Todd DeSorbo
Fresh off his assignment at the Paris Olympics as Team USA women’s swimming head coach, Todd DeSorbo enters his eighth season at Virginia in 2024-25. During the Olympic Games, DeSorbo saw the U.S. women win 19 total medals (one mixed), including six gold medals (one mixed). The Cavaliers, which accounted for 25 percent of the Team USA 20-woman roster, came home with 11 total medals and several world records.
That type of success on the largest international state mirrors the amazing accomplishments DeSorbo has strung together during his time leading the UVA program.
In 2023-24, Virginia won its fourth consecutive NCAA Championship. UVA became the first program in ACC history to win an NCAA title in 2021 to start its streak. The Cavalier men have finished in the top-15 in five-straight national championships. UVA became just the third program in history to win four consecutive championships. DeSorbo is now tied for fourth among swim coaches in terms of all-time women’s NCAA team titles.
DeSorbo has been honored by the Collegiate Swim Coaches Association as its Women’s Divison I Coach of the Year in four consecutive years (2021-2024).
In 2024, UVA won 11 events at the NCAA Championships, including seven individual titles and four relay championships. It marked the third consecutive year UVA has won a total of 11 titles at the championship. A total of five Cavaliers brought home gold medals led by Gretchen Walsh’s seven first-place finishes. UVA had 13 of its 18 competitors earn first-team All-America honors during the meet.
Numerous records have fallen for the Cavaliers, including seven events that saw American, NCAA & US Open records set in 2022. UVA also set an American and ACC record in the 200 free relay on the men’s side in 2022.
Entering the 2023-24 season, Virginia has set 16 women’s school records and 14 men’s school records, improving many of those in each of DeSorbo’s six years. The Cavaliers have amassed 283 All-American swims, 28 NCAA individual and relay titles, 67 ACC individual and relay wins and a .732 dual meet winning percentage under DeSorbo’s tutelage. In total, UVA has 43 individual and 24 relay ACC titles along with 18 NCAA individual titles and 10 NCAA relay championships.
The Virginia women have won four NCAA Championships, two Honda Sport Awards, fix ACC team titles, four ACC Swimmer of the Year Awards and four ACC Freshman of the Year honors. UVA’s men have recorded their best finishes at the ACC Championship in eight years and three-straight top-10 finishes at NCAAs, a first in program history.
Nine American record swims, a second-straight NCAA Championship, three Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals highlighted the 2021-22 season for DeSorbo’s team. Virginia’s women won their second NCAA title with seven individual and four relay wins. DeSorbo was named CSCAA Women’s Coach of the Year and Kate Douglass earned Swimmer of the Year. Douglass and Alex Walsh both won three NCAA individual titles. DeSorbo was tabbed the Team USA Women’s Swimming Head Coach for the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest. He helped USA set the record for most medals at a World Championships (45) in a single sport. UVA totaled 75 All-America honors, 11 NCAA wins, 47 All-ACC honors and 15 ACC titles during the season.
In his fourth year at the helm of the program, DeSorbo guided the women’s team to its first national championship and the first national title for an ACC team in the sport in NCAA history. Virginia won six national titles in individual and relay events at the 2021 NCAA Championships, the most ever by an ACC program. The Cavaliers had 12 athletes named to CSCAA All-America Teams (10 first team and two second team). Virginia also won its third women’s ACC Championship in four years, and league-record 17th overall.
In 2021, he led the men’s team to a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, the programs best since eighth in 2011. UVA picked up 28 All-America honors.
The Cavalier women won their 16th ACC title and second ACC title under DeSorbo during the 2019-20 season as the women set an ACC record for most points scored at the conference championships. Paige Madden was named the Swimmer of the Meet and Swimmer of the Year after winning five ACC titles. The performance by the women’s team earned DeSorbo the title of 2020 ACC Women’s Swim Coach of the Year. The women’s team set two ACC records during the season from Kate Douglass in the 200 IM and the women’s 200 medley relay. Douglass was named the ACC Women’s Freshman Swimmer of the Year.
The men’s team finished second at the ACC Championships, recording the program’s best finish since 2013. Ted Schubert won a pair of ACC titles in the individual medley events to lead the team. The Cavaliers finished the shorten season, due to the coronavirus, with 23 All-ACC honors from the women’s team and six honors from the men’s team.
In DeSorbo’s second year at the helm, the women’s team recorded its third-best finish in school history, placing sixth with 188 points, while the men’s team recorded its best finish since 2011, placing 10th with 106 points. The Cavaliers had a combined 27 All-America swims.
