Tracy Huth

Last updated
Tracy Huth
Biographical details
Alma mater Oakland University
B.A. Secondary Education
Playing career
1980-1984 Oakland University
Coach Pete Hovland
Position(s) Medley swimming
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1987-1997 Oakland University
Women's Swimming Coach
1997-2007 Oakland University
Assistant, Associate Director of Athletics
2007-2014 Oakland University
Director of Athletics
2014-2018University California, Los Angeles
Asst to Athletic Director
2018- University of Northern Colorado
Ath. Director Revenue Dev.
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
5 x NCAA Div. II Championships 1990-94
(Oakland Women)
Awards
Oakland University Hall of Fame
ASCA Greatest 100 Coaches

Tracy Huth was a swimming competitor for Michigan's Oakland University in the early 1980's, and later their Women's swimming coach from 1987-1997, where he led the team to 5 consecutive NCAA Division II Championships from 1990-94. While working as an Athletic Administrator and then Athletic Director at Oakland through 2014, he helped transition Oakland to a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I team, and oversaw the swim program win 14 consecutive Summit League Conference championships between 2000-2014. He later worked in Athletic administration for the University of California Los Angeles from 2014-2018 and after 2018 for the University of Northern Colorado. [1]

Contents

Huth grew up in Yakima, Washington, where he was a High School All American swimmer and represented the Yakima YMCA. [2]

On June 29, 2974, Huth competed in a regional Junior Olympic meet representing Yakima in the 11-12 age groups and placed second in the 100-meter fly. [3] In July 1977, at the finals of the Spokane AAU Holiday Invitational Swim meet, he swam a 2:26.22 in the 200 individual medley leading his Yakima YMCA team to place third in the meet. [4] As a young competitor again at the Spokane Holiday Invitational Swimming Meet in July 1978, he swam for the Yakima YMCA, recording a time of 17:42.74 for 1500 meters, qualifying for that year's Junior Olympics. [5]

Oakland University swimmer

Huth was recruited as a swimmer for Oakland in 1979, the same year Pete Hovland started as Coach. Hovland served as a coach at Oakland from 1979-2023, where he led the men's team to four NCAA Division II team national championships from 1994-1997 and 44 conference titles. [6]

Huth earned a total of 24 All-American honors and 13 individual national championships during his swimming career with Oakland. He was a four-time national champion in the 200- and 400-yard individual medley events and earned NCAA Division II Swimmer of the Year three times. Swimming for Oakland in March, 1981, he set an NCAA record at the NCAA National Championships in Youngstown, Ohio, in the 400-meter Individual Medley of 4:03.03. He served as team Captain in 1983. [7] In 1983 as an Oakland swim team competitor, he set a record for the 1650-meter freestyle of 15:53.44. While swimming for Oakland, he won both the 200 and 400 IM NCAA Championships all four years of his collegiate swimming career, and served as team Captain in his Senior year. [8] [9] Huth subsequently merited induction into Oakland’s Athletic Hall of Honor as a champion swimmer. [10]

Huth completed a master’s degree in sports administration from Wayne State University and a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, from Oakland University, in 1985. [11]

Oakland University women's coach

Huth coached Women's swimming at Oakland from 1987-1997. During his accomplished tenure, his teams finished in the top three nationally in nine consecutive seasons, winning five consecutive national championships and three straight runner-up finishes from 1990-97. In one of his best coaching years, the 1994 Women's Swim and Dive Team was inducted into Oakland's Hollie Lepley Hall of Honor in 2024. Hollie Lepley was a former Director of Athletics at Oakland. The 1994 team was part of a sequential championship run for the Oakland program. Under Coach Huth, Oakland's women swimmers finished the 1993-94 season with an 8-2 record, and captured a Great Lake's Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship and Oakland's fifth straight NCAA Division II Championship, which they won consecutively from 1990 through 1994. [12] [8]

