University of Minnesota head men¹s swimming coach Dennis Dale announced today the hiring of Bill Tramel as head assistant coach. Tramel replaces Kelly Kremer who became Minnesota's women's swimming co-head coach along with Terry Nieszner. Tramel's duties begin July 1.

Prior to his hiring at Minnesota, Tramel spent the past nine years at North Carolina as the head assistant coach for the Tar Heel men¹s and women¹s swimming teams. At UNC, Tramel coached over 40 All-America honorees and over 35 NCAA individual qualifiers. Since his arrival in 1995, Tramel directly coached 15 Atlantic Coast Conference individual champions, four ACC Championship meet record holders and 12 athletes to UNC school record performances. Tramel assisted in the coaching of Jessica Perruquet, who won the 200-yard freestyle at the 2003 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. He also coached Sean Quinn, who placed fifth in the 200 breaststroke at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials.

While at UNC, the Tar Heels had nine top-20 finishes at the NCAA Championships and five top-15 team finishes. In 2001, the UNC women¹s team finished ninth overall for the first time since 1987. Since Tramel's arrival, the Tar Heels have won seven ACC Championships.

Before his stint at UNC, Tramel spent a year as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia. While an assistant at Georgia, the St. Louis, Mo., native helped lead the Bulldogs¹ women¹s team to a nine-spot improvement at the NCAA level.

He also served for two years as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the University of South Carolina¹s men¹s swimming program from 1992-94. During Tramel¹s stay, the Gamecocks moved from a 37th-place finish at the NCAA meet to 19th place.

"We are really excited and fortunate to be able to hire someone with Bill's experience," Dale said. "With Bill's nine years as a head assistant coach at UNC, we are very happy to have him as a part of our staff. Bill brings a great deal of knowledge working with middle distance, distance and individual medley swimmers, and I think he will be an excellent addition."

Prior to his work at South Carolina, Tramel spent two years as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s swimming programs at the University of Missouri, his alma mater. He had been a member of the Tiger swimming team and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in finance in 1992.

Tramel's early coaching duties were also as an assistant age group coach at the Sugar Creek Swim Club in St. Louis, Mo, in 1988. A year later, he was the assistant age group coach for the St. Louis Aquajets. Tramel is a 1987 graduate of Parkway West High School in St. Louis, Mo. He enjoys NHL hockey and live music.

"I am very excited to have such a great opportunity," Tramel said. "I have enjoyed my time in Chapel Hill and I will miss UNC, my friends, athletes and co-workers, however, I am looking forward to coaching at Minnesota. I know a number of people at Minnesota and it will be an easy transition for me. Dennis and I have known each other for many years and Minnesota has been a perennial top-10 team. I look forward to joining the staff and this program."