After fits and starts, West Virginia finally got their man and the new man on the Mountain is Vic Riggs who was introduced as WVU's new men's and women's swimming coach.  Ed Pastilong, Athletic Director made the announcement today and ended a lengthy search process.   

“Vic heading up both swim teams allows us to continue our championship caliber program,” Pastilong says. “His tremendous experience, along with teaching skills and vast networking is very impressive. We are happy to have him here at WVU. We have landed a great swim coach.”

Riggs, a veteran swim coach with more than a decade of experience coaching club swimmers from developmental to Olympic levels, comes from Georgia, where he served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs for one season. There, Riggs assisted the head coach in daily workouts and designed and implemented the sprint program, while also assisting with the meet line-ups.

“I am really excited about this opportunity here,” Riggs says. “It has been a long-time goal of mine to be a head coach. I want to thank West Virginia University for giving me this opportunity and I look forward to meeting and working with the kids to build a program that WVU and the community can be proud of. ”

The search process at WVU was an extended one starting with the sudden departure of Sergio Lopez for the Bolles School.  Hoping to avoid a similarly-quick exit, WVU asked one candidate to sign a multi-year contract with a six-figure penalty for an early departure.  That candidate passed, but in Riggs, West Virginia picked up a recognized coach with a history of success on multiple levels.

Prior to his stint at Georgia, Riggs coached at USC under Mark Schubert, guiding numerous Trojan sprinters and breaststrokers to All-America recognition. He also was the recruiting coordinator at USC.

Riggs previously served two years as head coach and owner of the Gator Swim Club in Gainesville, Fla. Also, he served as head coach for the U.S. National Distance Camp in 2000 and 2002.

From 1995-2001, Riggs and his wife, Renee, directed the Nellie Gail Saddleback Valley Gators, coaching from novice to Olympic level. Among the athletes Riggs coached in that time was USC All-American Kaitlin Sandeno, who was a part of the 800-meter freestyle relay that won a gold medal and broke a world record at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Riggs also served as the age group head coach at Saddleback Valley Aquatics in Lake Forest, Calif., from 1991-95. He was an assistant coach at Cal State San Bernardino from 1990-91 and also served as head age group coach for Riverside Aquatics in that time. He began his coaching career as the senior assistant at Fullerton Area Sports Team (FAST) in 1989.

Riggs competed at California-Berkley, earning All-America recognition in 1986 and swam on Cal’s second-place NCAA team. He was ranked seventh in the world in the 1500m free and ninth in the 400m free in 1985 and was in the Top 25 in the world in both events in 1984.

A 1985 World University Games participant for the U.S., he was an Olympic Trials qualifier in 1984 and 1988. He was a 28-time qualifier for the U.S. Senior Nationals from 1983-89 and won a junior national title in 1982.

Riggs and his wife have four daughters: Abigail, Kathryn and twins Caroline and Irene.