Courtesy: Texas Rio Grande Valley Athletics
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque announced on Tuesday the hiring of Betsy Graham, who has over 30 years of coaching experience, as the first head women’s swimming & diving coach in program history.
Graham is no stranger to starting new programs, having done so at Catawba College in 2006.
Graham spent the last four years as the head men’s and women’s swimming & diving coach and aquatics director at the University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB), where she helped take the men’s and women’s teams to new heights.
On the women’s side, Graham saw her team break 11 program records and produce five All-Conference and 16 All-Academic swimmers and divers. In 2023, Graham guided Jazmine Tscheme to become the program’s first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship Meet qualifier.
On the men’s side, Graham guided the team to the NCAA Division II National Championship Meet three times while breaking seven program records, including a new program record in the 400-yard individual medley this season at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships, while producing 14 All-Conference and 15 All-Academic swimmers and divers.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Graham as our first head coach for swimming & diving at UTRGV,” Conque said. “Throughout our national search, Coach Graham impressed us with her leadership experience, her love for the sport, and her already proven ability to start and develop a new program.
“Coach Graham’s strong Texas ties, track record developing young people, and her nearly 20 years of college head coaching experience make her the right leader for our program. We are all excited to watch swimming & diving develop under Coach Graham’s leadership.”
Prior to arriving at UTPB, Graham spent six years as the head swimming coach with Arena Club Aquatics in Bel Air, Maryland where she coached 15 sectional qualifiers, five Futures qualifiers, and two Academic All-Americans.
Graham served as the head coach at Catawba College from 2001-15. Graham started as the head coach of the women’s swimming & diving program before launching the men’s program in 2006.
While at Catawba, Graham produced five NCAA Division II All-Americans, seven All-Academic Team members, two Academic All-Americans, and saw six swimmers qualify for the NCAA Division II National Championships. Graham also coach US National Paralympian Ashley Owens, who won four medals at the 2010 World Championships.
Graham earned coach of the year honors in 2007.
“I am honored and thrilled to accept the position of head coach for UTRGV’s inaugural women’s swimming & diving program,” Graham said. “My heartfelt appreciation goes out to Chasse and [Deputy Director of Athletics] Molly [Castner] for their vision and support in bringing this program to fruition, bringing college swimming & diving to South Texas, and believing in me to lead it. My objective is clear, and that is to achieve competitive success while nurturing the personal academic growth of our student-athletes I’m looking forward to collaborating with our students, coaching staff, athletic administration, and university of administration. I am committed to fostering a culture of excellence, dedication, and teamwork in the classroom, the pool, and in life. I’m excited about leading our student-athletes to both individual and collective greatness.”
Graham also has stops as an assistant swimming coach at Northern Michigan (1988-90), head diving coach, assistant swimming coach and aquatics director at Ferris State (1990-91), and assistant swimming coach Arkansas (1996-01).
Prior to her stint at Arkansas, Graham was the head swimming coach for the Aqua-Tex Swim Team in Houston. Graham coached a finalist for the 1996 Olympic trials, two Olympic Festival finalists, and saw one of her swimmers join the US National Team. Graham served as an Olympic Development Coach in 1996 and earned Gulf Swimming Coach of the Year honors in 1994.
Graham is a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), where she holds a Level Five Certification. She was named a Coach of Excellence by the ASCA in 2013 and 2016 for her contributions to the sport of swimming.
Originally from Richmond, Va., Graham attended high school in Kingsville, where she was an All-American in 1983-84.
Graham qualified for the NCAA Nationals in 1986 while at Texas Tech before transferring to Wyoming, where she was a team captain her final two seasons.
Graham earned a Bachelor of Science in outdoor recreation from Northern Michigan in 1989.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT BETSY GRAHAM
Lenoir-Rhyne Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming Coach Paul Schiffel
Betsy is a master innovator in practice design and race strategy. She is creative in her ability to establish team bonding. The team atmosphere is one of total buy in and belief in the team’s ability to achieve success while bringing home faster and faster performance times.
Colorado College Head Swimming & Diving Coach Anne Goodman James
Betsy Graham is a creative and dynamic coach. What a great hire to build and mentor the new UTRGV swim team.
Tuloso-Midway High School Aquatics Coordinator & Head Boys & Girls Varsity Swimming Coach Anna Alaniz
Congratulations to UTRGV for starting a women’s swimming & diving program in South Texas. I can’t wait to see what Coach Betsy Graham’s years of expertise will bring to building a successful program in the Valley. She has always been able to continue swimmers’ performances beyond their high school careers while pushing them to also be successful at the collegiate level in athletics and academics.
SwimPros LLC Owner and President Kirk Sanocki
I’m extremely excited to see where Betsy will take this team! Betsy has been a great rival, competitor, colleague, but more importantly, a tremendous friend and resource over the past 25 years. Every stop that she had made throughout her outstanding career has seen an unbelievable improvement in all aspects of what makes a great program. Scholarship, leadership, academics, community engagement, community service, and last but certainly not least, developing great human beings. She has coached every level of ability and every age, from USA Swimming to the most competitive levels of the NCAA. The common thread along her career is the attention to detail plus the love and support of her athletes as if they were her own children.
She is an outside the box thinker always looking to adapt to ever changing circumstances and times. Betsy has always demonstrated getting the “most out of” with the “least” resources. One perfect example of this early on when we were the first two programs to start swimming in the South Atlantic Conference. We both needed to save budget money so we decided to travel on the same bus to our conference championship. An act of trust that most coaches would never consider doing. Congratulations Betsy! Very excited and happy for you in this new venture.
Congrats Betsy. UTRGV is lucky to have you.
I have never seen a “What they’re saying” in a press release for a school before
I have (but to be fair, I spend more time looking at colleges’ press releases than probably anybody on earth).
There is a first time for everything. She is the real deal though! They got a good one for sure.
What makes you say this?
Genuinely curious as it seems like all her college stops have been very lackluster
I know if I were a female and my times were in the top 16 of the WAC, knowing this is a new program, with scholarships, new facilities and an experienced coach… I would be putting my name in the portal and reaching out to program. Your comment “all of her college stops have been lackluster” shows you have no clue of what you know about coaching a collegiate level team with maybe less than 3 scholarships to apportion among the team. More scholarships allows teams to have more faster swimmers on the team. This is a great opportunity to have a college team in South Texas and I hope she is successful with this opportunity.