Coaching shakeups continue at Notre Dame as the school announced men’s head swimming & diving coach Matt Tallman will be taking a leave of absence beginning immediately.
Tallman was in his second season as the head coach of the Fighting Irish men’s program. He was a longtime assistant to the team, then took over the head coaching role when Tim Welsh retired back in 2014.
Meanwhile, the women’s program has had its own similar set of shakeups. Coach Brian Barnes bowed out in the early stages of last season, resigning for personal and family reasons. With Barnes announcement coming in September, the program turned back to Welsh, who came out of retirement to lead the women’s program for a year.
Notre Dame then hired UNC Tar Heel assistant Mike Litzinger as their new women’s head coach for the future of the program. Litzinger is in his first season in that role.
Now Litzinger will take over leadership of both the men’s and women’s programs at Notre Dame after the announcement of Tallman’s leave of absence, which the school terms as “indefinite.”
In other coaching restructuring, the team’s former operations specialist Joseph Spahn will move into an assistant coaching role.
The team has some time to adjust to the new coaching structure – both the men’s and women’s programs won’t compete again for almost a month, taking on the University of Virginia on the road on January 8 and 9.
You can view the Notre Dame press release about Tallman’s leave of absence here.
Everyone commenting negative things should stop. You have no idea what is going on in Coach Tallman’s life right now. Maybe if you knew the man and what was happening you would give him more respect. I don’t know Tallman personally but I do know that he is a great coach and has done so much for the swimming program at Notre Dame. I am also sure that Matt and his family would appreciate it if you would stop being so negative and condescending. We have all had times in our lives where we are struggling and no one deserves people treating them with disrespect especially random and rude people hiding behind their keyboards on the internet. My best thoughts… Read more »
Matt is a self serving coach. The ND swim teams are not even ranked in the Top 30. Kudos to the diving coach who has shown true leadership over many years. Coach Welsh covered for Matt’s many shortcomings.Time to have Matt move on and let ND rise to the swim potential they should have and get recruits that have earned their way on the team…not bought their way with favors….
And what experience do you have with the ND swim team and Matt? He has done so much for the swimming program at Notre Dame. He has recruited some of the best swimming recruits in the country within the past few years and they most definitely did not buy their way onto the team with favors.
Why is Sydney Golic no longer swimming on the ND team? Why did she at least not travel with the team for Christmas training and to help the team during the shortage of coaches?
This is definitely a positive change for the ND men’s swim team. Can’t wait to see what the future holds!
This is great news for the Notre Dame swim team. This news has been much anticipated and it finally gives the team the opportunity to reach their full potential. Big step for the school and the team.
more than that, mike.
@Mike Keller maybe you should investigate his past coaching jobs…
Mike and Joe are both amazing coaches. They will keep the program moving forward for the time being.
Matt is dealing with some personal issues. Let’s be supportive. We’ve all been there.