Virginia Tech has announced contract extensions for four varsity head coaches until 2028, including head swimming & diving coach Sergio Lopez Miro.
Lopez’s new contract runs through June 30, 2028.
“I firmly believe the best days in Blacksburg are ahead and these head coaches are a part of our optimism,” Virginia Tech athletics director Whit Babcock expressed. “Each of them has built successful programs, while being committed to providing a first-class experience for our student-athletes. We’re proud to call them Hokies and look forward to the continued success of their programs under their respective leadership.”
Lopez Miro was named head coach of Virginia Tech’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving in May of 2018, and has since helped re-establish the Hokies as a force in the pool. In 2021, the former Olympic bronze medalist led Tech to a breakout season, with the men’s squad finishing a program-best 11th at the NCAA championships. The women’s team enjoyed its second-best all-time placement, finishing 21st overall.
After a 2022 season that saw five swimmers earn All-America honors between both squads, Lopez Miro has now amassed a total of 43 school records, and 359 top-10 program performances in his time at the helm. The Tech men are coming off a runner-up showing at the 2023 ACC championships – their highest finish since 2014, headlined by Youssef Ramadan winning the league’s most valuable swimmer for the second year in a row.
As an athlete, Lopez Miro was the 1988 Olympic bronze medalist in the 200 breaststroke. Prior coaching stops before Virginia Tech include as the head coach of Singapore Swimming, head coach at one of the country’s top high school programs The Bolles School in Florida, and head coach at West Virginia University.
According to public records, the base salary in Lopez Miro’s last contract in 2019 was $160,000, plus incentives (he received $21,500 in bonuses in the 2nd quarter of 2022). SwimSwam has filed a public records request regarding details of the new contract.
Full List of Extensions
| Head Coach | Sport | Date Extended Through |
|---|---|---|
| Chugger Adair | Women’s Soccer | June 30, 2028 |
| Mike Brizendine | Men’s Soccer | Feb. 9, 2028 |
| Sergio Lopez Miro | Swimming and Diving | June 30, 2028 |
| Tony Robie | Wrestling | Dec. 31, 2028 |
Will be (or would be) interesting to see Sergio stay in one place for this long.
He was at Bolles for almost a decade, and I don’t think it was his choice to leave Auburn
Imagine how good WVU would be today with their facility if they would of done whatever needed to keep him in 2006
aka hire another assistant coach ($25k/year salary if I recall correctly) like he asked
The question is, will he ever recruit Americans?
WOW. So there are no Americans on the team? And no USA National team members on the team?
He’s recruited one of the absolute best from the class of 2023.
And MORE than one highly ranked American recruit from the class of 2022.
The REAL question is…when will Americans stop underestimating and undervaluing the benefit of International mentors and teammates.
When will Americans want to go swim for him? In Blacksburg of all places?
As an American who has spent time overseas, I am thankful for the opportunity my swimmer will have to make connections across the globe by being a part of a very diverse program.
It’s allll in how you look at it.
I am an American… As a matter of fact, my whole class is American.. L comment. Kick rocks clown
I am convinced Sergio is in the top 3 coaches of all time. He doesn’t have as many Olympians under his belt (if any) like Eddie Reese, Dave Durden, and Bob Bowman do, but man can he make a program go from good to great.
Ryan Murphy, Joe Schooling, Caeleb Dressel, Santo Condorelli…
He didn’t coach them in the lead up to the Olympics. The work he put in during their high school careers played a large part in their success, but it is tough to credit him over their college coaches.
He also coached Matt Grevers, Ariana Kurkos, Kevin Cordes
That’s a good salary for a D1 coach. I wonder where he stacks up versus other D1 coaches.
https://staging.swimswam.com/want-to-earn-the-big-bucks-be-a-d1-head-swim-coach/
If you factor in his swim camps he made more than 200k last year for sure. I am going to guess his new base salary will be right around 200k plus bonuses and camps
…I want to see successful coaches (defined by performance and GPA) getting paid well. Sergio has a long history of success in this sport (going back to the ’88 medal).