Fernando Rodriguez - Women's Swimming & Diving Coach

Fernando Rodriguez

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
frodriguez@sports.uga.edu

Fernando Rodriguez, a University of Georgia graduate and one of the nation’s top young coaches, is in his fourth season as Women’s Swimming & Diving Assistant Coach.

In his first year in Athens, Rodriguez helped Georgia earn a 16th-place finish at the NCAA Championships and a sixth-place finish at the SEC Championships. At NCAAs, the Bulldogs earned 21 All-America citations, including seven First Team citations. Sophomore Rachel Stege reached the championship final in the 500 and 1,650 freestyle, while teammate Dune Coetzee joined her in the 500. Earlier at SECs, Stege won the conference title in the 500, while senior Zoie Hartman prevailed in the 200 IM. Overall, the team earned 10 SEC medals and set 30 personal-best times in College Station.

In his second season, he helped guide the Bulldogs up three spots to a 13th-place at the NCAA Championships in Athens, following a fifth-place finish at SEC Championships. Junior Abby McCulloh capped off a career year by winning the NCAA championship in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a personal-best and pool-record time of 15:37.74, becoming the first Bulldog national champion since 2016. McCulloh became the 48th different athlete to win a championship, increasing the program total to 154. During the season, she also won the SEC championship in the mile and earned First Team All-America honors in the 500y freestyle, along with setting two pool records in the 1,000y freestyle. She also excelled in the classroom with SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, National Academic All-District, and UGA Presidential Scholars honors.

Stege and Coetzee picked up First Team honors in the 500y freestyle, with Stege also earning a silver medal at SECs. Coetzee joined sophomore Shea Furse, senior Sloane Reinstein, and Hartman to finish sixth in the 800y freestyle relay, helping Hartman finish her career with a program-record 31 All-America citations. Junior Eboni McCarty posted the three fastest times of her career in the 100y backstroke at NCAAs, finishing 10th overall. Senior Julianna Stephens, junior Bri Roberson, sophomore Emma Norton, and freshman Helena Jones also earned All-America awards on relays at NCAAs.

In his third season, the Bulldogs earned a 16th-place finish, with all 12 swimmers on the roster earning All-America honors at the NCAA Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Senior Abby McCulloh finished fourth in the 1,650 freestyle, earning her third top-five finish in the event in four seasons, while fellow senior Rachel Stege earned her third-consecutive championship final appearance in the 500 freestyle. With Stege's appearance, the Bulldogs have now placed a swimmer in the 500 free championship final in 17 of the past 20 seasons. Prior to NCAAs, Georgia earned a fourth-place finish at the SEC Championships, with McCulloh and Stege each earning silver medals.

Rodriguez joined Georgia after eight seasons at his undergraduate alma mater, Kenyon College, where he served as the senior assistant swimming coach, first working with the middle-distance group for six years followed by two with the sprint group. While at Kenyon, the São Paulo, Brazil native helped guide the Lords and Ladies to two NCAA Division III championships (2022 – women, 2015 – men) and five runner-up finishes, while also earning five North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championships. Beyond the team accolades, his tenure produced 16 NCAA individual champions, 10 title-winning relays, and 20 NCAA records, as well as four CSCAA Swimmer of the Year honorees, including a sweep of this season’s awards by Bryan Fitzgerald and Crile Hart.

Kenyon was also a model program in the classroom under Rodriguez, earning 17 NCAA postgraduate scholarships and four finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year. In addition to his coaching duties, he served as an assistant aquatics director at the Steen Aquatic Center, an academic instructor at the school, and a coach at the Total Performance Swim Camp.

Prior to Kenyon, Rodriguez spent one season as an assistant at Richmond, helping the Spiders’ women’s team win the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championship. He also served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Colgate (2013), William & Mary (2009-12), and Wabash College (2004-05). As a graduate student in Sport Management at Georgia from 2007-09, he was an assistant coach for the Athens Bulldog Swim Club senior and masters groups and assisted with the Jack Bauerle Bulldog Swimming Camp, along with his work as a graduate teaching assistant.

In his individual collegiate career at Kenyon, Rodriguez was a seven-time All-American who led four-consecutive NCAA and NCAC championship teams and was named a co-captain in the 2003-04 season, graduating in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology.