University of Minnesota Athletics
Purdy Named Head Coach at Youngstown State
5/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming & Diving
Longtime Gophers assistant swimming coach Ryan Purdy has accepted the head coaching job at Youngstown State. Purdy spent two stints at Minnesota, starting as a volunteer assistant in 2005 and most recently serving as head assistant coach.
Purdy was on staff for five women's Big Ten Championships team wins and three top-three NCAA Championships finishes. Since rejoining the Gophers' staff in 2011, he was the primary distance and middle-distance coach. He has also served as the program's recruiting coordinator.
"This is an incredible opportunity for Ryan professionally," Minnesota head coach Kelly Kremer said. "I want to thank Ryan for his immense impact on our program for more than a decade, and for his loyal service to the University of Minnesota. He is and has been a Golden Gopher through and through. Ryan is a close friend and colleague of mine, I will miss him dearly. The student-athletes at Youngstown State are very lucky to have Ryan as their new leader."
In 2012 Purdy's group produced a Big Ten individual champion when Hannah Whitehead won the 200-yard freestyle. Since 2011, he has coached five different individual qualifiers to the NCAA Championship meet. Purdy was the primary coach to Jessica Plant, an eight-time NCAA All-American and Minnesota's 2015 Big Ten Medal of Honor winner.
On the national scene, Gopher swimmers have experienced success under Purdy's leadership, as his coaching has produced multiple United States and Canadian Olympic Trials qualifiers. Distance swimming specialist Samantha Harding progressed each year and capped off her summers by becoming a Canadian National Champion four times in the 800- and 1500-meter freestyle events. In 2015, Purdy coached Harding to selections to Team Canada for the Pan American Games in Toronto and the FINA World Championship in Kazan, Russia, in the open water swimming Events. In the next World Championship Selection, Breanne Siwicki followed suit, qualifying to be a part of the Canadian Open Water National team that will compete at the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary and the 2017 World University Games in Taiwan.
Purdy was then selected by USA Swimming to be a part of the staff for the 2016 Open Water Select Camp based in Fort Myers, Florida. Purdy has accompanied National Team swimmers from USA Swimming and Swim Canada to FINA Open Water World Cup races in Mexico, Hungary and Portugal.
