Army West Point head coach Mickey Wender has decided to leave the program after 13 seasons. In the press release on Friday, Wender and the Army West Point Athletic Association have decided to part ways.
Wender says in the press release, “After discussing the matter with my family, I believe it’s the right time to move on. I’m proud of all that we’ve accomplished in our 13 years here. I will always cherish the relationships with the hundreds of amazing cadet-athletes I’ve been privileged to coach. My family and I have loved being part of the Army West Point community–working with cadets and representing this institution has been the single greatest honor of my professional life.”
Wender leaves the program with a 203-125-1 dual meet record, along with three Patriot League Coach of the Meet awards. Wender also coached 41 women and 68 men to All-Patriot League honors, including 45 first team and 72 second team selections.
This past season, Wender led the Black Knights to team runner-up finishes for both the men’s and women’s programs at the 2019 Patriot League Championships and ECAC Championships.
During his time with the Washington Huskies from 1998 to 2005, he aided the women to national ranks in 2003 and 2005 and the men to national recognition from 2000 to 2005. When Wender was with the University of California-Santa Cruz program in the 90s, he led the men and women to four top-10 national finishes at the NCAA Division III Championships.
In addition, Wender was the founder of the NIKE Swim Camps in Santa Cruz, as well as the San Diego Triathlon Camp. He has also produced a best-selling instructional swim video series and is the founder of Team Starbucks Aquatics. Wender also served as the president of the Greater Seattle Swim Coaches Association and currently sits on the board of the College Swim Coaches Association of America.
Throughout his entire coaching campaign of 25 seasons, Wender has accomplished a career meet record of 398-182-1.
A national search for his replacement will begin immediately.
A great coach and it was a pleasure to have him on the podcast a while back. Good luck Mickey! Check out our conversation here: https://rittersp.com/podcast/swimming-mirrors-the-struggles-of-life-mickey-wender
In the Army-Navy World, beating one another means everything. Coach Wender brought Army from the bottom of the mountain/being CRUSHED by Navy, when he arrived thirteen years ago, to having the men’s team (2017 season) out swim Navy only to lose after the diving was tallied. He may not be the longest tenured coach in the history of Army Swimming, but he has likely been the most effective in making the men and women’s program highly respected on a national level.
Any coach that can achieve what Coach Wender has when your team isn’t able to train in the pool in the summer, and your recruiting has the restrictions of super students, with an engineering interest, ready to the… Read more »
Very nicely put Chuck!
Good Luck Mickey!
My son was a diver for him and quite frankly, he needed to have more interest in that side of his program. A strong diving team can win meets, just look at Navy’s roster. He also never really had an experienced dive coach who knew how to train divers. He did have a huge challenge recruiting due to the criteria put in place by the service academy but other teams have done it. Air Force and Navy.
The problem is paying the diving coach. Swim Coaches generally don’t like to pay a dive coach anything. Dive coaches get the a pretty minimal salary, roughly $1000 a month for 30 hours of work a week.
Let’s not forget the athlete, a desire to improve (and win). Coach Mickey engages an athlete and motivates an athlete! Looking at times and wins tells us how an athlete chooses to listen.
Congrats Mickey on a great run!
Bugby? Army will be an attractive job and will get stronger candidates. Their top assistant now would seem like more of a logical, better option if they wanted someone with West Point ties. I wonder if Mickey decided to leave or if he was told to leave since I don’t see him connected to another job?
His daughter just graduated high school, and his family might be looking to move. I know the family pretty well and it makes sense. Great run coach!
Bugby
DCSWIM….really? Army is an attractive job and I think they will attract stronger candidates. Their top assistant now would seem to be more of a logical, better consideration if they were looking to hire someone with Army ties. I wonder if Mickey really decided to leave or if he was asked to leave especially since I don’t see him linked to another job?
Their assistant Greg took the HC job at Gettysburg a few weeks ago. Not sure if that’s who you were referring to as top assistant. https://gettysburgsports.com/news/2019/5/22/mens-swimming-brown-named-bullets-swim-coach.aspx
Eric*
The guy has walked out on the program twice already. I think they deserve more than that.