Casares has been swim coach and aquatics director at Wabash College since 2002 and won the North Coast Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award in 2005. He holds the distinction of being one of only three coaches in NCAA history to win a national championship for both men and women in the same year, when as interim head coach at Kenyon College he guided the men's and women's teams to the 2002 national titles.
"I am very excited that Peter Casares has accepted the position of head coach of men's and women's swimming and diving," said Dana Mulholland, Bates' interim director of athletics. Mulholland retired in 2006 from 18 years of leading the Bobcat swimming and diving teams. "Peter is well respected in the swimming world, both as an accomplished Division III All-American swimmer and as a passionate coach and tireless recruiter. Peter's expertise and love for the sport will bring a renewed enthusiasm and national visibility to the Bates program."
A 1998 graduate of Gettysburg College, Casares was a two-time captain of the swimming team, a five-time All-American and the holder of eight school records upon graduation. Casares went on to earn a master's degree in sports psychology from Miami University in 2000, while he assistant-coached the Division I, nationally ranked swim team there. He went on to Kenyon, the dominant swim program in Division III, as an assistant and became the interim head coach for the 2001-02 season.
Casares said Bates had "the perfect recipe" to create a nationally recognized program.
"Bates College has always represented excellence to me," said Casares. "Joining this family, both professionally and personally, is a dream come true. I am honored to follow in Coach Mulholland's footsteps, and will continue to create an environment that will allow student athletes to reach their absolute potential, both in the pool and on campus."
There was no word as to how this move would affect Andrew Casares' commitment to Wabash last month.
