Seton Hall men’s & women’s swimming & diving head coach Ron Farina has decided to step down from his position to pursue new opportunities, Director of Athletics Pat Lyons announced Saturday. Farina served as the Pirates head coach for 17 years and is coming off of leading the men’s team to its first-ever BIG EAST Championship victory.
“I want to thank Ron for his 17 years of service to Seton Hall University and the swimming & diving program,” Lyons said. “He has helped raise the program’s bar for success by molding our student-athletes into very strong competitors in the BIG EAST Conference, and, with the teams’ historic performances in the pool this season, he has set our student-athletes up to be successful for years to come. We wish Ron and his family all the best in their future."
"It has been an honor to coach the young men and women who have come through this program the last 17 years,” Farina said. "This past season was extra special winning our first BIG EAST Championship. I take a lot of pride knowing that this program will continue to compete for multiple BIG EAST Swimming and Diving individual and team championships in the future. Once a Pirate, always a Pirate. GO PIRATES!"
Farina leaves The Hall having delivered the program’s first BIG EAST title as the men easily ran away with the 2017 championship by nearly 150 points over the runner-up, Georgetown. His men won 11 races during the meet, led by Noah Yanchulis, who won the 200 and 500 freestyle races and scored the most points of anyone in the field to earn BIG EAST Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Year honors for a second straight season. The women’s team earned its highest-ever finish at the BIG EAST Championship, placing third with eight school records broken throughout the meet.
In total, Farina’s swimmers have accumulated 37 BIG EAST individual, relay and diving championships and nearly every school record has been broken during his tenure. He was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017, and, in addition to Yanchulis’ two top honors, Ben Mitchell was a two-time Most Outstanding Male Diver of the Year (2014-15) selection, Gabby Signorelli was a three-time Most Outstanding Female Diver of the Year honoree (2014-16) and Kerrie Kolackovsky was the 2014 Co-Most Outstanding Female Swimmer of the Year.
A search for Farina’s successor will begin in the coming weeks.
