Colgate Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Nicki W. Moore announced Monday the selection of Edward Pretre as the new swimming and diving head coach.
Pretre comes to the Raiders from Villanova, where he spent the last two seasons serving as an assistant coach on an award-winning Big East Conference staff. Villanova swept the league’s Coach/Staff of the Year awards on both the men’s and women’s side in 2018, and the women’s staff repeated the honor this season.
He coached two Big East Swimmers of the Year in Darby Goodwin and Kelly Montesi, as well as 12 individual conference champions, resulting in 10 school records. The men’s team in 2018 had its highest finish (second) since 1993, while the women won their sixth consecutive Big East title.
“We have searched for a head coach for our swimming and diving program who would be committed to our vision of being an inclusive community of competitive excellence, and who had a track record of living our virtues: Thoughtful, driven, enthusiastic, cohesive and bold,” Moore said. “We believe we have found that coach in Edward Pretre.
“In addition to being a wonderful person, Ed’s experience as a head coach, his experience at strong academic institutions, and his experience winning championships position him to lead our program with great integrity and great success.”
Pretre considers himself a builder of programs, and he did just that as head coach of Division II Truman State in Missouri. In 2016, the Truman women won the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference championship by upsetting top-seeded and No. 2 nationally ranked Drury.
For that result and his season-long success, Pretre was named 2016 GLVC Women’s Coach of the Year. The men’s team also improved to a fourth-place conference result and posted a 20th-place finish nationally.
“I am truly excited for Ed, who is achieving his dream of being a Division I head coach at a prestigious academic institution such as Colgate,” said Jerry Wollmering, Director of Athletics at Truman State. “When Ed served as our head coach, he turned our program around and did so with a clear understanding and commitment to our institutional vision, which prioritizes academics while seeking to achieve at a high level athletically.
“Ed took a wholistic approach in recruiting and brought great swimmers to our campus who were also excellent students. I have no doubt he will be a great head coach at Colgate.”
Photo Courtesy: Colgate Athletics
Coaching Career Began in Native New Jersey
Edward Pretre’s collegiate coaching career began at Princeton in 2005. He spent one season there as an assistant coach on the men’s side before moving on to Rutgers as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on the women’s staff. Among his successes at Rutgers was Shayna Longacre, who earned a spot on the 2007 U.S. National Team and represented this country in Japan.
Pretre continued his successful assistant coaching run at during two seasons at East Carolina. He not only coached numerous school record-holders but he also recruiting several student-athletes who went on to win conference titles after his departure in 2011 to Truman State.
“I would like to thank Dr. Moore, Toni Rogers, the search committee and President Casey for this great opportunity,” Pretre said. “I am honored to be coaching the Colgate University swim team and I look forward to coaching exceptional student-athletes. Colgate Swimming and Diving has a history of success and tradition. I look forward to acting upon every opportunity to making this program even better.”
The Westfield, New Jersey, native swam collegiately at West Virginia University, graduating with a degree in child development in 1997. Pretre went on to earn a master’s in special education/teacher of handicapped at New Jersey City University in 2003. He was a special education teacher at the elementary and middle school level from 1998 to 2005, while also coaching on the YMCA level.
Pretre and his wife, Collette, are the parents of Brayden, Ella and Carter.
— The above press release was posted by Swimming World in conjunction with Colgate Athletics. For press releases and advertising inquiries please contact Advertising@SwimmingWorld.com.
Sarah Harper Mathews
Ooooooh!
This was announced a few weeks ago. Great hire. LOTS of work to do with the program- has really slid the last few years to bottom of the league. Congrats coach! Go Gate…