Boston College Hires Notre Dame Assistant Joe Brinkman as Next Head Coach (original) (raw)
Boston College ventured into rival territory to find the next head coach of the school’s swimming and diving program.
The Eagles announced Monday the hiring of Notre Dame assistant coach Joe Brinkman, filling the last head coaching vacancy remaining among Power Five schools with just two weeks before classes begin. Brinkman replaces former head coach Mike Stephens, who left for the University of Hawaii in June.
BC faces an uphill battle as the only non-scholarship program in the ACC, but the program has still managed to build some momentum over the past few years.
At the 2021 ACC Championships, Haley Dolan advanced past the heats of the 50 free to become the Eagles’ first female individual ACC finalist in 14 years. Then this spring, they broke 18 school records and boasted six individual athletes who qualified for finals, including three scorers in the mile. The BC women finished 12th out of 12 teams and the men finished 11th out of 12 teams, ahead of the all-diving team from Miami.
Brinkman arrives in Chestnut Hill with an impressive resume after previous stops on the coaching staffs at Notre Dame and Stanford. With the Irish, he guided 24 All-American honorees, helped 40 Notre Dame swimmers advance to the NCAA Championships, and saw 39 school records broken in four seasons.
Prior to that, Brinkman spent two years at Stanford, where he helped the Cardinal capture a Pac-12 Championship and place inside the top 10 at NCAAs back-to-back years in both 2016-17 and 2017-18. The number of Stanford swimmers who earned All-America accolades climbed to 71 during Brinkman’s tenure.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Joe Brinkman to the Boston College Athletics family,” said new BC athletic director Blake James, who made his second head coaching hire in the span of a few days. “Joe is a hard-working, dedicated leader who understands the importance of helping student-athletes develop in and out of the pool. I know he will take great pride in continuing the growth of our program.”
During his time on The Farm in Palo Alto, Brinkman was also an assistant coach for the National Group at Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics for three seasons. PASA, now known as the Alto Swim Club, most recently earned Silver Medal Club recognition from USA Swimming last year.
Brinkman was a four-year letter winner and two-year team captain as a swimmer at the University of the Cumberlands. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 2015. He was twice nominated for the NAIA Champion of Character award and received the Mid-South Conference Champion of Character award.
“I’d like to thank athletic director Blake James, Associate AD Carly Pariseau, and the whole Boston College swimming and diving family for the opportunity to lead this program,” Brinkman said. “I’m very excited to be a part of this team’s journey and build upon its foundation of success! Go Eags!”
Brinkman is only the third coach in program history. Stephens, a BC alum and former captain of the team, took over for 45-year head coach Tom Groden after he resigned in December of 2016.
About Riley Overend
Riley is an associate editor interested in the stories taking place outside of the pool just as much as the drama between the lane lines. A 2019 graduate of Boston College, he arrived at SwimSwam in April of 2022 after three years as a sports reporter and sports editor at newspapers …