University of North Carolina Athletics
Carolina's Swimming and Diving Coach To Step Down
March 4, 2019 | Swimming & Diving
CHAPEL HILL – Rich DeSelm, an All-America swimmer as a Tar Heel and member of the University of North Carolina's swimming and diving coaching staff for nearly 30 years, is stepping down as UNC's head coach.
"I am announcing today that this will be my final season as the head swimming coach at the University of North Carolina," says DeSelm, who is in his 12th season as head coach of the Tar Heels. "This decision is not an easy one. I love UNC, our teams and the athletic department. Working at my alma mater is an honor. While I would like nothing more than to continue to work hard toward bringing our teams back to a championship level, it is time for someone else to lead that effort.
"Recent medical testing has shown I have a cancer-related mass that will require surgery later this month. I've dealt with previous medical situations and I know from those experiences the significant amount of mental and physical toll this will take. Our teams need energetic leadership at a level that I simply will not be able to provide."
DeSelm has led UNC's men's and women's teams to 17 top-three ACC finishes and 16 top-30 finishes at the NCAA Championships, and trained 53 All-Americas and 26 ACC champions during his tenure as head coach.
"On behalf of the University of North Carolina, I want to thank Rich, Tracy, and their family, for the significant contributions they have made to our program," says Bubba Cunningham, UNC's Director of Athletics. "Rich has positively impacted UNC for 32 years as an accomplished student-athlete, team captain, assistant coach and, for the last dozen years, head coach. Rich has trained and mentored hundreds upon hundreds of student-athletes who have succeeded in the pool, and have excelled in the classroom and our community. Rich's primary focus at this time must be on his physical well-being and I applaud his selfless decision to think of the impact his personal battle may have on the time needed to direct our swimming and diving program. I know Rich will be Carolina Swimming and Diving's biggest fan as we move forward."
"I would like to thank the many swimmers and divers I have enjoyed coaching who have represented UNC and dedicated themselves to excellence," says DeSelm. "I am proud of our teams' and our individual swimmers' and divers' many accomplishments. I love striving to reach our goals and appreciate all who worked hard to achieve their best. The most rewarding aspect of this job, which I will greatly miss, is working with student-athletes as they strive to excel, in and out of the pool. Although our teams have not competed of late at the level we all want to be, we still have had some terrific success at ACC, NCAA, National and International meets. I am even more proud of the student-athletes' academic successes, community engagement and loyalty to UNC after graduation.
"I would also like to thank Bubba Cunningham, Larry Gallo and Sue Walsh for their leadership and support of Carolina Swimming and Diving and me personally. There are countless others to thank, too, including: my colleagues in the athletic department, the great coaches in all of our sports; my staffs – past and present; my college coaches, Frank Comfort, Jim Wood and Rob Dickson; former administrators at UNC, especially Dick Baddour and Dr. Beth Miller, and; our team parents and alumni."
DeSelm earned All-America honors as a distance freestyler and captained Comfort's first UNC team in 1978. He spent 15 seasons as Comfort's assistant, helping the Tar Heels win 14 ACC titles. From 1993-2000 he was the head coach at Davidson, where the Wildcats won seven Southern States championships; and from 2000 to 2006 he was an assistant coach at Florida. The Gators had more than 300 All-America performances and posted seven top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships during his tenure. He returned to Chapel Hill as the head coach designate in 2006, and the Tar Heel women won the ACC title in 2007.
From 2010-12, he led the UNC men to three consecutive top-15 finishes at the NCAA Championships, the program's best three-year finish since 1955-57. The women placed 12th at NCAAs in 2013, one of eight top-20 finishes under DeSelm.
"I am honored to have served the University as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach," says DeSelm. "I will always do whatever I can to support UNC and, specifically, the swimming and diving teams and coaches. Carolina Swimming & Diving can and will thrive in the near future. My family and I have been blessed to have had a wonderful experience here and look forward to watching the Tar Heels again have great success in the pool."
DeSelm coached on the U.S. National Team in 2014, 2016 and won ACC Women's Coach of the Year honors in 2012 and 2013. He was head coach for Team USA at the 2011 World University Games in China; assistant coach for Team USA at the 2017 Open Water World Championships; head manager in the 1997 and 1999 Pan Pacific Championships and 1995 Pan Am Games; and assistant manager for U.S. Swimming at the 2000 Olympics and 2004 FINA Short Course Worlds.
Notable individual achievements for swimmers who trained with DeSelm include: Yann deFabrique, a 1992 French Olympian; Tyler Harris, who was third at the 2011 NCAA meet in the 400 IM and medaled in the World University Games; Joe Kinderwater, who earned first-team All-America honors in each of his four seasons in the 1650 Free and was a finalist at the Olympic Trials and World Championship Trials; Tom Luchsinger, who won the 2013 U.S. title in the 200 Fly and swam on the U.S. World Championship team; Stephanie Peacock, who was the 2012 NCAA champion in the 1650 Free, broke Janet Evans' NCAA record and medaled at the World University Games; Chip Peterson, who was fifth in the 25K at the 2017 Open Water World Championships; and Ashley Twichell, who won the 5K and finished second in the 5000m relay at the 2017 Open Water World Championships.
"It's difficult to see Rich's coaching career at Carolina be cut short due to a health concern, but he should be proud of all that he has accomplished," says Sue Walsh, an 11-time NCAA champion swimmer and longtime member of the Rams Club executive staff. "So many of his student-athletes have developed into outstanding young men and women who impact their communities in a positive way because of the lessons of integrity, determination and toughness that they learned through Rich's leadership and example. Rich focused on developing the full person, not just the champion swimmer or diver. His presence on the deck will be sorely missed, but his legacy will continue to impact all those who represent UNC Swimming & Diving now and in the future."
