Campus News

Bauerle nominated for national coaching award

Jack Bauerle

Jack Bauerle, the Tom Cousins Swimming and Diving Head Coach at UGA, has been nominated for a Golden Goggle National Coach of the Year Award by USA Swimming.

Bauerle guided five swimmers to the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships: Hali Flickinger, Chase Kalisz, Jay Litherland, Melanie Margalis and Olivia Smoliga. He also coached the group to four victories at the 2018 Phillips 66 Nationals, where Flickinger shattered a 37-year record in the 200-meter butterfly. 

Eleven current and former athletes coached by Bauerle at Georgia were also named to the U.S. National Team.

Bauerle’s resume also includes coaching appointments for various Olympics—highlighted by the head coaching position for the 2008 Games World Championships, Pan Pacific Championships, U.S. National Team Camps and several other international events.

In the Coach of the Year category alongside Bauerle are Cal’s Dave Durden (men), UC San Diego’s David Marsh, Cal’s Teri McKeever (women) and Stanford’s Greg Meehan.

Former UGA swimmer Chase Kalisz is also nominated for Male Athlete of the Year and Male Race of the Year for his 200-meter individual medley victory at the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, where he swam the fastest time in the world this year. The race was just one part of his pair of IM sweeps in Tokyo and in Irvine at the Phillips 66 Nationals. 

The award nominations are based on the year’s top accomplishments by U.S. swimmers, focusing primarily on August’s 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, where the U.S. team topped the medal count with 45 total.

The final Golden Goggle Award will rely on a percentage of the fan vote, which is open online through Nov. 9 at http://www.gado.gs/f.3.