Utah has announced the addition of Brody Lewis to their new-look swimming & diving coaching staff. Lewis spent last season as an assistant at Northern Colorado, which has a women’s-only program.
Brody is only two years removed from graduating at Utah. There, he swam under former head coach Joe Dykstra and current head coach Jonas Persson when Persson held the title of associate head coach.
“We are excited to bring Brody back to Utah as a former team captain,” Persson said. “He brings great leadership qualities, knowledge of the program and his passion for Utah athletics is unmatched.”
Lewis was a team captain for the Utes and was awarded the Utah Athletics Dr. Chris Hill Leadership Award and the Utah Swim & Dive Ute Proud Coach’s Award. In addition, Lewis was a University of Utah Pac-12 SAAC conference male representative and the University of Utah’s Crimson Council Co-President and Leadership Director.
As a student-athlete at the U, Lewis qualified for the Pac-12 Championships in each of his four years and made the NCAA B Cut Qualifier in 2017, 2018 and 2020. He owns the fourth-fastest 200 breast time in program history as well as the sixth-fastest 100 breast time. In 2020, Lewis qualified for the USA Olympic trials in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke.
During his short time with the Northern Colorado Bears, Lewis made an immediate impact helping the team break 16 school records and record 81 top-10 performances in UNC history. At the Western Athletic Conference Championships (WAC), Lewis was instrumental in the coaching of eight swimmers to winning a conference championship and guiding another 23 to WAC podium finishes.
Prior to UNC, he spent a season as the head swim coach for East High School for one season and as an assistant with middle-school aged swimmers at the Swim Utah club, overlapping with his time on the varsity team at Utah.
Lewis hails from Greeley, Colo., home of Northern Colorado University, where he attended Greeley West High School and was an All-American, Scholastic All-American, 5A State Champion in the 100 breast, two-time conference champion and three-time team MVP. A dual sport athlete, Lewis also competed for the cross-country team where he earned Second Team All-State honors and was tabbed All-Region twice.
The Utah women finished 5th out of 7 teams at last year’s Pac-12 Championship meet, while the men finished 4th out of 5 teams. The Utah women were led by divers who were the team’s top two scorers; their top-scoring swimmer was senior Emma Lawless, who finished 10th in the 100 back, 12th in the 200 back, and 13th in the 100 fly.
The Utah men had a similar story last season: their top four scorers at Pac-12s last year were all swimmers, with their best swimming finish coming via 8th place in the 100 back by senior Andrei Ungur.
Lewis is the first announced new hire under Persson, though associate head coach Michele Lowry and assistant coach Jos Smith are being held-over from the prior staff.
Congrats Brody! What a great opportunity and an even better person to do it.