Coach Frank Bradley has been named Auburn's new swimming and diving associate head coach.
Bradley said he was very excited to be working at Auburn with Brett Hawke, Auburn swimming and diving head coach, and the rest of the staff.
"I feel very excited and fortunate to have gotten this position," he said.
Bradley has been coaching at Indian River State College for the past five years, four of those as head coach.
The men and women's swimming and diving teams earned five National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) titles under Bradley, including 177 individual NCJAA national titles and 13 student athletes named NCJAA swimmer of the year. The teams also broke 45 NJCAA national champion records and 53 school records.
Bradley has been named the NJCAA Coach of the Year four times.
Hawke said the decision for the new associate head coach came down to one candidate with experience as head coach and chemistry.
"Ultimately, the decision came down to a good fit with chemistry for the team," Hawke said. "It came down to chemistry between him and I as well."
Before coaching at Indian River State College, Bradley worked as an assistant coach for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks swim team from 1999-2005. He helped lead the Gamecocks to 26 All-American honors, 34 school records and three individual SEC titles. Bradley said this year he is looking to help Auburn's swimming and diving improve upon its recent finishes.
"The past is the past, and we can all look at it as a learning experience," Bradley said. "The way I've always approached things is taking them year by year, because the personality of the team might change or even the staff personnel might change, so I'm just focusing on the here and now."
Hawke said Bradley's past swimmers could not say enough good things about him.
"We have a lot of potential swimmers who go swim for competitor's teams, such as Tennessee or Florida," Hawke said, "so I wanted someone with good chemistry with his past swimmers."
Bradley said his personal hopes for the future include Auburn swimming and diving team becoming national champions and SEC champions this upcoming year, and having the swimmers meet their personal goals.
"If we're attacking those goals, a lot of my own personal goals will be reached," Bradley said.
Bradley is a 1997 graduate of Florida State University, where in 1995 he won an Atlantic Coast Conference title for his 200 individual medley. He was also a four-year letter winner on FSU's swim team. Bradley moved to Auburn with his wife Susan and two daughters, Grace and Paige.
He said the whole family is very excited about living in Auburn and being a part of the Auburn school and community.
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