Steven Tigg Announced as Aquatics GB Swimming Head Coach After Guiding Duncan Scott To The Olympic Pinnacle
Steven Tigg – who has guided Duncan Scott to Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth success – has been appointed the new Aquatics GB Swimming Head Coach.
Tigg, currently head coach at Stirling University, will take up the position on 1 November and will succeed Bill Furniss, who announced his retirement in August, the Sheffielder the most successful head coach in the history of British Olympic swimming after leading the team to 19 medals over the past three Games.
As the Head Coach of the University of Stirling swimming programme for the last seven years, Tigg’s leadership has overseen a positive era of growth and success in the university’s high-performance programme, with seven swimmers from his Stirling stable flying the flag for Team GB on the Olympic stage in Paris.
Having started his journey at Alloa ASC before then becoming head coach of South Ayrshire and F.I.R.S.T (Falkirk Inter-Regional Swim Team), Tigg first joined the University of Stirling coaching staff in 2014 and developed his early international coaching experiences on junior British teams including the Utrecht 2013 European Youth Olympic Festival and Baku 2015 European Games.
Duncan Scott: Photo Courtesy: Georgie Kerr, British Swimming
Promoted to the university’s head role in 2017, Tigg also established himself in the senior international British team set-up, coaching swimmers at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, multiple world and European championships as well to leading Team Scotland’s swimmers at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
During this time Tigg has been an influential figure in the corner of Scott, who has claimed eight Olympic, eight world, 11 European and 13 Commonwealth medals since the pair first began working together almost two decades ago at Alloa.
Kathleen Dawson and Jack McMillan have also secured Olympic relay golds among an array of international successes for the Stirling-based swimmers under Tigg’s tutelage.
Commenting on his new role to develop Britain’s world-class performance swimming programme, as preparations begin for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, Tigg said:
“It is a privilege to be appointed Aquatics GB Swimming Head Coach, and to follow on from the legacy created by Bill Furniss. The success Aquatics GB Swimming has enjoyed over the past 12 years is testament to his expertise and coach leadership.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to take up the challenge of continuing this on as we move towards LA and beyond, and I’m excited to partner with Chris Spice and an exceptional cohort of world class coaches, athletes and practitioners in doing so.
“Thank you to everyone at the University of Stirling for making my time there so memorable and enjoyable – I look forward to continuing the collaborative relationship held between Aquatics GB and the university.”
Speaking on the appointment, Aquatics GB Performance Director Chris Spice said:
“Steven Tigg is an outstanding coach and leader and we welcome him to the post of Aquatics GB Swimming Head Coach. Steven has been in our high-performance system since 2014 and enjoyed coaching success at all levels of performance swimming in the UK; he was the outstanding candidate in an extensive recruitment process.
“Steven has not only coached recent Olympic champions – Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson and Jack McMillan – but has also successfully led Commonwealth Games teams for Scotland, and more recently was Great Britain’s Head Coach at the 2022 European Championships.
“Steven comes to the role having lead the incredibly successful University of Stirling high-performance programme for the past seven years where his systematic approach to player development has delivered many British, Commonwealth, European, and World Champions since 2017. In addition, he has led an outstanding team of coaches and support staff in Scotland who have also represented GB regularly on the European and World stage.
“Steve will bring an analytical approach to our World Class programme alongside his unwavering desire to deliver more success for swimming in Great Britain. I very much look forward to working with him as we start to design our programme for the LA 2028 cycle.”
Ben Higson & Steven Tigg: Photo Courtesy: Jeff Holmes, Commonwealth Games Scotland
David Bond, Head of Performance Sport at Stirling University, said:
“Steve Tigg has dedicated the past 10 years of his career to identifying and nurturing the nation’s best swim talent here at the University of Stirling, Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence.
“Since 2014, Steve has worked tirelessly to develop, grow and enhance our high-performance programme – not only to the benefit of the University, but delivering success for Britain, Scotland and swimmers from around the world. Our athletes continue to thrive on the international stage, and we are incredibly proud of all that they continue to achieve.
“Given his success here at Stirling, it comes as no surprise that Steve has been appointed to the biggest role in British swimming – and everyone at the University wishes him all the best as he takes this exciting step in his career.”