At the ACC Championships, the women’s team recorded a second-place finish, the 12th consecutive top-two finish at the meet. The men’s team finished third. Brendan Casey tallied 92 points after winning the 1650 freestyle and 400 IM and placing second in the 500 freestyle. Morgan Hill won three events at the ACC Championships.
In his first season with the Cavaliers, the women’s team reclaimed the ACC title, while the men’s program finished third at the conference championships. The program set a combined 13 school records with the men setting seven and the women six during the season. At the NCAA Championships, the Cavalier women placed ninth earning All-American honors in 14 events as the men finished 29th after earning All-America honors in seven events.
Prior to UVA, DeSorbo served as the associate head coach at NC State for six seasons. He worked primarily with the Wolfpack sprinters and was a developmental specialist. He oversaw the programs’ recruiting, training and day-to-day operations.
During his tenure at NC State, DeSorbo coached American Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held (2016 Rio 4×100 free relay), USA Swimming national champion Justin Ress and NCAA Champions in the 4×100 free relay (2016) and 4×200 free relay (2017).The NC State men won the last three ACC titles and the Wolfpack women captured the 2017 ACC title. Both NC State programs produced their highest finishes at the NCAA Championships this past season. The Wolfpack men placed fourth overall while the women’s team finished seventh.
In 2017, his athletes earned seven individual ACC titles and garnered 14 All-ACC honors, helping to lead both programs to sweep their respective ACC Championships meets. Additionally, DeSorbo coached 13 athletes to the 2017 NCAA Championships where they collected over 30 All-America honors on the way to the teams highest NCAA finishes in program history.
On the men’s side, he led sprint standout Held to three top-eight individual performances at NCAAs, highlighted by a runner-up title in the 50 freestyle in a time of 18.60. Andreas Vaziaos also tabbed three top-eight finishes, his highest being fifth in the 200 butterfly with a conference record and school record of 1:40.80.
DeSorbo helped the women’s team clinch its first conference title since 1980. Under his leadership, Ky-lee Perry had an outstanding rookie season in which she was crowned champion in the 50 freestyle in school record pace of 21.88 and qualified for NCAAs in the 50 and 100 freestyle. Perry was named ACC Female Freshman of the Year.
In the summer of 2016, DeSorbo coached three athletes to the Rio Olympic Games, as Held qualified for the U.S.A.’s 4x100m freestyle relay, Soeren Dahl qualified for Denmark’s a 4x200m freestyle relay and Simonas Bilis qualified the 50m and 100m freestyle. Held made history as he helped the United States win a gold medal in the relay. He posted a split of 47.73 alongside teammates Caleb Dressel, Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian to notch a time of 3:12.38.
During the 2015-16 season, DeSorbo helped Bilis finish his career as the most decorated All-American in the NCAA era with 19 honors during the 2015-16 season. At the 2016 NCAA Championship Bilis earned top-three finishes in the 50,100 and 200 freestyle, marking the fourth person in NCAA history to do so. DeSorbo also guided the men’s 400 free relay of Held, Bilis, Andreas Schiellerup and Dahl to the program and conference’s first NCAA title in a relay event.
He additionally helped the men’s squad win four of five relay events at the conference championship and the team’s second-straight conference title, as well as earn All-America honors in all five swims at the national meet.
Prior to working at NC State, DeSorbo spent five seasons as the assistant coach at UNC Wilmington. At UNCW, DeSorbo assisted with all facets of the Seahawk program, including recruiting, student-athlete development and practice. During DeSorbo’s tenure in Wilmington, the Seahawk men won five of 10 straight CAA titles and the women finished in the top-three of the conference every year.
Student-athletes directly under his tutelage set 35 school records, earned 100 all-conference honors, won 32 individual and relay conference championships, and collected 80 top-three conference finishes.
Prior to joining the UNCW staff full-time, DeSorbo served as the head swim coach for the Cape Fear Aquatic Club from 2005-07, and was a graduate assistant at UNCW from 1999-2000.
DeSorbo began his collegiate swimming career at Kentucky before transferring to UNCW in 1998-99. As a senior at UNCW, DeSorbo was named CAA Championships Swimmer of the Meet in 1999 after winning titles in the 200 backstroke, and both the 200 and 400 individual medley. He set school records in both the 200 and 400 individual medley, and made the All-ECAC team in 1999 by winning the 400 individual at the Eastern Championships.
DeSorbo holds two accounting degrees from UNCW, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1999 and a master’s degree in 2000. A native of Salisbury, N.C., DeSorbo is married to Lauren Suggs. They have one son, Jack, and one daughter, Cate.