On Wednesday, West Virginia swimming and diving head coach Vic Riggs announced the hire of David Dixon as an assistant coach for the team. Dixon was a former swimmer for West Virginia, having spent the last five years competing collegiately. He last swam at the 2022 NCAA Championships, where he finished 28th in the 200 fly, 40th in the 100 fly, and 52nd in the 200 IM.
“I’m extremely excited to work with the swimming and diving team,” Dixon said. “This program has been incredible to me as a student-athlete, and I cannot wait to give back to it as an assistant coach. I’m incredibly grateful for this wonderful opportunity to stay involved within a program I’m so passionate about.”
welcome 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 home, David! But this time it’s 𝗖𝗢𝗔𝗖𝗛 David 👏
In his time at West Virginia, Dixon had a very successful swimming career. He was an NCAA qualifier all five years that he competed and is a second-team All-American—an accolade he earned from placing 12th in the 200 fly at the 2021 NCAA Championships. In 2021 and 2022, Dixon was WVU’s only men’s NCAA swimming qualifier.
Dixon has also had considerable success on a conference level, being a two-time Big 12 champion in the 200 fly (2019, 2022) and a one-time champion in the 100 fly (2019). His best time of 1:41.59 in the 200 fly is a WVU program record, whereas his best times of 46.65 and 1:45.47 in the 100 fly and 200 IM respectively make him the second-fastest performer in program history for both events.
Prior to being hired as an assistant coach for WVU, Dixon spent time as an assistant for Club Mountaineer Aquatics, where he worked with high school swimmers and helped create practice plans and run meets. In spring 2022, he graduated from WVU in spring 2022 with bachelor’s degrees in sport and exercise psychology and athletic coaching education.
“I’m pleased to have David join our staff,” Riggs said. “His experience as a student-athlete, and more importantly a member of this program for the past five years, makes him a perfect fit for our staff.”
Congratulations David and WVU!
Big congrats to the head coach’s future son in law on the hire. Can’t say I love this trend of favored athletes being hired fresh out of the pool with no prior coaching experience, as accomplished as David/Brooks/etc may be.
I mean, Dixon did have prior coaching experience though?
“Prior to being hired as an assistant coach for WVU, Dixon spent time as an assistant for Club Mountaineer Aquatics, where he worked with high school swimmers and helped create practice plans and run meets. In spring 2022, he graduated from WVU in spring 2022 with bachelor’s degrees in sport and exercise psychology and athletic coaching education.”
Plus, his major in college was tailored to coaching sports. So I’d say he’s more qualified than a typical athlete hired fresh out of the pool.
Spent time as an assistant coach for the colleges club team. Every single swimmer who swims at a college with a club team could also claim this.
I agree he’s more qualified than the typical retired athlete. But Power 5 assistant jobs shouldn’t go to 22 year olds with no experience coaching collegiate athletes. That’s why the GA position exists.
Lots of people grind for years hoping to build a resume for jobs like these; nothing against David who is by all accounts a great athlete and person but the lack of experience combined with the element of nepotism makes me wonder how hard they actually looked to fill this role, and why they didn’t cast a wider net. This isn’t exactly a program that’s been killing it recently, with Dixon the notable exception
There’s more to this story and David wasn’t chosen because he’s the head coaches future son in law. He’s not engaged, and besides, at this level of athletics I would tend to think Coach Riggs has plenty of integrity and a good enough head on his shoulders to know there would be some petty accusations. Do you think Riggs made the decision all by his lonesome? There’s more red tape in collegiate athletics than under my Christmas tree in December. Before you call my Alma Mater a good ole boys club, do your fact checking. And no, I’m not doing it for you.
Again. Wow.