Assistant coach Christy Garth will serve as interim head coach while a national search is conducted to identify the new head coach. During the search, assistant coach Mike Blum will oversee the men's team and assistant coach Sean Quinn will direct the women's team.
FORMER TAR HEELS ON COACH DESELM
Danielle Curfman (Formerly Danielle Siverling, Class of 2015)
"Rich was obviously the head coach during my time at UNC, but he was also my group coach all four years. He was someone who always valued each athlete as a human being and the further I got into swimming at Carolina, I realized how rare that was among other coaches and other programs that are so tempted to just make swimmers into statistics and successes for them. The entire time that I was at Carolina, he truly cared about who I would be after college. I think that I definitely have a little bit of a bias because we worked together one-on-one every day, but I can truly and confidently say that every one of my teammates felt valued by him for their contributions to the program. Not just as another point for the scoreboard, but as a person of character to the university and to their communities afterwards. It felt very fulfilling to finish four years and not feel like there was anything left behind, and I owe a lot of that to Rich. I really think he made me the best that I could be in those four years and because of that, I didn't have any regrets pursuing teaching over swimming after college. I'm very grateful to Rich for that."
Tyler Harris (Class of 2011)
"From the whole recruiting process until I retired from swimming in 2012, Rich truly had a positive impact on my life. He guided me in realizing my potential, not only as a swimmer, but as a person, for which I will forever be indebted His top priority was academics, yet he wanted us all to strive to be excellent in the pool. In other words, he lived by The Tar Heel Way. I could not have been more honored to have my best swim ever at the World University Games in 2011 with him on the pool deck coaching as the men's team head coach. This memory will live on in me forever.
Whether it was joking back and forth or nothing being said, he always had a distinct sense of humor that made me laugh - again, something I will never forget. The world of sport has ups and downs, and he would always guide me through each of those. While it is difficult to hear about his recent health concerns, I know that he will fight any obstacle with the same courage and poise he displayed on a daily basis. Thank you for everything Coach!"
Joe Kinderwater (Class of 2011)
"My class was really one of Rich's first recruiting classes. Frank Comfort was still there for my first year, but there was so much excitement around our class because we were so highly ranked nationally and there was just so much talent coming through the program across the whole spectrum of events. The distance program was really great and both of the coaches I worked under — Rich and Catherine Vogt — were alumni of the program. Being part of this exciting freshman class and joining an already successful team under the guidance of the program's alumni helped me develop a sense of pride about swimming for UNC. Every year, I was lucky enough to repeat the success I had in that first season which is a really special thing, and a constant state in that was Rich. He can definitely be soft spoken at times, but he was also an aggressive coach in terms of how he wanted to train me. There were numerous times where I would be in the first one in the pool and the last one out, but he was always there with me during those four years at UNC.
"When we heard the news, I couldn't imagine how difficult of a decision this was to make, but I also knew Rich was the kind of person to do what's best not just for him and his family but also for the school. This isn't a coach who has just been with UNC for 12 years and is now leaving — Carolina was his school. He swam here, too, and having him as a coach motivated me to represent my school with the same passion he had for this university. He's a great man, and I really appreciate everything he did for me."
Yann deFabrique (Class of 1995)
"When I showed up to Carolina, I had a chip on my shoulder and thought I knew it all. The reality was quite the contrary when I sat down and had my first meeting with then-head coach Frank Comfort and Rich; they disclosed that this is college swimming, I was in the big leagues and I was going to have to humble down. I knew immediately that Rich was somebody I could trust more than just being a coach, he had my best interest at heart and needed to get me in check. I can vividly remember the first week of my freshman year, Rich said he was going on a bike ride and extended an invitation to anyone on the team who wanted to join. It didn't matter that I had a mountain bike and that I had no idea how far we would go nor that I could even keep up, but it was the invitation that mattered most to me. I was that kind of motivation and inclusion that put things in perspective for me, I had a coach who cared. I realigned my focus on how I was going to make a difference in the lives of others. Rich and I had a conversation early on about the opportunity for me to try to make the 1992 French Olympic team. After one specific swim meet in the Fall, Frank Comfort cancelled the next morning's practice for everyone to get some rest, but I walked up to Rich and said, 'I don't want to rest and would prefer not taking tomorrow off. I only have four months until the Olympic trials and need to put the work in." Rick acknowledged and said, 'Well, if you're willing to come in, I'm willing to come in as well.' We were the only two there that Saturday morning for three and a half hours. That was a turning point not only for my swimming career, but also that I had a coach who was going to be there for me no matter what. I knew that this was the start of something great. Months later, I swam at the Olympic Trials and ultimately was invited to swim for the French Olympic team. Without hesitation, I wanted and asked Rich if he could join me at the training camp and onward to the Barcelona Olympics. Rich humbly accepted and I knew for the second time in my career, that I had a coach committed to my success. The underlying mantra was 'If you want me there, I'll be there at your side.'
"When I connected with Rich on my recruiting trip, I knew Carolina was the school I wanted to attend. It was pretty clear from the onset that my relationship with Rich was going to be different than any other coach. Without that first leg of my journey, I wouldn't be where I am today. I have attributed many of my life's successes to Rich and some of the many things he taught me along the way. Rich's legacy lives at the core of Carolina swimming and his results speak for themselves: he taught the balance of academics and swimming, helped us build character, taught us how to respect others, show love for family and, most of all, serve as a true ambassadors of the sport. He taught us all well and made a difference in our lives."
