Bowling Green State Hires Matt Ense As Head Coach

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—Bowling Green State University Director of Athletics D. Christopher Kingston announced today the hiring of Matt Ense as head coach of the Falcon Swimming & Diving program. Ense comes to Bowling Green after two successful seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati.

“I would like to thank Athletic Director Chris Kingston for this great opportunity,” Ense said. “I am truly humbled and honored to lead the Bowling Green women’s swimming and diving program. Everyone at BGSU has been great through this process and I could not be more excited for this step forward in my career. I cannot wait to start working with the women and working towards bringing a MAC Championship back to Bowling Green.”

Cincinnati consistently produced great results both in and out of the pool throughout Ense’s time with the Bearcats. Among them were sophomore Jackie Keire winning four titles at the American Athletic Conference Championships in 2015, being named All-America in the 200 freestyle, and placing 16th at NCAA Championships. Keire also competed in the 100 and 500 freestyle at the NCAA Championships in 2015. Keire was named AAC Most Outstanding Swimmer and also Cincinnati’s Female Athlete of the Year following Ense’s second season.

“I was incredibly impressed with Matt’s enthusiasm and passion to be at Bowling Green State University to lead the women’s swimming and diving program,” Kingston said about Ense. “He is the total package. His experience as a championship student-athlete in the Mid-American Conference, coupled with his background as a head coach and mentor for Olympic and NCAA competitors, made him the obvious choice to elevate this top-notch program.”

Under Ense’s development, Keire became Cincinnati’s first NCAA qualifier and All-American in 10 seasons. But, the accomplishments did not stop at just one individual during his two seasons at UC. Ense led the Bearcats’ first male conference champion in more than 10 seasons and saw 14 school records and four conference records fall. Over the course of just two short seasons, Ense’s swimmers had an astonishing 63 swims inside the top 10 in school history and had 22 swims achieve the NCAA “B” cut standard.

The Bearcats also excelled in the classroom during Ense’s stint at UC, as two swimmers were named Academic All-America in 2015, along with the men’s team recording a perfect 1000 APR score.

“Matt is a rising star who produces championship results both academically and competitively and we are excited to have him join BGSU,” Kingston continued.

A five-time Mid-American Conference champion as a swimmer at Eastern Michigan, Ense was named the 2012 CollegeSwimming.com Rising Assistant Coach of the Year.

Ense spent the 2012-13 year as just the second women’s head coach at DePauw, where he led the Tigers to a third-place showing at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. His squad sent five student-athletes to the NCAA Division III Championships, earning DePauw a 27th place finish nationally.

Prior to his time at DePauw, Ense was an assistant coach at Division III powerhouse Denison. Both men’s and women’s squads finished in the top three nationally each season he was with the Big Red, while the men took home the NCAA Division III title in 2011 and 2012.

During his four years there, the women’s team broke 32 school records, 25 conference marks and six national records, while swimmers achieved All-America status on 178 occasions. The men’s team posted 35 school records, 15 conference marks and 10 at the NCAA level, while totaling 180 All-America performances.
In 2012, he was named the CollegeSwimming.com Rising Assistant Coach of the Year, with long-time Denison Head Coach Greg Parini calling Ense his “best assistant coach in 25 years.”

Before arriving at Denison, Ense worked alongside current Michigan head coach Mike Bottom for three months in Key Largo, Fla., helping prepare 13 Olympians for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Trainee Nathan Adrian was part of the 400 freestyle relay which won gold and set a world record.

A graduate of Cincinnati’s Oak Hill High School, Ense went on to swim at Eastern Michigan, where he was a five-time Mid-American Conference champion and MAC Scholar-Athlete. He also competed at the 2000 US Olympic Trials, where he finished ninth in the 5,000.

Swimming news courtesy of Bowling Green State Swimming & Diving.