Ohio’s Youngstown State University will add a men’s swimming and diving team to its previously female-only program, the school announced Monday. But it will do so without second-year head coach Ryan Purdy.
Purdy and the school were not able to “come to terms” on the details of a new contract to coach both genders, he told SwimSwam.
“I didn’t resign, my contract was not, not renewed. It’s a new position,” Purdy said. “I was in a place to either accept or deny that contract and we just couldn’t come to terms… I was under contract as the head women’s coach. The new position was head men’s and women’s swimming coach.”
Purdy took over the Penguins’ program in May 2017. Prior to that, he was an assistant at the University of Minnesota and Cal State-Fresno for over a decade, and before that, was the associate senior director and a coach with the Mission Viejo Nadadores in Mission Viejo, Calif., serving under acclaimed coach Bill Rose.
Youngstown State, a Division I school, previously sponsored men’s swimming and diving from 1949-51 and 1964-1984. The school projects to have a men’s roster of about 20-25 athletes in the fall of 2019. According to the CSCAA, it is the first DI school to add a men’s program in two years; it will be one of nine new men’s programs across the NCAA and NAIA starting up in the 2019-2020 season.
This is one of two open Division I head coaching positions this off-season in Northeast Ohio. Cleveland State’s head coach resigned one week before their conference championship meet in February.
As a native of Youngstown and a YSU alumni, it makes me so happy to see men’s swimming added to YSU. Hopefully it will create some momentum and support to continue the growth of swimming in northeastern Ohio. Go Penguins!
Love to see a D1 men’s team get added
It’s a shame they let him get away. Would have been nice to have continued stability and his experience from combining teams at MN.