SALT LAKE CITY- After nine seasons leading the Utah swim and dive team, head coach Joe Dykstra is ready to call it a career effective immediately per Utah Athletics. In the press release, Dykstra sites needing to step back to focus on his personal health and other opportunities as the reason for his departure.

Thank you, Joe, for an incredible 9 years! We’re grateful for all that you have done.🙌#GoUtes https://t.co/2LJarT6T8N

— Utah Swim & Dive 😷 (@UTAHswimdive) March 30, 2022

Coaching Highlights

Since joining the Utes in 2013, Dykstra helped guide Utah swim and dive to their best season ever in the Pac-12 last year. Despite the shortened competitive year, the men finished in fourth place at the Pac-12 Championship and the women in fifth place.

The men’s 200 medley relay team would later go on to finish 15th at Nationals while breaking a school record time in the event, 1:24:15. Swimmer Cooper DeRyk was named second-team All-American in the 50 freestyle to cap off a successful year.

In 2017-18, Dykstra sent his largest group of swimmers to the NCAA Championships. The men’s 200 medley team would go on to earn All-American status at Nationals. It was the first such honors for the Utes since 1975.

Earlier in the season at the Pac-12 Championships, Paul Unger would become the first individual Ute since joining the Pac-12 to medal in an event. (Unger took third place in the 100 backstroke.)

On the women’s side, swimmer Jordan Anderson qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in the 400 individual medley and the 200 fly. Earlier at the Pac-12 Championships she set the school record in the 400 IM, while her teammate Sara Lott set the school record in the 200 backstroke.

A National Search

According to the press released late Wednesday afternoon, a national search has already begun to find Dykstra’s replacement. The Pac-12 is very competitive in swim and dive as a conference which makes finding a coach to keep momentum all the more important for the Utes.

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