Louisville Associate Chris Lindauer Named New Head Coach At Notre Dame

Chris Lindauer has been named the new head swimming & diving coach at the University of Notre Dame, the school announced Thursday.

Lindauer joins Notre Dame after a 13-year stint on the coaching staff of the Louisville Cardinals, serving 12 seasons as an assistant (2009-21) before being promoted to associate head coach in June 2021. Prior to coaching, he was also a three-time All-American in the pool with the Cardnals.

The head coaching position at UND opened up in October 2021 after the resignation of Mike Litzinger. Former Northwestern head coach Bob Groseth then took over the position on an interim basis for the remainder of the 2021-22 season.

It was also announced earlier this week that the head coaching position was receiving an endowment from alumni swimmer Karl Peterson.

“After a long and thorough search, we are thrilled to welcome Chris Lindauer into the Notre Dame family,” said swimming and diving administrator and Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Engagement Juli Schreiber.

“When we started this process, we knew we were seeking a coach who understood the importance of academics, who has enjoyed great coaching success and has an innate ability to connect with student-athletes. We found that coach in Chris.

“In collaboration with Coach (Bob) Groseth and Notre Dame swimming alums Marie Labosky and Tony Fonseca, it was immediately clear to us that Chris has a passion for developing each individual not only from an athletics perspective, but also as a whole person. The experience and success he will bring to our team is phenomenal and we are excited for the future of the program.”

“My goal is as a head coach is to bring in that fire and desire to go win and win at a high level”

Hear from Peterson Family Head Swimming Coach Chris Lindauer about his goals for the program!#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/SKb0LcfqVw

— ND Swimming & Diving (@NDSwimDive) April 21, 2022

During his time with the Cardinals, Lindauer helped lead the program to new heights, highlighted by the men’s team winning their first-ever ACC Championship title in 2021. That season also saw Nicolas Albiero win the NCAA title in the men’s 200 fly, and the Louisville men also claimed the team’s first-ever national relay title in the 200 medley.

This past season, Lindauer and the U of L coaching staff helped lead the women’s team to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA Championships (and third at ACCs), while the men’s team took second at ACCs (and 12th at NCAAs).

The accomplishments the Cards achieved under Lindauer included him helping lead the men’s team to their first top-10 NCAA finish, and the women’s team to their first top-25 and ultimately top-10 NCAA finish. In addition to Albiero, he helped propel Carlos Almeida, Joao De Lucca, Kelsi Dahlia and Mallory Comerford to individual NCAA titles.

Lindauer also played a prominent role in the development of Serbian sprinter Andrej Barna, who qualified to swim at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games where he went on to finish ninth in the men’s 100 freestyle.

During his time competing at Louisville, Lindauer was a member of the Cardinal’s first-ever NCAA-scoring relay, as he earned All-American honors three times and was a four-time Big East champion. In 2008, he won the Coaches Award and the 2008 Most Memorable Performance Award in the Big East.

Lindauer graduated from Louisville with a degree in biology in 2008, and also worked as an assistant coach and head conditioning coach at Cardinal Aquatics. He and his wife Beth have three sons, Jack, Owen and Brady.

This season under Groseth, the Notre Dame men and women both placed 33rd at the NCAA Championships, scoring five and six points, respectively.

At the 2022 ACCs, the Fighting Irish women finished sixth and men were eighth, having finished fifth and seventh, respectively, the season prior under Litzinger.