Florida Gulf Coast coach Neal Studd has in four short years created one of the dominant mid-major programs in the country at Florida Gulf Coast, and has laid out an example for exactly how to build a program from scratch.
It only makes sense that UNC-Ashville, then, when they decided to revive a women’s swimming program that hasn’t existed at the university since the 1970’s, they went searching for a member of Studd’s staff, and hired FGCU assistant Elizabeth Lykins to be the program’s first head coach in more than 30 years.
Lykins has been with coach Studd for the entire 4-plus season history of the program there, and has been a part of three-straight CCSA conference championship teams (with four seeming like a near-lock this season). In total, she’s worked at the Division-I level for 10 seasons, with previous stints as an assistant at Colgate and Georgia Southern.
As a swimmer, she swam at the College of Charleston, and was the team’s 1998 MVP.
She will now be leading the Ashville Bulldogs as they enter the same Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association that her former school, FGCU, has dominated.