Ian Walsh - Women's Swimming and Diving Coach - Marshall University Athletics

Ian Walsh

Title:
Head Swimming and Diving Coach
Email:
walshi@marshall.edu
Phone:
2573

Ian Walsh is in his sixth season as the head coach of the Marshall University women's swimming and diving program. Over the past five seasons, Walsh has been part of resetting the record board with 133 all-time top-10 performances, 26 individual podium finishes, eight school records and four individual conference champions.

In 2022-2023, the Herd made their debut in the Missouri Valley Conference and made their presence known. Eszter Laban had the third highest point total in the entire conference, highlighted by Marshall’s first ever Missouri Valley Conference Individual Champion by a wide margin, winning the 1650 freestyle by over four seconds. The team finished just outside the top 5 in their first season, and returns 679 out of the 791 points. The Herd also finished 22^nd out of 67 teams at the National Invitational Championship, besting Autonomy 5 programs such as Purdue and Vanderbilt. Beyond the NCAA season, Paige Banton qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Toronto, representing her home country at the competition and scoring top-12 in both the 50m and 200m Breaststroke events. Jenna Bopp also qualified for the 2023 US Open in the 200 Breaststroke, making her the fifth swimmer in program history to do so.

This past season, The Herd reached new heights and finished with the third-highest team GPA in all Division 1 Swimming & Diving programs for Fall 2021. Spring of 2022 the team tied for seventh-highest across all Division 1 programs, finishing with a 3.75 Team GPA for the second semester in a row. The program has received CSCAA Scholar All American status each semester since Walsh’s arrival, and has held the highest Team GPA across all C-USA Swim & Dive programs for the past two seasons.

In 2019-2020, another three school records were broken while notching one NCAA “B” standard. The team hauled in seven Top 3 medal performances, highlighted by the 400 Medley Relay where the quartet of O’Dell, Bendziewicz, Robins and Coles broke the school record by over 2.5 seconds. In total, five school records have fallen and 47 All-Time Top 10 times in program history have been achieved over the two seasons with Walsh at the helm.

In the classroom, The Herd reached new heights and has been the gold-standard for Marshall University’s Athletic Department. Since Walsh’s arrival their semester GPA has been 39th (Fall of 2019), 26th (Spring of 2020), and tied 6th highest in the country across all Division 1 Swimming & Diving programs in the Fall of 2020.

Walsh had been the assistant coach at the University at Buffalo for the 2017-2018 season. During his time in Buffalo, the program saw its highest finish at the Mid-American Conference Championships and scored the highest point total in program history. Academically, the Bulls led the athletic department with the highest Team GPA across all sports in both the Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 semesters. Walsh also helped lead his student-athletes to two conference titles, two first-team All-MAC honors and four second-team All-MAC Honors. Prior to that, he was on the staff at California. In his season at Berkeley, Walsh was able to help guide the Golden Bears to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships while also posting four individual national champions and two relay team national champions. Both 200 Freestyle Relay and 200 Medley Relay national titles also set NCAA, meet and U.S. Open records. The Bears showcased their unbelievable depth by placing Top 3 in four out of the five relays at NCAA Championships.

Individually, Kathleen Baker took home three national titles in the 200 IM, 100 Backstroke and 200 Backstroke. Those results combined to lift her to receiving the 2017 CSCAA Swimmer of the Year award. Senior Farida Osman also out touched the field to win the 100 Butterfly to take home her first individual National Championship. With Walsh's assistance, the Golden Bears raced to a second-place finish in the Pac-12 Championships, while also posting five school records throughout the season.

Walsh was also named to the 2017-18 National Team Coaching Staff for his part with helping Katie McLaughlin and Abbey Weitzeil relinquish spots on the USA National Team. That summer, Weitzeil qualified for the World Championships, representing the United States in Budapest while competing in the 50 meter freestyle.

During his first bout at Marshall, the Thundering Herd broke women's swimming school records 28 times, finished a program-best third at the Conference USA Championships in February 2016 and produced four individual conference champions. Walsh primarily worked with the sprinters and middle-distance swimmers and served as the recruiting coordinator at Marshall. In 2015, the program was named one of the top 16 most improved teams at the NCAA Division I level and, in the fall of 2014, sported a fall team GPA of 3.53, which ranked as the fifth-highest in the country among women's swimming teams. In the 2019-20 season, Walsh coached the Herd and earned wins against Youngstown State and James Madison. The Herd finished fourth in the Conference USA Championships and finished sixth out of 33 teams at the 2020 CSCAA National Invitational Championship.

While at Marshall, Walsh also served as head coach of the YMCA Charleston Aquatic Team from 2013-16.

Walsh spent one year as the head assistant coach at Albright College in Pennsylvania prior to his term at Marshall. He helped lead the men's and women's swimmers to a combined 13 school records and 19 individual or relay conference championships. Both teams captured the 2013 Middle Atlantic Conference title, and Walsh was part of a staff that received the league's Coach of the Year award.

Walsh began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Bloomsburg University, where he implemented dryland and weight training programs for the sprint and middle-distance groups, as well as managed on-deck coaching responsibilities.

As an undergraduate student, Walsh had a stellar career at Duquesne University, setting school records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and being a member of two medley relays that set school marks. He won the Atlantic 10 title in the 100 breaststroke in 2009.

Walsh received his degree in business administration in 2010 from Duquesne and later earned his master's degree in business education from Bloomsburg University in 2011. He resides in Huntington with his wife Sarah, and two children Ella and Noah.