Men's Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- des036@bucknell.edu
- Phone:
- 570-577-1530
Dan Schinnerer, who was named the Patriot League Men's Coach of the Year in 2008, 2010 and 2022 and the Women's Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2020, enters his 17th season as the head men's and women's swimming and diving coach at Bucknell in 2022-23.
In his 16 seasons at the helm of the program, 15 individual and five relay school records fell on the men's side, most recently the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly, 200 IM and all five relay records in 2021-22. Schinnerer was recognized as the 2022 Patriot League Men's Coach of the Year after the Bison broke 11 school records and won six medals en route to their third-place performance at the Patriot League Championships.
The Bucknell men have finished in the top four at the Patriot League Championships every season under Schinnerer's watch. Five different swimmers (Mark Kawczenski, Mike Nicholson, Eric Sokolosky, Luke Trafton and Chris Devlin) have combined for 16 individual Patriot League titles. In addition, the men's squad captured three gold medals in relay events. Devlin, who graduated in 2018, put together one of the most prolific careers in program history. He became the team's first Patriot League Championships Swimmer of the Meet since 1993 as a sophomore and then captured the award for the second-consecutive season as a junior. Devlin, a six-time Patriot League champion (200 backstroke three times, 400 IM twice and 100 backstroke once), scored 206 points at the Patriot League Championships to graduate as the class of 2018's top point producer.
On the women's side, school records have been set in all 14 individual swimming events, all five relays and both diving events. Most recently, school standards fell in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay during the 2021-22 campaign.
At the Patriot League Championships, the women's team has finished as the runner-up seven times and in the top three 12 times. The Bison women have racked up Patriot League golds under Schinnerer's tutelage, earning 23 individual titles. The haul was fueled by Emma Levendoski winning eight titles; the 2016 graduate swept the two backstroke events in each of her four championship meets. Levendoski also became the program's first Division I National Championships qualifier in 2015.
The women's team is in the midst of a historically successful period. Over the course of the 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 campaigns, the Bison women went a combined 30-3 (23-3 Patriot League) in dual meet competition, with their three losses coming to Patriot League champion Navy. They wrapped up their 2019-20 dual meet schedule with a sterling 10-1 (7-1 Patriot League) ledger. With their rivalry win over Lehigh, they reached the double digits in victories during a single season for the sixth time in program history. They last accomplished the feat in 1997-98.
Schinnerer was tabbed as the 2020 Patriot League Women's Coach of the Year for guiding the Bucknell women to a runner-up showing at the Patriot League Championships. The Bison women, who finished as the Patriot League runners-up for the 12th time in program history and the first time since 2015, were bolstered by eight-medal winning performances. They went on to take second at the 25-team ECAC Championships. It their fourth-consecutive top-three performance at the ECAC Championships; they previously placed second in 2017 and third in both 2019 and 2018.
Academically, Bucknell has been one of the top teams in the conference. The men and women have combined for 43 Academic All-Patriot League honors since the award was added in 2011. Notably, five women (Elizabeth Porcellio '13, Tara Boyle '15, Lauren Perry '15, Rachel Perry '17 and Julianna Foss '18) and four men (Christian Treat '13, Louis Behnen '17, Jack Robinson '17 and Devlin '18) made the team all three years they were eligible to receive the prestigious award. Additionally, Daniel Fletcher (2010), Treat (2011, 2012 & 2013) and Courtney Warren (2010) were selected as the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Before becoming Bucknell's head coach in the summer of 2006, Schinnerer was an assistant coach with Michigan's nationally ranked men's swimming team. Schinnerer had been associated with the vaunted Wolverine program since 2003, first as a volunteer assistant and then as a full-time assistant coach beginning in July 2004. Over his final three seasons, Michigan finished fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively, at the NCAA Championships; in each of his final two years, the Wolverines produced two NCAA individual champions.
Schinnerer, who served as the team's recruiting coordinator and budget administrator, designed and implemented the training program for the sprint and breaststroke group. He was able to work with Olympic-caliber swimmers, including Michigan student assistant coach Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all-time with 22 career medals. Four Michigan swimmers competed on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team. The Wolverines placed five swimmers with Michigan ties on the 2005 USA World Championship Team, and the Club Wolverine squad swept the men's, women's and combined titles at the national championships in the summer of 2006.
At Michigan, Schinnerer apprenticed under a pair of legendary head coaches in Jon Urbanchek and Bob Bowman.
Schinnerer was also heavily involved in Michigan's highly regarded summer swimming camp program, where he mentored both girls and boys between the ages of nine and 18. As assistant camp director and head coach of the intensive camp, he worked with many top young swimmers on stroke technique and training principles.
At Yale, Schinnerer was a four-year swimming letterman. There, he was a Senior Nationals qualifier and was the recipient of the William Leeming Jellife Award for "greatest progress and development in swimming ability and outstanding leadership during his college years." He graduated in 2001 with a bachelor of arts degree in history.
The Grand Rapids, Michigan native went on to teach history and serve as assistant swimming coach at The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey. He helped Peddie to an Eastern Interscholastic Prep School girls' title in 2002 and a boys' championship in 2003. Schinnerer coached multiple NISCA All-Americans, U.S. Open qualifiers and senior national qualifiers at Peddie.
At Bucknell, Schinnerer took over a storied Bison swimming and diving program that has excelled since moving into the state-of-the-art Kinney Natatorium ahead of the 2002-03 campaign. Bucknell's women captured four-straight Patriot League championships from 2003 to 2006 while the Bison men won the title in 2003 and finished among the top three teams regularly in the previous eight seasons. The Bucknell men won the 1964 NCAA College Division championship and have won 18 conference titles since 1960.
Schinnerer resides in Lewisburg with his wife, Lesia, and their sons, Kase and Erik.
