in the 50-meter free.

Since Dave Durden arrived as head coach of the Cal men in 2007, four of his lead assistant coaches have gone on to earn head-coaching jobs elsewhere: Greg Meehan (Stanford women), Yuri Suguiyama (Wisconsin), Chase Kreitler (Pittsburgh) and most recently Matt Bowe (Michigan). Now, Huger will assume the seat that Bowe vacated.

Huger joins one of the most successful programs in the country, with the Cal men winning their second consecutive national title in March and their sixth during Durden’s tenure. The Golden Bear men have finished in the top-two at the NCAA Championships 13 times in a row. The Cal women’s and men’s teams were combined under one coaching staff last year following Teri McKeever’s exit from the program, and the women placed 11th on the national level this year.

Cal has also been a successful program internationally, and Durden is currently in Fukuoka as part of the U.S. coaching staff at the World Championships. Cal-trained athletes Hunter Armstrong, Jack Alexy, Destin Lasco, Ryan Murphy, Dare Rose and Abbey Weitzeil qualified for this year’s team.

“I am thrilled to have Josh, his wife Katie and son Finley join the Cal Aquatics family,” Durden said in a press release from Cal. “I have been following Josh’s career over the last five years and it has been impressive the impact he has made at both Virginia Tech and Tennessee. From our conversations over the last couple of weeks, Josh has felt like the perfect fit for our program. I am excited to share the deck with him and have him a part of our staff as we head into the 2024 Olympic Trials and the 2024 Olympic Games.”

“I am extremely excited and honored to accept the position of Associate Head Coach at Cal,” Huger said in the Cal press release. “I would like to thank Dave Durden for his confidence in me. I can’t wait to hit the ground running and help contribute to the rich history that is Cal Swimming & Diving.”

In addition to Durden and Huger, the coaching staff at Cal currently includes associate head coach David Marsh plus assistant Kim Williams, who was hired in April.

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