After a long, successful career molding high school swimmers in the state of Wisconsin, Tom Caccia begins his first season of collegiate coaching in 2013 as the head coach of the Simpson swimming and diving program.
Caccia brings more than 30 years of coaching experience to Simpson after establishing himself as one of the premier high school coaches in the state of Wisconsin. Caccia – who started the swimming program at Platteville High School in 1980 – leads the new era of Storm swimming and diving, as the team adds diving for the first time and settles into its new home at the Indianola YMCA in 2013.
Caccia was a four-time Wisconsin High School State Swimming Coach of the Year while at Platteville, earning the award on the girls’ side in1999 and on the boys’ side 2001, 2005 and 2006. In 2006 he was recognized as the Midwest Region Coach of the Year by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) and was a finalist for the national coach of the year award. He led Platteville to more than 370 dual meet victories throughout his career and coached 20 all-state athletes and 80 Academic All-Americans.
Caccia also serves as the Director of Competitive Aquatics at the YMCA.
In addition to his accomplishments as a coach, Caccia was also a decorated student-athlete at Wisconsin-Platteville. He transferred to Platteville after spending the 1973-74 season at Division I Northern Illinois, leaving his mark on the Pioneer program. In three years he set 25 school records, led the team in scoring each season and was twice named the team’s most valuable swimmer. He was a two-time national qualifier in the 400-yard individual medley and earned All-Conference Scholastic Athlete honors as a senior in 77.
Caccia began his teaching career at Argyle High School in 1977, where he spent two years before going to Fennimore for a year in 1979. His first opportunity to coach swimming came at Platteville in 1980, where he also served as a high school and middle school technology education instructor and was an assistant track coach for 16 years.
UW-Platteville honored Caccia’s career as a student-athlete and a coach by inducting him into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2003, Caccia was selected by Aquatic International Magazine as one of the top 100 Most Influential People in Aquatics in the United States, an honor that includes all of aquatics, not just coaching.
He was given the National Outstanding Service to Swimming award in 1999 and the National Collegiate/Scholastic Trophy award in 2010.
