Swimcloud
Matthew Jabs

Matthew Jabs

Head Coach

Matthew Jabs returned to East Carolina as the women’s swimming and diving head coach in February 2021 after previously serving as the head coach for the Pirates’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs from 2017-20. Both programs were discontinued at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, but the women’s program was reinstated in January 2021. Since his return to the Pirates the program has been on a steady upswing. Dual meet record: 21/22 2-8 22/23 8-3 23/24 5-0 (as of 10/31) Under his previous stint as HC of the program, the men’s team captured its fourth American Athletic Conference championship in 2020 and he was recognized as Coach-of-the-Year along with his staff. During his three seasons as ECU’s men’s and women’s coach, his teams compiled a combined dual meet record of 35-18 (M 16-9, W 19-9). The Pirates set 66 school records, (38 varsity/28 freshman) and won 26 American Athletic Conference championship events with 50 all-conference athletes accumulating 78 all-conference performances. ECU set multiple championship records during those three seasons and registered numerous NCAA “B” qualifying standards, with four athletes receiving invitation to the NCAA Championships. More than 100 ECU all-time top 10 performances were recorded during his tenure as head coach. Jabs was a member of ECU Hall of Famer Rick Kobe’s coaching staff for 17 seasons before taking over the reins of the program. He began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at ECU before becoming a graduate assistant in 2001. After completing his master's degree in 2003, he was promoted to assistant coach and spent the next eight seasons as the program's lead assistant before being elevated to associate head coach in 2013. During that time, the Pirates captured three men's American Athletic Conference titles while the women won a pair of league championships in 2001 (ECAC) and 2003 (Conference USA). As an assistant at ECU, Jabs coached multiple NCAA Championship qualifiers and individual conference champions. The athletes he mentored as an assistant posted 196 ECU all-time top-10 career performances and accounted for 35 records. His pupils also received the ECU Most Outstanding Swimmer Award seven times and its Most Improved Swimmer Award eight times. As a member of the coaching staff in 2013-14, Jabs helped the women’s squad post the only undefeated regular season by an ECU female athletic program in school history. Neither the men’s nor women’s teams have finished below .500 during Jabs’ tenure. A four-year letterman at ECU for Coach Kobe, Jabs was a two-time recipient of the program’s Most Outstanding Swimmer Award. As a senior, he served as team captain and posted the fastest 100-yard freestyle time in school history, which stood for more than 20 years, during his final meet. He was a multi-event Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Championship finalist and finished his career ranked among the school’s all-time top-10 in the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle. A native of Vernon, Conn., Jabs graduated from East Carolina University in 2001 with a degree in exercise and sports science and a minor in recreation and leisure studies. He earned his master's degree in athletic and physical education administration two years later. Jabs and his wife Jaclyn, also an ECU graduate and former athletic trainer, have two sons Evan (14) and Jackson (10).
Riley Hilbrandt

Riley Hilbrandt

Assistant Coach

May 2021 - Riley Hilbrandt has been named an assistant women's swimming coach at East Carolina University announced head coach Matthew Jabs on Thursday. A former Division I athlete with experience in college coaching, she previously coached at Clarion University and The College of Wooster. "I am very pleased to add Riley to our staff, and confident we got the right person for the job," Jabs said. "I believe her experience as an athlete, and coach will be of great value to our team. What really stood out during the interview process was her outgoing personality and a commitment to forming connections with the student-athletes, not just as swimmers but as people. That will be very important for our program in recruiting and development of the team." Hilbrandt joins Ryan McIntire, who was recently named the Pirates' diving coach, as the newest members of the coaching staff since the program was reinstated earlier this year. "I am very excited about adding Riley and Ryan to our staff and can't wait to work alongside each of them as we return our program to the level it belongs," Jabs said. Hilbrandt spent the past two seasons (2019-21) as assistant coach for the men's and women's teams at Clarion University. She coached multiple Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) champions and medalists, as well as help develop all student-athletes. She also assisted with technique development, wrote dryland and swimming workouts, recruiting, social media promotion as well as serving as an academic advisor. Hilbrandt previously spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Wooster College. The men's and women's teams at Wooster each finished in the top half of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). She aided in the development of Cameron Gelwicks, who competed at the NCAA Division III Championships in the 50, 100 and 200 Freestyle. Hilbrandt's other duties included preparing dryland workouts, perfecting athletes' technical skills and recruiting. Before going to Wooster, Hilbrandt spent a year as a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater, University of Nevada, Reno. While working with the Wolf Pack, she conducted video review with athletes and helped them improve their technical stroke skills. She was also in charge of travel arrangements for the team's competition schedule. As a student-athlete at Nevada from 2013-17, Hilbrandt was one of the best breaststroke swimmers in school history. She graduated with the eighth-best 100 Breaststroke time in program lore (1:02.06) and had three of the top 10 times in the 200 Breaststroke. In 2016 Hilbrandt helped lead the Pack to an undefeated 10-0 record, the first Mountain West championship in program history, and a top 25 College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) ranking. That same year she earned her first of two All-Mountain West team honors when she finished fifth in the 200 Breaststroke. Hilbrandt capped her senior campaign in 2017 by recording four of Nevada's top five times in the 200 Breaststroke, two individual victories and seven other top-three finishes. While in college, she did an internship with the athletic training department, conducting research on best practices for stretching, flexibility and mobility, as well as nutrition and pre-race preparation. Hilbrandt graduated from University of Nevada, Reno in 2017 with a degree in public health.
TC

Tyler Coffing

Assistant Coach, Women's Swimming

Tyler Coffing will start his first season as an assistant coach at ECU after being named to the swimming and diving staff in September 2023. Coffing comes to Greenville after multiple coaching stops including Michigan State, the University of Mary Washington, and most recently Miami of Ohio. Throughout his career he has helped coach multiple teams to Conference Championships, All Conference performances, as well as multiple individual conference champions, and Olympic Trials Qualifiers. Along with his college success, he has also been a High School Coach of the Year, coached two USA National Paralympic Athletes, and worked various summer camps including Princeton, and the University of Texas. Coffing earned a bachelor’s degree in health Behavior Science with a minor in Coaching Science from the University of Delaware in 2017, and is recently married to Emily (Grubb) a fellow University of Delaware graduate, and current Drexel law student.