The University of Minnesota Athletics Department announced today that men’s swimming coach Dennis Dale will not return for the 2014-15 season. Dale recently completed his 29th season as a coach with the Golden Gophers’ men’s swimming program.
“Dennis built our men’s swimming program and has been the guiding force behind its many accomplishments,” said Director of Athletics Norwood Teague. “I want to thank him for everything he has done for the University, the Athletics Department and the student-athletes who have come through this program. You don’t have this amount of consistent success without a truly special individual and we have had that in Dennis for 29 years.”
A six-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and member of both the Burnsville High School Athletic and “M” Club Halls of Fame, Dale coached numerous Big Ten Conference champions and more than 100 NCAA All-Americans while at Minnesota. He oversaw a run of five-straight top ten NCAA finishes from 2000 to 2004.
When Coach Dale took over the program in 1985, Minnesota hadn’t posted a top-five Big Ten swimming finish since 1967 nor a top-fifteen NCAA finish since 1972. When he guided the Golden Gophers to a Big Ten crown in 1996, it broke a 70-year conference title drought.
A 1967 graduate of the University of Minnesota, Dale swam for the Golden Gophers and was a senior on the Minnesota squad that finished tenth at the NCAA national meet.
Head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach Kelly Kremer will continue to lead the program.