Oakland athletic administrator

From 1997-2007, Huth served as Associate Athletic Director and then Assistant Athletic Director from 1998-2007 before being appointed as Director of Athletics in 2007, where he served through January 2014. While serving as an administrator in the late 1990's he saw Oakland transition from a Division I to a Division II NCAA team. The Oakland swim program won 14 Summit Conference championships between 2000-2014. [1] [11] Under Huth's tenure as Athletic Director, Oakland acquired over $10 million in new facilities and improvements, and brought the NCAA tournament to The Palace of Auburn Hills, as Oakland served as host to the tournament’s second and third rounds in March of 2021. Huth had formerly served as tournament manager when Oakland welcomed the 2006 tournament. [11] In January 2014, the year Huth retired as athletic administrator, Oakland's Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving captured Oakland's first Horizon League titles and their 15th consecutive conference championship. [13]

Outstanding swimmers

Nancy Schermer, an Oakland Senior in 1988, was a top swimmer for Huth while he was women's coach. Huth's outstanding 1994 team featured freestyle sprinter Ellen Lessig, backstroker Amy Comerford, middle and long distance freestyler Kristen Barwell and distance freestyler Debby Nichols. [1] Several Olympians who were involved in athletics at Oakland during Huth's time at the University participated in the Olympics. Haitham Hazem, who swam for Oakland while Huth was an Oakland Athletic administrator, participated in the 2000 Olympics for the Egyptian Olympic team in the butterfly, IM and backstroke. Cheryl Angelelli who graduated Oakland University in 1993, was a paralympic swimmer and medalist in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. There were no known Olympic participants in swimming who swam with Huth during his time as women's swim coach, but several male Olympic participants who swam for Oakland while Huth worked as a coach or administrator. Eric McIlquham, a 1992 graduate of Oakland, and a swimmer for the men's team, coached the Egyptian Olympic team in 1996 and 2000, and coached for the University of West Virginia. 1992 Oakland graduate Hilton Woods who swam for Coach Pete Hovland, represented the Netherland Antilles in the 1988 Olympic Games and also participated in the 1984 Olympics. [14] [12]

UCLA, University Northern Colorado administrator

Huth worked for several years from around 2014-2018 as a Special Assistant to the Athletic Director at UCLA. In June, 2018, he accepted a position as Athletic Director of Revenue Development at the University of Northern Colorado where he joined his wife Jenny who took over as a University of Colorado women's basketball coach. [15]

He married the former Jenny Roulier in 2007. Jenny was an Assistant Women's Basketball Coach at UCLA, and had served as an Assistant Coach at Oakland from 1987-1989, when the couple likely met. [11]

Active in swimming community administration, Huth served as an NCAA Swimming and Diving Committee Chair beginning in 2006, where he worked largely with the rules committee and reviewing entries for national championship meets. He served a four year term at least through 2010, though likely longer. [16] [17]

Honors

Huth was elected to the Oakland University Hall of Fame twice, once as a swimming competitor and once as a coach. He was elected to the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America's (CSCAA), Greatest 100 Coaches of the Century in 2021, along with Oakland Men's Coach Pete Hovland. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Quick</span> American swimming coach

Richard Walter Quick was a Hall of Fame head coach for the women's swim teams at the University of Texas from 1982 through 1988 and at Stanford University, from 1988 through 2005. In an unprecedented achievement, Quick's Women's teams at Texas and Stanford won a combined 12 NCAA National championships, with his Men and Women's team at Auburn winning his final championship in 2009. His teams won a combined 22 Conference championships. He was a coach for the United States Olympic swimming team for six Olympics—1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Schubert</span> American swim coach

Mark Schubert is an American Hall of Fame swim coach best known as the coach of the USC Trojans from 1992-1996, and of Mission Viejo Nadadores swim club from 1972 to 1985, and 2016 to 2022. He was a long serving Olympic coach (1984-2008) and head swimming coach for the University of Texas women (1989-1992) and University of Southern California (1992-2006), taking his teams to three NCAA National titles.

