The torch has now officially been passed and a new era in the Cal State Bakersfield men's swimming program has begun. The CSUB athletic department announced Friday that Lance Cansdale will take over the most successful NCAA Division II swimming program in history as the Roadrunners' new men's swimming coach.

Cansdale will replace Bob Steele as head coach. Steele led CSUB to five of its 13 NCAA Division II men's swimming titles in his seven years as the head coach of the program. In his seven years as the Roadrunners' coach, Steele coached 32 NCAA Division II champions, while 15 of the CSUB's 23 school records were broken under Steele's tutelage.

But the continued success of the program is Cansdale's first priority as the Roadrunners' fourth head coach.

“The goal is to win, and I have some big shoes to fill,” Cansdale said. “But the opportunities are there with the program, and the continuation of success is very possible and attainable.

“(CSUB Athletic Director) Rudy (Carvajal) asked me if the pressure of winning would bother me, and I said no, it excites me. To compete on a national stage is exciting. I know what it feels like and the desire to feel that unique experience with athletes is something I value and hold very close. Very few people get to experience that, and that makes Cal State Bakersfield unique in swimming and the other sports. It’s very hard to be consistently successful, and Bakersfield has been able to achieve that.”

It's not just the desire to remain successful; Cansdale has the ability to make it happen. While serving as the Executive Director for Swim B.C., the provincial governing body for competitive swimming British Columbia, Cansdale was twice named the technical manager for the Canadian National Team (2002 Commonwealth Games and 2001 World Championships). He was also named the assistant technical manager for Canada at the 2003 World Championships.

Prior to Swim B.C., Cansdale was the director of swimming at the Hyack Swim Club in New Westminster/Coquitlam, B.C., during which time he was named the Canadian national team coach for the Australia World Cup Tour in 1999, and twice earned the Canadian Swimming Coaches Association Coaching Recognition Award. In 1998, Cansdale was honored as the British Columbia Swimming Coaches Association (BCSCA) Swimming Coach of the Year and the BCSCA National and Youth Coach of the Year.

During his various tenures, Cansdale has coached athletes that have participated in the 2000 Olympic Games, 1998 Commonwealth Games, 1993 World Student Games, and 1991 Pan-American Games.

It was his three-plus year stint at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. where an interesting link to CSUB was made. Cansdale rebuilt Simon Fraser's men's swim program—that had been cut four years before—and built it into an NAIA champion in that short time. He earned NAIA National Swimming Coach of the Year honors for both men and women in 1991 as well as the American Swimming Coaches Association Award of Coaching Excellence and College Swimming Coaches Association of America Coach of the Year.

Cansdale also swam for Simon Fraser and was the 1985 NAIA champion in the 1,650 freestyle, a member of the 1983 NAIA record setting team in the 800 freestyle relay, and a 20-time College Swim Coaches Association of America All-American.

His team's main rival while at Simon Fraser was Drury University, the same team that CSUB seems to battle each year at the NCAA Division II Championships.

“They were the people we tried to beat and vice versa,” Cansdale said. "When I became a coach at Simon Fraser rebuilding a program that had been cancelled four years earlier, it was easy for me to point to Drury and have a sense of purpose in building the program again. I love head-to-head competition, and to have a chief rival is very important.

“It’s interesting how things run full circle: Now I have the opportunity to come up and challenge Drury once again. Our goal is to challenge them and continue our competitive relationship.”

While taking over the most successful swim program in NCAA Division II history and one of the most successful athletic programs overall in Division II might be a daunting task for some, Cansdale is seemingly taking everything in stride.

Through his time with the Canadian National Team, the Hyack and Vernon Kokanee swim clubs in Canada, to building the Simon Fraser swim program from the ground up, Cansdale has progressed up the coaching ladder and is currently a Level IV enrolled (International) member of the National Coaching Certification Program.

Cansdale will now take all of his experience and hope to transform it into what CSUB and Bakersfield as a whole has come to expect out of its men's swim program: National titles.

"The opportunity to come there and sort of be the next wave of success at Bakersfield is an opportunity I’ve always looked for in my career,” Cansdale said. “Time will show that we can continue the tradition of winning, continue the pride the community has in its swimming program, and show that we can be champions, great sportsmen, and hold a lot of integrity both with our athletic prowess and our pursuits in the classroom.”

Cansdale will officially begin his head coaching duties in September.