Swimcloud
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Scott Thacker

Head Coach

Scott Thacker was announced on April 11, 2022 as the new head men's and women's swimming and diving coach by the VMI athletic department. Thacker is coming off a highly successful five-year stint as head mentor of the Roanoke College swimming programs. He helped re-establish the program in 2017 and took the Maroons all the way to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) men's team title in 2021. He earned the ODAC and All-State men's Coach of the Year honors in 2021 and also was named the conference's men's coach of the year in 2019. The Roanoke women's team placed second in 2021. While at Roanoke, Thacker coached the program's first D3 All-American and the first D3 All-American honorable mention. He had 85 All-ODAC Team selections and 44 conference champions, and his swimmers set five ODAC records. The Maroons' dual meet record in his tenure was 66-15 and Roanoke was recognized as a CSCAA Scholar All-America Team. Thacker served as the Director of Competitive Swimming for the Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club in Waynesboro, Va. prior to his hire at Roanoke. From 2013-15 Thacker was the Associate Director of Competitive Swimming for the Lynchburg YMCA Piranha's under long-time coach TJ Liston. Thacker's coaching career began shortly after his participation in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in July of 2012. A few weeks after assuming the Associate Director of Competitive Swimming position for the Greater Richmond YMCA Tritons, Thacker was promoted to Director of Competitive Swimming. Prior to coaching, Thacker was a 17 year veteran of competitive swimming. Thacker was the 2005 VHSL state champion in the 100 breaststroke, a three time YMCA national champion, has held multiple Virginia Swimming state records, and was a four year member of the Florida State University men's swim team. While at Florida State, Thacker secured top eight finishes in both the 100 and 200 breaststrokes and went on to compete at the NCAA Championships in 2009. Thacker was a member of multiple FSU team relay records, and was the 2010 ACC Champion in the 100 breaststroke. Thacker's swimming career culminated with his participation in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials where he competed in the 100 breaststroke.
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Col Tom Timmes

Diving Coach

Timmes, a 1992 VMI graduate, is a professional engineer who served for over 25 years in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps and is a professor in the VMI Civil and Environmental Engineering department. As a volunteer diving coach, the VMI men's and women's teams have grown to a squad of nine divers, a record number for the team in recent years. Timmes swam and dove in the Northern Virginia Swim League and was a four-year letterman and team captain (Diving) at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia. Upon entering VMI, he dove during the 1988-89 season and finished the season as the Tri-State Champion for both the 1 Meter and 3 Meter diving boards. His "rat" year total score for 11-dives on the 1 Meter board remains in the VMI record books. Timmes coached his former hometown summer diving team and has consistently served as a diving judge in Division 1 competitions and invitational meets. As an Army Environmental Engineer, he conducted extensive drinking water and wastewater system characterizations and public health threat assessments throughout the U.S. and overseas in Macedonia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Italy, Germany, and Norway. He commanded the Headquarters Company of the U.S. Army Chemical Activity-Pacific on Johnston Atoll during its closure as a chemical agent demilitarization site and served as a Jumpmaster with the 82d Airborne Division. He taught a variety of academic subjects on the faculty at the US Military Academy (West Point) for six years. Timmes commanded the U.S. Army Center for Environmental Health Research in Fort Detrick, Maryland, and served as the Director for Environmental Health Sciences and Engineering at the Army Public Health Center before retiring from Active Duty to join the VMI Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.