Bill Smyth

Bill Smyth returns for his eighth season as an assistant coach, and his sixth as Virginia’s head assistant swimming coach. Smyth was an All-America swimmer under Mark Bernardino’s tutelage in the early nineties.

Smyth coaches the distance and individual medley swimmers and is also heavily involved in the recruiting phase of the program. He has been responsible for the excellent development of the UVa distance and 400 I.M. corps. At the 2004 NCAAs, Smyth coached two men and two women to top 10 finishes in the 1650 freestyle.

A 1994 UVa graduate with a degree in psychology, Smyth had a distinguished swimming career for the Cavaliers. He is a five-time All-American and won six ACC individual titles, including four in the 400 individual medley. Smyth set the school and ACC records in the 400 individual medley in 1994 with a time of 3:47.98, which stood until current UVa fourth-year Bo Greenwood broke his records during the 2002 ACC Championships. Smyth was selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary Men’s Swimming and Diving Team in August of 2002. He was a finalist at the 1992 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 400 I.M., placing fifth. Smyth was also a finalist at USA Nationals meets several times.

Smyth served as an assistant coach for the Macedonian Olympic team at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.A native of Norristown, Pa., Smyth has served as an assistant coach for some of the top club teams in the nation since his graduation from Virginia. He spent time with the Jersey Wahoos and the Phoenix Swim Club, both of which sent swimmers to the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Coach Bernardino considers Smyth to be “the finest distance coach in all of college swimming.”