Josh Huger, who most recently served as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Cal Berkeley, has been tabbed as the next head coach of the Bucknell men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs.
Huger joins the Bison staff with a wealth of experience in the Division I realm, having previously served as an associate head coach at Tennessee and as an assistant coach at Virginia Tech, William & Mary, and Indiana (Pa.).
“I am thrilled to welcome Josh to the Bison Athletics family,” said vice president for athletics and recreation Tim Pavlechko. “Josh has recruited and trained championship-caliber swimmers to institutions that place a high value on the scholar-athlete experience. We are excited to have him bring that expertise and passion to the Bucknell swimming and diving program, which has a long and storied tradition of success.”
“I am incredibly honored and grateful for the opportunity to lead the Bucknell swimming and diving program,” said Huger. “I would like to thank vice president for athletics and recreation Tim Pavlechko and senior associate AD Carly Moss for their trust in me. Bucknell’s commitment to excellence, both in the classroom and in competition, makes this an incredibly special place. My family and I are thrilled to become part of the Bucknell community, and we can’t wait to get started. I’m excited to build on the strong foundation already and place and help Bucknell Swimming and Diving continue to reach new heights.”
In three seasons at Cal Berkely, Huger helped lead the Golden Bears to two men’s Atlantic Coast Conference titles and one women’s PAC-12 title. The men’s team was the national runnerup at the 2024 and 2025 NCAA Men’s Championships, and the women’s team finished fourth at the 2026 NCAA Championships. Overall, Huger led Golden Bear swimmers to four NCAA records, seven American records, two world records, two U.S. Open Records, 23 school records and eight individual NCAA titles. Since he began in July of 2023, Cal Berkely had 108 All-America performances.
Huger coached in a similar role at Tennessee for four years, where the Volunteers won two women’s Southeastern Conference titles in 2020 and 2022, including an undefeated season for the women’s side in 2019-20. As the recruiting coordinator, he recruited four top-10 ranked classes and 15 top-10 recruits.
In his time at Tennessee, the Volunteers broke 84 school records, won 47 medals at the SEC Championships, and posted five top-10 finishes at NCAA tournaments. Huger focused as a sprint coach and trained the NCAA 50-yard freestyle champion, Jordan Crooks. Five student athletes broke American records, seven athletes won World Championship titles and two athletes won Olympic Medals at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. He trained the 2020, 2022 and 2023 SEC Swimmers of the Meet, and he coached three SEC Commissioner’s Trophy recipients.
Huger earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration in 2011 at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), where he competed on the men’s swimming and diving team. He then earned his master’s in sport studies in 2012 while serving as an assistant coach.
At IUP, Huger led student-athletes to an NCAA record, an NCAA title, nine All-American performances, 11 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference titles, and four Division II NCAA qualifiers. The team set 31 school records and won its first relay title in 13 years during his time.
Huger was named an assistant coach at William & Mary in August of 2013, where he served as a sprint coach and travel coordinator. He led the men’s team to its first team title in 2015 and trained 11 CAA individual title-winners. After two years at William & Mary, Huger became an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Virginia Tech for four years. Under his leadership, the team won eight ACC individual titles, broke 44 school records, broke four ACC records and posted 16 All-America performances. Huger recruited two top-10 ranked classes, five top-10 recruits and 26 top-50 ranked recruits. He also trained 13 U.S. Open finalists, five World University Games Qualifiers and a U.S. National Team member.
Huger succeeds Dan Schinnerer, who stepped down after 20 seasons at the helm to take on a senior coaching position at Nation’s Capital Swim Club. Huger becomes the just the sixth head men’s swimming and diving coach in a program that dates back to 1956. He is just the seventh head women’s coach since that’s program’s inception in 1973. The men’s squad has won nearly 60 percent of its dual meets in its history, while the women’s team has won more than 65 percent while finishing in the top three in the Patriot League in seven of the last eight years.
This press release was provided to Swimming World by Bucknell University Athletics
