Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- des036@bucknell.edu
- Phone:
- 570-577-1530
Dan Schinnerer completed his 20th season as head coach of the Bucknell men's and women's swimming and diving programs in 2025-26, and in May 2026 he announced he would be departing for a senior coaching position with Nation's Capital Swim Club.Â
Schinnerer departs as Bucknell's longest-tenured women's swimming and diving coach and second-longest-tenured men's coach behind only Hall of Famer Dick Russell. Schinnerer's 121 women's dual-meet victories (121-58-1) are the most in program history, and his 100 men's wins (100-80) rank second behind only Russell's 154.
Under Schinnerer's leadership, every Bucknell men's and women's individual and relay record was broken, and of the 420 top-10 men's and women's swimming and diving event performances in team history, 409 came during his two-decade tenure. Schinnerer guided the men's team to four runner-up team finishes at the Patriot League Championships and spots in the top half of the field every year. His women's squads finished second seven times and in the top five every year. Â
Schinnerer captured five Patriot League Coach of the Year honors, three on the men's side (2008, 2010, 2022) and two on the women's side (2013, 2020).
Schinnerer coached 50 Patriot League individual champions -- 29 women and 21 men. Heading the list were eight-time gold medal winner Emma Levendoski, who swept the 100 and 200-yard backstroke events all four years of her career, and six-time men's champion Chris Devlin, who won back-to-back Swimmer of the Meet awards in 2026 and 2017.Â
Schinnerer's teams were also some of the highest performing academic squads at Bucknell. He also coached 50 Academic All-Patriot League honorees, including three-time PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year Christian Treat and one-time winners Courtney Warren and Daniel Fletcher.Â
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.
Schinnerer resides in Lewisburg with his wife, Lesia, and their sons, Kase and Erik.
