GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College Athletics Director Sue Bower announced two significant enhancements to the Quakers’ women’s swimming program Monday. She appointed Bradley Herndon as the Quakers’ first full-time head women’s swimming coach and also disclosed an agreement with the Greensboro Aquatic Center (GAC) to serve as Guilford’s home pool for practice and competition.
“Brad’s familiarity with swimming in the Piedmont Triad and his experience as a former Division I swimmer will benefit Guilford’s team,” Bower said. “His addition to the staff and our partnership with the nationally renowned Greensboro Aquatic Center significantly strengthen our swimming program.”
Herndon arrives at Guilford with extensive local swimming coaching experience, including service as the Director of Swimming at the YMCA of Greensboro since 2011. In this position, he mentored one YMCA national champion, 30 YMCA Championship finalists and 22 YMCA All-Americans. Herndon also coached his team to the Greensboro YMCA’s first regional championship and was nominated for 2018 YMCA National Coach of the Year.
Herndon’s YMCA teams have produced more than 20 student-athletes who have participated in collegiate swimming, including Guilford junior Carolyn O’Halloran.
No stranger to collegiate coaching, Herndon served as the head women’s swimming coach at neighboring Greensboro College for the 2005-06 season. He directed one swimmer to numerous school records and the program’s first NCAA Championships qualification mark.
Herndon served as the head swim coach and manager of what is now Grandover Swim & Racquet Club from 1993-99 where he coached the team to six straight High Point City Meet championships.
A 1993 graduate of East Carolina University, Herndon earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education for grades K-12. He was a four-year letter winner on the swimming team and served as team captain as a senior.
Herndon earned a Level IV certification from the American Swimming Coaches Association in 2011 and is also USA Swimming Certified. An active runner, he completed the 2012 Boston Marathon, plus four other marathons, three Full-Iron distance triathlons, and four Half-Iron distance triathlons.
The 78,323-square-foot indoor Greensboro Aquatic Center is part of the Greensboro Coliseum Complex and has emerged as one of the nation’s top aquatic venues since opening in 2011.
Built at a cost of nearly $19 million, the state-of-the-art, multi-purpose, three-pool facility has hosted an impressive national swim meet calendar including the 2012 U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championships, which featured a field of more than 1,850 swimmers, including 12 Olympians. A fourth pool was recently approved for construction and is slated for completion in June 2019.
The GAC has also hosted such prominent competitions as the 2012-2016 YMCA National Short Course Championships, the 2013 Speedo Junior Winter National Championships, the 2013, 2014 and 2016 ACC Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, the 2014 USA Swimming AT&T Winter National Championships, the 2015 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, and the 2016 NCAA Division III Women’s & Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships. Guilford’s Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) has held the league’s annual swimming championships at the GAC since 2012.
The Quakers open their season at the ODAC Relays hosted by Washington and Lee University October 13.
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