The University of North Carolina has hired Mark Gangloff to lead its men’s and women’s swim & dive programs, replacing the resigned Rich DeSelm.
The move fills arguably the biggest head coaching opening still on the market, after Stanford hired Dan Schemmel earlier this week. Gangloff comes to UNC from Missouri, where he’s spent the past seven years on staff. Gangloff is best-known as a two-time U.S. Olympian, competing in 2004 and 2008 and winning gold medals with the 4×100 medley relay at both Games. He’s risen through the coaching ranks since then, working with the University of Missouri for seven years, and holding the title of associate head coach for the past two seasons.
The coaching situation at Missouri remains unsettled, though, as head coach Greg Rhodenbaugh is under a Title IX investigation, per local media. Gangloff and Andrew Grevers were both associate head coaches, and Grevers finished out the year as interim head coach. There’s still been no word out of Mizzou on Rhodenbaugh’s status, or a long-term change at head coach.
DeSelm had been with UNC for nearly 30 years, but resigned this spring after a cancer diagnosis.
The school announced Gangloff as head coach on Thursday. The full UNC press release is below:
CHAPEL HILL — Mark Gangloff, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the most dynamic young leaders in the world of collegiate swimming, has been named the new head coach for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs at the University of North Carolina. Gangloff comes to UNC after seven years at the University of Missouri where he served as the Tigers’ associate head coach for the last two seasons.
“Mark Gangloff is greatly respected in international and collegiate swimming and diving and has a passion for coaching and developing student-athletes,” says UNC Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham. “His swimmers have demonstrated improvement and success, and he is known for his ability to relate with and motivate student-athletes.
“He’s an Olympic gold medalist, captained a national championship-winning team at Auburn and a number of USA Swimming teams in international competitions, and has developed swimmers at Missouri for the past seven years. We look forward to Mark taking our men’s and women’s programs to another level in the years to come.”
“I would like to thank Mr. Cunningham for the opportunity to serve the University of North Carolina as head swimming and diving coach,” says Gangloff. “I am grateful to those coaches, support staff and athletes who have come before me and look forward to honoring them through my work. Building on recent individual successes and a rich history of program excellence, I can’t wait to lead UNC swimming and diving to new heights. The culture of academic and athletic excellence at the University of North Carolina is second to none. I am excited to work with current and future Tar Heel swimmers and divers to achieve their academic and athletic dreams.
“I would also like to thank the University of Missouri, its tremendous coaches, and its administration for helping me to grow as both an individual and as a coach.
“Now it is time to get to work. Go Heels!”
In his seven years at Mizzou, Gangloff led the Tigers to five top-15 finishes at both the men’s and women’s NCAA Championships. The Tiger men posted back-to-back top-10 NCAA results in 2016 and 2017, with the 2016 team finishing a program-best eighth nationally and Fabian Schwingenschlogl winning the first NCAA title in school history in the 100 breaststroke. That same year the Tiger women also had an all-time best team finish, placing 11th overall.
Before his time at Missouri, Gangloff spent three years a volunteer assistant coach at Auburn, his alma mater. During his time on the Auburn coaching staff, he assisted with stroke technique, race strategy and strength and conditioning.
From 2007-09, Gangloff coached at Swim MAC Carolina in Charlotte, N.C., where he assisted in the development and implementation of program and training design. He also provided instruction on race strategy and post-race coaching for swimmers ages 10-18.
On the international stage, Gangloff made his first Olympic team in 2004, when he won a gold medal as part of the 400 medley relay in Athens. Four years later he qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games and was part of the 400 medley relay that won gold in Beijing.
At the World Championships, Gangloff was a three-time gold medalist in the 400 medley relay. He also won silver in the 50 breaststroke in 2005 and bronze in the same event in 2009. He was a team captain on both the 2009 and 2011 world teams as well as the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships and USA National Championships teams, the 2008 Short Court World Championships team and the 2010 Duel in the Pool, where he helped set a world record in the 400 medley relay.
Additionally, Gangloff participated in the Pan-American Games in 1999, 2003 and 2007, earning gold medals in the 400 medley relay in 2003 and 2007, gold in the 100 breast in 2003 and bronze in the 200 breast in 1999.
As a collegiate swimmer at Auburn, Gangloff helped the Tigers to NCAA team titles in 2003 and 2004 and four straight SEC team titles. Individually, Gangloff earned 12 total All-America honors and won SEC titles in the 100 and 200 breast and the 200 and 400 medley relays.
A native of Akron, Ohio, Gangloff earned a degree in criminology from Auburn in 2005. He and his wife Ashley, a former national champion diver at Auburn, have three daughters, Annabelle, Hattie Rose and Kathryn.
There have been some good hires thus far at other institutions BUT this is the perfect hire. Coach Mark is bright, sensitive, seasoned, patient, kind, innovative and humble. It is EZ to support UNC for this new phase in swimming. Mark is a tireless worker ho will up the energy on campus and challenge other ACC coaches to get busy recruiting and coaching. If UNC will get off their duff and build this man a mega facility and give him the support he deserves, he will lead them to unparalleled success.
