Aug. 18, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Aug. 18, 2005
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
David Durden has been hired as the head coach for men's and women's swimming at the University of Maryland, associate athletics director Troy Tucker announced today.
Durden will begin his duties as the head coach of both Terrapin programs prior to the start of the 2005-06 academic year. He will take over the defending ACC Women's Champions.
"Having an opportunity to get my first head coaching job at one of the top spots in the Atlantic Coast Conference is great," said Durden. "I can't wait to get there and get started."
He spent the last five seasons at Auburn University, including the last season as the assistant head men's coach for the 2005 NCAA National Championship Team. Prior to that, he was an assistant coach for both the men's and women's programs at Auburn.
"We feel that we've found an outstanding coach who knows what it takes to establish and lead a winning program," said Tucker. "He shares our values related to the balance between athletics, academics and student-athlete welfare."
In his time at Auburn, the Tiger men's and women's teams won six national team championships - the men winning in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and the women winning in 2002, 2003 and 2004. The Auburn women finished second at the NCAA Nationals in 2005.
Durden has also spent time at Auburn as the primary coach for a number of world-class, postgraduate swimmers who were preparing for World Championship and World University Games teams. Three of his swimmers were selected for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team. Durden was also the head coach for the Panama team at the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2003 Pan-American Games.
He is a NCAA Division I Certified Coach, a member of U.S. Swimming and a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association. For the past five years, he has been involved with the swim camps at Auburn, serving as the director last season.
A student-athlete while attending the University of California, Irvine, Durden was also President of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in his senior year. Following graduation with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, he spent two years at an engineering firm before beginning his coaching career at Auburn.
