Gary Taylor
Gary Taylor joined the Cavalier staff as associate head coach in May of 2024. Since September of 2021 Taylor has served as the head coach of the local Cavalier Aquatics program.
Taylor and UVA head coach Todd DeSorbo coached together at NC State where Taylor worked for six seasons before Taylor headed up the program at Auburn for three seasons from 2018 to 2021.
In Taylor’s first season at Auburn, he helped guide the women team to a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The Tigers featured nine Collegiate Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) All-Americans and three SEC titles holders that season. Auburn qualified 13 competitors for the 2020 NCAA Championships that were cancelled due to the pandemic. That season the Tigers had eight men and 11 women earn CSCAA All-America status. During Taylor’s last season on The Plains, 11 Tigers (3 men, 8 women) competed at the 2021 NCAA Championships.
With the Wolfpack, Taylor helped the NC State’s men’s program to four-straight Atlantic Coast Conference Championship titles and three consecutive top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, including top four finishes in each of the last three years he worked in Raleigh. In addition, the Wolfpack women were crowned conference champions in 2017, tabbing its first conference title since 1980. The women’s team also achieved its highest NCAA finish in program history, placing seventh in 2017.
At NC State he coached Anton Ipsen who won the 2018 NCAA title in the 1650 free. Ipsen was also the 2018 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earned All-America honors in the 500 free and All-America honorable mention honors in the 400 IM. He was an ACC Champion in the 1650 free, 500 free, 400 IM and 800 free relay that season.
Prior to joining the NC State staff, Taylor spent the previous four years as the distance coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida State. The distance program at Florida State flourished under Taylor’s tutelage as eight school records were broken during his stint with the program, and 43 all-time top-10 marks were achieved.
Before working with the Seminoles, Taylor spent three years coaching for the Dynamo Swim Club in Atlanta, Ga. He coached multiple age sectional and state record holders, as well as age group sectional and state champions. He was named the Georgia Age Group Coach of the Year in 2007.
His coaching career also includes six years with the Twin Cities Swim Team. He was the lead site coach in Minnetonka, Minn., and gained experience in both the business and coaching aspects of the sport through the program.
Taylor was a former student-athlete at the University of Minnesota and was a member of the 1998 Big Ten Championship swimming team. He graduated in 2001 with a degree in sport management.