UC San Diego graduate Daniel Perdew has been promoted to interim head coach of the Triton men’s swimming and diving program he once starred for. The announcement was made Thursday by UCSD Director of Athletics Earl Edwards.
Perdew thus earns his second promotion in as many years, having been elevated to the full-time position of the top assistant coach in late May of 2013.
Perdew replaces Matt Macedo, who has accepted the role of associate head coach at UC Santa Barbara. Macedo completed his third season as the UCSD men’s head coach back in March, and sixth in all on the staff in La Jolla.
Corrie Falcon remains as the head coach of the UCSD women’s program. She spent four seasons as an assistant before taking charge of the Triton women in 2011. Falcon and Macedo shared this year’s UCSD Excellence in Coaching award, with the women placing fifth and the men seventh at the NCAA Division II Championships following a sixth consecutive conference title for each. They also swept women’s and men’s Coach of the Year honors for the second time in the Pacific Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference. The program has produced at least one individual national champion in every season since their arrival on campus.
“Matt Macedo has done an outstanding job for us at UC San Diego and proven himself to be one of the top young swimming coaches in the country,” said Edwards. “He will be missed, but with Corrie Falcon remaining in her head-coaching role and Daniel Perdew stepping into Matt’s position, I have every confidence that our program is in good hands and can continue to have success at the national level.”
“Seeing Matt (Macedo) go is tough, especially after spending five years swimming for and working with him,” offered Perdew. “He has done a lot of great things for this program, and helped push it to new heights. I am incredibly honored and excited to take on this new role with the team. I look forward not only to continuing the success we have had over the last three years, but also bringing out the best in each member of our program.”
Perdew is perhaps the greatest sprinter in UCSD men’s swimming history. He swam for the Tritons for four exceptional seasons from 2006-10. As a team captain, Perdew was a five-time NCAA champion, sweeping the sprint freestyle events as a sophomore in 2008 and again as a senior in 2010, around a title in the 100 free in 2009. He has the most national crowns by a UCSD male during the NCAA Division II era since 2001.
Perdew still holds individual school records in the 50 (19.69) and 100 (43.30), and is a part of existing program standards in the 200 free relay (1:20.02) and 400 free relay (2:58.49) as the anchor leg of both. He earned a pair of bachelor’s degrees from UCSD in 2010, in management science and psychology. Perdew returned to his alma mater after a mere one-year absence in September of 2011 to join Falcon and Macedo’s first staff.
Marko Djordjevic, who was on the UCSD pool deck in a volunteer capacity this past season, moves up into Perdew’s assistant position on the staff. Djordjevic has prior coaching experience at San Diego club programs North Coast Aquatics and Pacific Swim, as well as having held numerous posts at the international level, primarily for his native Serbia. He is a 2007 graduate of Serbia’s University of Novi Sad.
Michelle Casillas continues as the Triton diving coach, while Emmett Walling and Jamie Saffer stay on as assistant coaches.
