Ivan Sanchez has been added to the Kentucky coaching staff for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. Sanchez comes to Kentucky after spending six seasons as an assistant at Southern Illinois.
“We are thrilled to welcome Iván and his family to Lexington,” head coach Bret Lundgaard said. “Iván’s strength in how he connects with student-athletes will be a tremendous asset for our program’s culture and development. He has done a great job at SIU, and we are grateful for the positive influence he’ll undoubtedly make on our team.”
Sanchez will join the Kentucky staff in July after spending six seasons with his alma-mater, Southern Illinois. In addition to coaching SIU, he also has servved as an assistant for the Mexico national team since 2023.
While at SIU, he helped coach Celia Pulido, who hails from Mexico. Pulido qualified for the 2024 NCAA Championships and became the fastest women’s 100 backstroker in mid-major history with a 50.73 for 7th in finals.
Sanchez spent last year as a coach with Mexico at both the Central Americans Games in El Salvador and the Pan-American Games in Chile.
Before arriving at Southern Illinois, Sanchez was an assistant coach at Division III Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He also was the head coach of a high school in Iowa during the same time period.
Sanchez graduated from Southern Illinois in 2006 with bachelor’s degrees in both finance and management. He earned his master’s in sport management from SIU in 2009 while also serving as a volunteer assistant with the program. During his student-athlete career, Sanchez won the Missouri Valley Conference titles in both the 200 and 500 freestyles, setting conference records in both as well. He also was a three-time Olympic Trials qualifier for the Mexican National Team and swam to a third-place finish in the 15K Open Water Mexican Nationals in 2003.
The Kentucky women finished 9th out of 12 teams at the 2024 SEC Championships while the men were 10th out of 10 teams. The women sent two swimmers to NCAAs while the men sent three. The program was in its first season under head coach Bret Lundgaard who was hired last July to replace Lars Jorgenson. Upon his arrival, Lundgaard hired numerous associate and assistant coaches during the rest of the 2023-2024 off-season.
Kudos to the new UK head coach for putting together what appears to a very solid coaching staff. I hope they can establish a great environment to build that program back to where it should be.
He was also a former coach with the Iowa City Eels……
and he destroyed some of my old Iowa Masters swimming records too!
Congrats Ivan!
Welcome to Big Blue Nation (BBN), Ivan! You’re going to love Lexington and this team!!!
Congratulations to Ivan, Bri and the girls. Wonderful opportunity for a well deserving coach and even better human being. Pickleball in Lexington coming right up!