LSU Adds Former Tulane Head Coach Leah Stancil as Associate Head Coach
LSU announced the hiring of Leah Stancil, the former head swimming and diving coach at Tulane, as an associate head coach Tuesday.
Stancil has a long history in the pool and on the deck, dating back to her undergraduate days as a 12-time All-American at the University of Florida, graduating in 2002. Then Leah Martindale, she represented Barbados at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics. At the former, she made the final of the women’s 50 freestyle, finishing fifth, just three tenths out of a medal. She still holds four long-course and three short-course national records and was an inaugural member of the Barbados Sporting Hall of Fame in 2016.
She coached her home country at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the 2022 World Championships.
“I am excited to work with Rick (Bishop) and the rest of the LSU coaching staff, and to be back in the SEC,” Stancil said in an LSU statement. “I believe our staff will make a great team and bring the program to new heights.”
Stancil began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Florida in 2004-05. She would return for a decade-long stint as an assistant., helping lead the Gators women’s team to the 2009 SEC Championship and 2010 NCAA Championship.
In between, she spent one year as an assistant at NAIA power Savannah College of Art and Design and two as an assistant at South Carolina.
After Florida, she spent four seasons at Tulane in her first head-coaching job at the women’s only program. She mentored Green Wave swimmers who set 19 school records, won 11 American Athletic Association Championships (including 2022 AAC Most Outstanding Swimmer Lilly Byrne) and qualified two swimmers to NCAAs. She did so while surviving a bout of cancer during the 2019-20 season.
“We are thrilled to have Leah Stancil join us,” LSU head coach Rick Bishop said. “Leah’s experiences as a coach, leader, and two-time Olympian will bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to our program. Leah has been part of a National Championship program and coached athletes on the international stage. As an Associate Head Coach, she will help lead Tiger Swimming & Diving as we continue to move up through the SEC and NCAA ranks.”
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Congratulations Leah! LSU is getting a great coach. See you at SECs.