The Woodlands Swim Team, a USA Swimming Silver Medal club in the Houston suburbs, has named Jarrod Murphy as interim head coach. Murphy, who has been with TWST for 7 years, including the last 4 as head age group coach, takes over for former head coach Chris Collier who left the program after two years.
SwimSwam has reached out to Collier, but has not received a response.
In a statement to SwimSwam, the TWST board of directors said, “The Woodlands Swim Team (TWST) would like to announce a change in its coaching staff. After two years, Coach Chris Collier is no longer with the team. We want to thank Chris for his contribution to the growth of our program and we wish him success in his future endeavors. Coach Jarrod Murphy has been named Interim Head Coach for TWST. Coach Jarrod has been with TWST for 7 years and has served as Head Age Group Coach since 2017. His athletes have achieved success at every level, including over 20 top 10 rankings, multiple Texas Age Group Champions and Futures and Junior National qualifiers. We look forward to Coach Jarrod’s continued leadership and commitment to excellence in his new role.”
SwimSwam asked Murphy and a spokesperson for the board of directors if Murphy’s interim appointment was a “to hire” position or if they were beginning an external search, and did not receive a response. They also didn’t respond to a request for more information for the reasons behind Collier’s departure.
Prior to joining Woodlands in 2015, Murphy spent eight years at another Houston-area club, First Colony Swim Team, from 2007-2015. He held multiple roles while at First Colony, including lead senior coach and leading a satellite program in nearby Beaumont. Notably, US Olympian Simone Manuel swam for First Colony under then-head coach Allison Beebe during Murphy’s tenure.
Since arriving in The Woodlands, Murphy has been one of the top age group coaches in the country, having been nominated for the ASCA Age Group Coach of the Year award in 2017 and 2018. He also has served in a variety of leadership roles within the Gulf LSC and is a member of the TAGS committee.
Murphy also has had coaching stops in Madison, Wisconsin with Badger Aquatic Club and in Iowa City, Iowa with the Iowa City Eels. He is a native of Ohio and swam for Division III power Kenyon College under legendary coach Jim Steen, graduating in 2002.
Per the TWST board announcement, some of Murphy’s career highlights include:
- 20+ National top 10 rankings including 3 #1 rankings
- Multiple TAGS Champions and record holders
- GULF LSC record holders
- Numerous TWST record holders and TWST historic top-10 performers
- Numerous Speedo Sectional qualifiers
- USA Swimming Futures qualifiers
- USA Swimming Junior National qualifiers.
- 2019 Youth World Championship qualifier
- Olympic Trial qualifiers for both Australia and Canada
Murphy becomes the third head coach for the program since 2017. Former head coach Kit Raulerson was hired in 2017, and was replaced by Chris Collier just two years later, who came to TWST from the University of Alabama.
Collier joined TWST in August of 2019 after spending time as a collegiate coach at both Alabama and Wisconsin. The program saw steady improvement during Collier’s tenure, moving from 110th nationally in USA Swimming’s Virtual Club Championships rankings the season before his arrival, to 77th in his first season and 61st in his second. TWST currently sits 53rd in the national VCC rankings and recently finished tied for 24th at Winter Juniors West with 27 points.
Chris Collier was arrested in Austin for a DUI and Assault the night prior to the Speedo Juniors meet in Austin, a complete let down to the TWST swimmers.