I will take a mega facility if I can get it. But the rules of this game are simple. A well developed weight program with a strength and conditioning coach who will develop programs that are e.g. stroke specific; a well defined dry land program see e.g. NC State; and coaches that understand and will implement high intensity interval training. AND, a commitment form the Athletic Department to give the program the resources it needs to grow and develop. Hell, I will settle for a strength and conditioning coach and the same budget you gave Deselm.
Can confirm the strength and conditioning coaches for the swim team at UNC were NOT the problem. Those guys put more time and effort into swim film and learning the mechanics of strong/muscle technique than the coaching staff did. The culture and attitude were going downhill fast, and this was a shift we needed.
just a kid from akron
All the best to Mark and the UNC swim and dive team! The future looks bright!
I think a lot of the negativity being shown here is probably due to the fact that UNC has been notorious for always putting their bigger athletics well ahead of their smaller programs such as swim & dive, and as such took an exorbitant amount of time to find and name a replacement. The athletic director seems to have a disconnect with its smaller programs, not holding their staffs to as high a standard as the larger ones.
And that’s always going to be a problem with bigger schools, not just UNC, when it comes to their swim programs. Since swim isn’t bringing in… Read more »
I think the actual training will be better; more like Missouri’s. That will help a lot of kids already in the UNC program. That is where it will start.
@ncswimfan I agree with respect to swimming and the lack of urgency shown in making the change and then in identifying a replacement, but I think you are very wrong with respect to Carolina and Olympic sports. They are among the best in the country in many of them year in and year out. In the last five years there have been final four appearances or national championships from men’s and women’s lacrosse; field hockey; men’s and women’s soccer; men’s and women’s tennis. That’s 7 programs right there at the top. Men’s golf qualified for NCAAs this year. Baseball often makes College World Series. Softball made NCAAs this year. Volleyball was top 10 three years ago. Look at the top… Read more »
You make some good points. This is a really big step by the AD though. Coach Michael and Coach Christy are really kind, wonderful and respectful people, and I am hoping that this team of coaches can make it happen.
I am a real swim fan, so I follow Carolina all year. At the ACCs, they showed some promise that I believe could thrive in the right environment. A handful of students made it to the ACC finals. The women’s relay team made it to NCAAs.
The new head coach needs to consider some of the new schools of thought around swim training. Look at some of the training at USC, Indiana, NC State and maybe Virginia. That… Read more »
I believe the athletic director is the problem. Most of our athletic programs have gone downhill since he was hired.
Congratulations Mark! UNC made a great hire!
It appears that UNC conducted a thorough search and made a selection that is designed to fill obvious gaps in its program. This coach needs to rally his team of swimmers and coaches in a respectful manner. It’s a pity that this change was not made at the beginning of the last school year. But change in this case does engender hope for a brighter year.
Childbearing hips.
Sounds a bit personal.
UNC has better options. Nuff said.
They must not think so since it took them over two long months to get to this point. Who would you have preferred that was reasonably available and interested to coach a team with few recruits (especially on the men’s side) and at historically poor performance levels?
UNC Stanford Alabama Princeton all hired 35-40 yr old (+/- I didn’t bother doing exact math) white males. No other good candidates? And so did UVA Auburn Wisconsin. That’s a problem IMO.
See my Princeton comment. Clearly an axe to grind here.
Wisconsin hired Yuri sugiyama… who is Asian… but I understand the sentiment
Or a 32 year old in Stanford’s case :-).
Maybe because they are good coaches and the color of their skin shouldnt matter? Who cares if they’re white males as long as they are good at their jobs. Its about the ability, not the color lol.
Illinois State hire a women. Meanwhile the female cal assistant and the UCLA’s coach both left the coaching ranks. Stanford hire is men’s only so it shouldn’t be on your list. So if UCLA hires a women that would be 3/8 teams that check a box for you.
Sounds like troll bait here but it’s not exactly a problem as I see it…. The (lack of) diversity in the coaching ranks does reflect the same (lack of) diversity in the athlete population. Now in the NFL it was a problem, hence the “Rooney Rule”… you had a disproportional amount of white head coaches compared to what the actual make-up of the league was. So for swimming, if the race things wants to be (and probably should be) addressed, it has to start at the athlete level. As for the age thing, why would you not want a younger coach who you can build around and not have to worry about retirement in the next few years? Not many… Read more »
Like…….????? this certainly has to better than the most recent leadership.
If they did, it wouldn’t have taken all year to find ine…
Amen brother. I lived in Chapel Hill when Frank Comfort coached the swim teams. Back them we were just as good as UVA and regularly creamed NC state. That will never happen again because Gangloff cannot recruit with State, UVA VPI and Louisville.
Congrats Mark. Well deserved my friend. You & Ash will have a tremendous impact on the Chapel Hill community!
Oh wow! I’m kind of surprised Mizzou didn’t lock him up earlier.
pretty sure they can’t with the limbo of the current situation
I don’t think he is the only coach that is planning on leaving because of the situation.