James Steen served as a swim coach at Kenyon College from 1976 to 2012, where he became the first coach in NCAA collegiate history to have his men's and women's teams win a combined 50 Division III NCAA championships.

Jack Bauerle is the former head coach of the University of Georgia (UGA) men's and women's swimming teams. He served as coach for the 2020 US Olympic Swim Team at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Barbara Jane Bedford, who competed as BJ Bedford, currently known by her married name, Barbara Miller, is an American former competition swimmer for the University of Texas, a 2000 Sydney Olympic champion, and a former world record-holder.

Mitzi Patricia Kremer, later known by her married name Mitzi Tighe, is an American former competition swimmer for Clemson University who represented the United States at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea where she won a bronze medal in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay. Since 1994, she has worked as a swim coach and Aquatics director in Florida. She coached at her alma mater Titusville High School, where she led the boys team to a conference title in 1994 and founded the Titusville Swim Club in 1995. From 1996-2010, she served as Coach for the Tampa Palms Country Club and later Coach and Aquatics Director for the New Tampa YMCA where she met her husband Mark Tighe, another Team New Tampa swim coach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland Golden Grizzlies</span> Sports teams of Oakland University

The Oakland Golden Grizzlies are the athletic teams that represent Oakland University (OU) in the Horizon League and Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The school fields 16 teams: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, men's and women's track, and women's volleyball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samantha Arsenault</span> American swimmer (born 1981)

Samantha Arsenault, later known by her married name Samantha Livingstone, is an American former competition swimmer for the University of Georgia and a 2000 Sydney Olympic champion in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay where she helped set a new Olympic record. She would later teach high school science, coach swimming, and found Livingstone High Performance and the Whole Athlete Initiative (WAI) in 2016 to address mental health and organizational performance for youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Gaughran</span> American swimming coach (born 1932)

James Alan Gaughran was an American water polo player, and competitive swimmer for Stanford University, who became a Hall of Fame Head Swimming and Water Polo Coach for Stanford from 1960–79. A former Olympian, Gaughran competed in Water Polo for the U.S. in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Betsy Mitchell is an American competition swimmer who was a world record-holder, world champion, and Olympic gold and silver medalist. She also was a member of the United States' 1994 Rowing World Championship team.

Jill Ann Sterkel is an American former competition swimmer, Olympic champion, former world record-holder, and water polo player. Sterkel won four medals in three Olympic Games spanning twelve years from 1976 through 1988. She was the women's head coach of the Texas Longhorns swimming and diving team at the University of Texas at Austin from 1993 to 2006.

Frank Busch was a collegiate, national team and Olympic swimming coach from the United States best known for coaching the University of Arizona from 1989-2011. He was a coach for the USA Olympic teams in 2004 and 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron O'Brien (diver)</span> American diving coach (1938–2024)

Ronald Shay O'Brien was a Hall of Fame American diving coach and author who dove for Ohio State University. He was the head diving coach at Ohio State from 1963-78, later coaching the Mission Viejo Nadadores from 1978-85, the Mission Bay Divers of Boca Raton from 1985-90, and the City of Fort Lauderdale Diving Team from 1990-96. He coached diving for the U.S. Olympic team for eight successive Olympics from 1968-96 and coached Olympic champion Greg Louganis and future Ohio State Diving Coach Vince Panzano. The seven Olympic medalists he coached won five gold, three silver, and four bronze medals.

