Dave Johnson will enter his eighth year as head coach for the Blue Knight swimming teams in 2017-18. Johnson, an accomplished swimmer and coach from nearby Springfield, enjoys sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience gained from 30-plus years in the sport.
Under Johnson, the Blue Knights regularly place among the nation's leaders in team grade-point averages with both teams earning Scholar All-America Status the past two years. UU recorded the highest GPA among all Division II men's swimming teams in three of the previous five years.
The Blue Knights also compete hard in the pool under Johnson's watch with consistent finishes among the top half of the Appalachian Swimming Conference. Last season, the Blue Knights placed eighth on the women's side and ninth in the men's championship. Senior Aerika Wieser, who was named ASC Swimmer of the Year, captured the first-place medal in all three of her individual races, becoming the first Blue Knight in school history to win more than two. She brought home the 50 Free title on Thursday, while setting new school records in the 200 Free (1:53.81) on Friday and 100 Free (52.07) on Saturday. She was one of two female swimmers to record three victories during the championship event.
In his first season at the helm, Johnson guided the Blue Knights to unprecedented success. After posting a combined 6-61 mark in the program's first two seasons of existence, the men's and women's teams combined to go 18-28 in 2010-11. The men's team experienced the first winning season in school history (12-10) while being named collegeswimming.com's Most Improved Team in NCAA Division II. The men capped their season by capturing 6th place of 13 teams at the Appalachian Swimming Conference Championships, just one year after finishing next to last at the season-ending event.
A pair of Blue Knight swimmers also made school history at the Conference Championships by becoming the school's first conference champions in their events (50 and 100 freestyle) and qualifying for the NCAA's B-cut.
In his second season at the helm, Johnson was tabbed the ASC Men's Coach of the Year after his Blue Knights climbed to 5th in the conference and claimed 4 championships, including the school's first relay championship (200 free relay). For the second straight season, a pair of male swimmers qualified for the NCAA D-II B-cut. In all, Johnson's squads smashed 20 school records at the conference meet. The men set another school record for wins, finishing 19-10 on the year, while the women more than doubled the program record for wins with an overall record of 14-18.
In addition to the success in the pool, Johnson also made it possible for the Blue Knights to host the program's first home swim meets during the 2011-12 season. The Blue Knights finished 6-2 in the Urbana University Aquatics Center in their inaugural home season. Johnson also created and hosted the school's first Triathlon in May of 2012.
The program continued to build in Johnson's third campaign in 2012-13. The men finished with a 12-15 mark and landed in the top half of the field at the ASC Championships for the second consecutive season. Sophomore Kim Helander swam more B-cut qualifying times in the 100 fly and won another conference championship in the event. He also became the first Scholar All-American in program history. As a team, the men broke 13 of the 19 school records, and countless more pool records in the Blue Knights' 5 home meets. They also posted the third highest team GPA in the country in NCAA Division II (3.42). The women took down 16 of 19 school records and finished the year 11-20, while also earning Team Scholar All-American honors with a cumulative GPA of 3.08. Both squads were invited to compete at the first D-I meet in program history. Miami University, Johnson's alma mater, extended an invitation to just one D-II squad, Urbana, and agreed to make the Blue Knights an annual competitor at the Red Hawks' December meet.
Year four experienced even more unprecedented success during Johnson's tenure. The men's team posted the highest team GPA in the country, regardless of division. Their 3.82 team GPA was also better than any women's swimming program in the country. Urbana's women's swim team climbed nearly 50 spots in the national rankings to sixth overall with a cumulative team GPA of 3.53. In the pool, both programs were nearly just as successful. The men ended their 2013-14 campaign with a record of 16-10, a new program high for wins and win percentage. Their third place showing at conference topped the previous best of fifth place. The women also had their best team showing at conference, finishing 7th of 13, ending their year at 11-17. The women’s team has improved their standing in the ASC in each of the last five seasons, and a pair of Blue Knights captured the program’s first ever individual conference titles. Together, the men's and women's teams collected six individual championships. In the five seasons prior, Urbana took home four event championships. Of a possible 38 school records, the Blue Knights set 26 new marks in 2013-14. It's the second season in a row the team has taken down 26 of the 38 records under Johnson.
Prior to coming to Urbana, Johnson built the swimming program at the Springfield Family YMCA in 1977. Over the next 29 years, the Springfield-native coached the program to national prominence. More than 150 of his swimmers continued their careers at the collegiate level, and a few even reached All-American status. Johnson also has more than a decade of experience coaching at the high school level. He coached the Springfield North High School squad from 1997-2006. Most recently, he served as the head coach at Springfield High School. In 2002, Johnson was inducted into the Springfield City Schools Hall of Fame for his lifetime of dedication to the community and the sport of swimming.
Prior to coaching, Johnson was an accomplished swimmer at Springfield North High School and later at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Johnson was a four-time All-Ohio selection in high school, and he served as team captain and points leader as a senior at Miami. In three straight seasons, he was the Mid-American Conference champion in the 100-yard breaststroke, as well as a member of the MAC champion 400-yard medley relay team.
