South Carolina Adds Jason Calanog as Associate Head Coach
South Carolina on Thursday announced the hiring of Jason Calanog as an associate head coach for the men’s team.
Calanog switches his address within the SEC, having spent nine years at Texas A&M, most recently as an associate head coach since the fall of 2019.
“I am truly excited that Jason has decided to join us at the University of South Carolina, and I have the utmost respect and confidence in his ability to help our men’s team climb the national collegiate rankings,” South Carolina head coach Jeff Poppell said in a team statement. “I’ve known Jason for quite some time now and have always admired the passion and energy that he brings to the pool deck. His success on both the NCAA and world stages speaks for itself as he has developed some of the top athletes in our sport from NCAA Champions to World Championship medalists. We look forward to welcoming him, his wife Tracey, and their two boys to Columbia!”
In his nine years in College Station, the Aggies finished no worse than 10th at NCAAs. They were in the top eight on eight occasions. The Aggies were the runners-up at the SEC Championships in 2018 and 2020. Calanog was an instrumental part in that, as the program’s recruiting director. One of those recruits, Baylor Nelson, won the SEC Commissioner’s Trophy as the high scorer at NCAAs in 2023 and 2024. He also guided Shaine Casas, the 2021 SEC and NCAA Male Swimmer of the Year.
Calanog was a senior assistant coach at the Bolles School and with club team Bolles School Sharks in Jacksonville. Among his star pupils there was a young Caeleb Dressel. He was a volunteer assistant for his Bolles mentor Sergio Lopez when Lopez won the Big East title in 2007 at West Virginia.