| NCAA Champions | ||
| SEC Champions | Men | Women |
| All-Time Top 10 | Men | Women |
| All-Americans | Men | Women |
| All-Time Series | Men | Women |
| Olympians | ||
| Letterwinners | ||
| Academic Awards |
More than eight decades ago, a group of students interested in forming a swim team at the University of Georgia approached C.W. Jones, the Physical Educations Director of the Athens YMCA.
At the time, the Georgia campus was without facilities, a team, and a coach, but “Jonesy” answered the interest of these young swimmers and was appointed temporary coach and supervisor of the newly chartered team. Little could he have suspected that this appointment would lead to a head coaching
commitment from 1926-1942, a 41-36 dual meet record and most importantly, a foundation for decades to come.
Daily life was greatly interrupted by World War II, and Jones’ commitment to the Georgia swim team was no exception. From 1943-1946, Jones was needed on other fronts and thus turned over the helm to B.W. “Bump” Gabrielsen.
From 1948 to 1966, Gabrielsen raised the standard of Georgia swimming and diving to new heights as he piloted the Bulldogs to a dual meet record of 118-106-4 during that span of time. Gabrielsen’s record book contains 70 individual SEC Champions (including relay teams), three conference team championship titles, one National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Champion, and one U.S. Olympic Team member.
During Gabrielsen’s coaching career, Georgia was home to one of the finest swimmers in SEC history — sprint freestyler Reid Patterson, who swam for the Bulldogs from 1952 to 1954. Patterson claimed the NCAA title in the 100 freestyle during the 1953 championships and won eight SEC titles (seven individual and one relay) in his three seasons with the Bulldogs.
Patterson’s career was highlighted during his senior season when he broke the American record in the 100 free with a mark of 51.0. As Georgia’s first Olympian in swimming competition (Melbourne 1956), Patterson was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Following Gabrielsen’s retirement, Richard “Moose” Wammock coached the 1966-67 team, finishing second in the SEC and 31st in the NCAA. Alan Gentry, a Bulldog letterwinner in 1955, led the Bulldogs for a three-year stint (1967-70), producing one SEC champion and setting 15 school records in one season.
The women’s swimming program was established in 1973, when a group of women approached Martha Washington and then-Associate Athletic Director Liz Murphey. The women’s team was met with almost immediate success, qualifying one relay team and one individual, Veronica Stroup, for the AIAW National Championships during its first year. Stroup went on to earn the Lady Bulldogs’ first All-America citation, led by the coaching expertise of Washington.
Washington stepped down as women’s head coach in 1977 and was replaced by Joe McEvoy who held the position for two seasons.
Pete Scholle led the men’s team from 1970-1983. His teams compiled a dual meet record of 97-53.
Jack Bauerle, a four-year letterwinner for the Bulldogs took over coaching duties for the women in 1979 and for the men in 1983. During the 1980s, Bauerle returned Georgia swimming into the national spotlight it had enjoyed in the 1950s. With such firm foundations, Georgia entered the 1990s, and both men’s and women’s teams greeted success in stride.
In his time overseeing Georgia’s program, Bauerle produced seven NCAA and 12 SEC crowns with the Lady Bulldogs, with 63 different men and women team members winning 176 national championships. At NCAAs, his teams posted 48 Top 10 finishes, including 21 Top 5 finishes in 22 seasons for the women’s squad from 1995 through 2017. In his tenure, 309 Georgia student-athletes accumulated 2,116 All-America citations, while Bauerle himself was chosen as the SEC Coach of the Year 18 times (16 with the women, two with the men) and the CSCAA National Women’s Coach of the Year on seven occasions.
Bauerle led the Lady Bulldogs to 342 dual-meet victories (joining Tom Groden of Boston College as the only members of the 300-wins club). Counting his 253 wins as the Bulldogs’ men’s coach, Bauerle finished with an overall record of 595-139-4. That figure ranked first among active NCAA coaches, first all-time in the SEC, and second on the all-time list. He also made history by leading the Lady Bulldogs to an NCAA-record 103 straight dual wins at Gabrielsen Natatorium from Nov. 8, 1995, through Jan. 5, 2017.
Under Bauerle’s leadership, Georgia produced 87 Olympians representing 20 different nations, earning 38 medals in the process. Georgia swimmers earned 15 Gold Medals, beginning with Sheila Taormina in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the 1996 Atlanta Games. At the 2000 Sydney Games, Kristy Kowal became the first individual medalist as she took Silver in the 200-meter breaststroke, while in 2012, Allison Schmitt became the program’s first individual Gold Medalist when she won the 200-meter freestyle in London.
At the Rio games, Bulldog swimmers totaled seven medals, including the program’s first male medalists in Chase Kalisz (silver – 400-meter IM) and Gunnar Bentz (gold – 4x200-meter freestyle relay). Bauerle was joined in Rio by 12 Georgia swimming alums representing the USA, Canada, and Finland, along with former diving coach Dan Laak and volunteer diving assistant Cesar Castro representing Brazil.
In Tokyo, a contingent of 10 Bulldogs, as well as Coach Laak, joined Bauerle at the Olympic Aquatics Centre. Starting a run of seven medals won at the meet, Kalisz and teammate Jay Litherland led a 1-2 sweep of the 400-meter IM, giving Georgia its first male gold medalist in an individual event. Schmitt, competing in her fourth games, earned two medals and brought her career total to 10, while Hali Flickinger earned a pair of bronze medals in the 400-meter IM and 200-meter butterfly. Additionally, two members of Bauerle’s pro group medaled as Andrew Wilson won gold in the 4x100-meter medley relay and Natalie Hinds took silver in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Outside of the water, Bauerle’s teams excelled in the classroom and community as well. Three Lady Bulldog swimmers, Kowal, Lisa Coole, and Kim Black, were named the NCAA Woman of the Year, tying for the most winners from a single athletic program. With 40 NCAA postgraduate scholarship winners, only six schools have more recipients than just the Georgia swimming and diving program. Additionally, the program produced 41 CSC Academic All-Americans and 436 CSCAA Scholar All-Americans.
In June 2022, Bauerle retired following a 43-year tenure at the helm of the program. He was succeeded by a pair of his NCAA champions: Stefanie Williams Moreno as the women's head coach and Neil Versfeld as the men's head coach. During their first two years at the helm, the duo has kept Georgia as one of the nation's top programs, producing four Olympians and two NCAA individual champions (Abby McCulloh - 1,650 freestyle, 2024; Luca Urlando - 200 butterfly, 2025). In the most recent season (2024-25), the Georgia men finished seventh and the women placed 16th at the NCAA Championships, with both teams finishing fourth at the SEC Championships in Athens.