Ernest W. Maglischo, Phd., is a former competitive swimmer for Ohio State University who taught, performed physiological research, authored books and articles, and served as a Hall of Fame collegiate swimming coach for 38 years. Between 1966 and 93, he won 13 NCAA national championships at the Division II or III level and 19 conference championships during his most successful coaching years at Chico State, Oakland University, and Cal State Bakersfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Johnson (swimmer)</span> American swimmer (born 1947)

David "Dave" Charles Johnson is an American former competition swimmer and 1968 Mexico City Olympic competitor. He later graduated Yale Medical School and became an orthopaedic surgeon, specializing in sports medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Meehan</span> American swimming coach

Greg Meehan is an American Olympic and College swimming coach, who has served as the women's head coach for the Stanford swim team since 2012, winning NCAA conference championships in 2017 and 2018. He was an Olympic Coach for the US Women's Olympic Swimming Team in 2016 and 2020.

Hilton Woods is a swimmer who swam for Michigan's Oakland University, and represented the Netherlands Antilles at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Korea Olympics. He grew up in Willemstad, Caracao in the Netherland Antilles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Brinegar</span> American open water swimmer

Michael Brinegar is an American swimmer specializing in distance freestyle and open water swimming who swam for Indiana University and competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 800 and 1500-meter freestyle events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Megerle</span> American swimming coach (born 1947)

Don Megerle, a competitive swimmer at Bethany College, was a long-serving coach of the men's swimming team at Tufts University, a Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference school. In his 33 years as Tufts Head Coach from 1971 to 2004, he led the team to an overall record of 268-81, producing 92 Division III All-American swimmers, and 2 National champions.

Peter Neal Hovland was a competitive swimmer for Chico State, and an Assistant and Head coach for Michigan's Oakland University from 1979-2023, where he led the men's team to four consecutive NCAA national titles from 1994-1997, and an exceptional forty-four consecutive conference championships from 1979-2023. He simultaneously led the women's team to 21 conference titles through his retirement at Oakland in 1923. As of 2023, his span of service as a head coach for Oakland was tied for the second-longest of any NCAA Division I head coach. Recognized as a greatly more competitive swim program, Oakland moved from NCAA Division II to Division I in 1997 during Hovland's time as a coach.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Keith, Branden, Swimswam, Oakland AD, who was Swim Coach Steps Down After 7 years". swimswam.com. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  2. ↑ "Boise YMCA Swim Team hosts meet", The Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho, 23 November 1978, pg. 51
  3. ↑ "Swimming, Jr. Olympics", Tri-City Herald, Pasco, Washington, 30 June 1974, pg. 34
  4. ↑ "SST Has Easy Time, J.O. Finals," The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, 11 July 1977, pg. 18
  5. ↑ "SST Has Holiday Swim Lead", The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington, 10 July 1978, pg. 14
  6. ↑ "Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, Pete Hovland". michigansportshof.org. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
  7. ↑ "Tankers Still 7th in Ohio", The Tribune, San Luis, Obispo, California, 21 March 1981, pg. 16
  8. 1 2 "CSCAA 100 Greatest Coaches of the Century, Tracy Huth, Head Oakland Coach Women's Swim and Dive, 1987-1997". goldengrizzlies.com. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  9. ↑ "Swimswam, Pete Hovland". swimswam.com. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  10. ↑ "Howard, Johnette, OU Plans No Repeat of 83 Season", Detroit Free Press, 8 March 1984, pg. 111
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Kampe, Paul, The Oakland Press, Oakland University athletic director Tracy Huth resigns after more than 30 years at school". theoaklandpress.com. 24 January 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  12. 1 2 "Nelson, Jordan, 2024 Hall of Honor Inductee: 1994 Women's Swim and Dive Team". goldengrizzlies.com. 9 January 2024. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  13. ↑ "Oakland University Athletics History". goldengrizzlies.com. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  14. ↑ "Oakland University Olympians, Cheryl Angelelli". our.oakland.edu. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  15. ↑ "Huth Brings Nearly 40 Years of Collegiate Experience to UNC". uncbears.com. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
  16. ↑ "Archive Team, December 2008, "NCAA Swimming and Diving Chair Talks to Swimming World About Speed Suits"". swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  17. ↑ "Oakland Administrator Named to Swim and Dive Committee". swimcloud.com. Retrieved 8 January 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.