Rice is an institution with an elite academic curriculum, but when it came time for the University to make a commitment to its swim program and its dynamic head coach, Seth Huston, the math was pretty simple.
Looking at the work coach Huston put in and the results he achieved in just a few short years at the helm of the Owls' swim program -- such as developing Rice student-athletes into qualifying for the United States Olympic Trials, making the U.S. National team, and to do so while having a team grade point average that in the spring of 2009 was the highest of any Division I swim program in the nation (including women's and men's teams) -- Rice University didn't so much as blink about writing a $5.4 million check for the construction of a new, state-of-the-art on-campus Aquatics Center for Huston's Owls to call home.
The $5.4 million is a substantial amount to put behind a swim program, particularly in the current economic climate. The University believes that when it comes to a program like coach Huston's, it is money well-spent.
In each of his seven previous years at Rice University, Huston has helped every member of the team achieve her best personal level of success. Improvement in the individual's performance has made for better team results, but that's not all. Now that the fantastic, picturesque and fast (or "crazy-fast" as one Owl recently described it) Rice Aquatics Center Natatorium is complete, there is every reason to expect more of the same from Huston's teams for years and years to come.
Last year was his best season yet. In the pool, the Owls posted a huge win at the Nebraska Cornhusker Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. Senior Skylar Craig and sophomore Erin Mattson both broke individual school records in the backstroke and butterfly, respectively. Four Huston-coached relays set new school records to close out the competitive season. In the classroom the 2009 Owls essentially won college swimming's "Academic National Championship." According to the National Collegiate Swim Coaches' Association (NCSCAA), Huston's Owls had the highest cumulative grade point average (3.62) of any of the 347 men's and women's swim teams from the country's 238 Division I schools.
Rice's 2008 season was sensational. Huston led the Owls to a Top 40 finish at the NCAA National Championships and a second place finish at the Conference USA meet. He coached Brittany Massengale to All-America status in her final year of eligibility, but the Owls' season didn't end with the NCAA meet. He went on to coach Massengale and fellow Owl Carlyann Miller into qualifying for the 2008 United States Olympic Trials. At the end of the 2008 school year it was a Huston-coached and recruited swimmer, Diane Gu, who was named the winner of the Joyce Pounds-Hardy Award. The Pounds-Hardy Award is presented to the top female student-athlete at Rice University who achieves the most in academics, community service, campus involvement and her respective athletic competition. As it turns out, all the criteria for the University's Pounds-Hardy Award have long-been part of Huston's recruiting checklist.
The 2007 season was a breakthrough year. Not only did Huston coach Rice to its highest-ever finish at a conference championship meet (as the Owls took second at the 2007 C-USA Championships), he coached league champions for both an individual and relay event.
In 2006 his Owl swimmers participated in the U.S. Swimming's Senior Nationals and, for the first time ever, a Rice swimmer made the United States National Team and represent the country in an international meet. After coaching Massengale to set new school records in the 500, the 1,000 and 1650-freestyle, she competed for the U.S. national team at the Open Water World Championships in Italy. In no small part to her Rice head coach, Massengale also went on to swim in the U.S. Olympic Trials in two pool events and could compete in the international open water events in the future.
Huston coached both Massengale and Diane Gu, then a freshman, to qualifying for the 2006 NCAA Championships. By getting all the members of the Blue & Gray to perform at their peak, the Owls have stepped up with some solid dual meet wins in his tenure such as defeating Miami on the road in Florida, LSU on the road in Baton Rouge, and finishes ahead of Ohio State, Arkansas, Nebraska, TCU, Houston, Colorado State, Nevada and Washington State at multi-team events. The victories have certainly grabbed some attention for Rice swimming, but Huston still has his eye on the bigger picture.
The head coach and his staff have worked hard at training the individual athletes to reach their best, but Huston has worked equally hard at identifying the best student-athletes across the country and bringing them to Rice. In its annual summer wrap up of the top high school performers in the country (a list including both public and private schools), the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (NISCA) listed three incoming Owl recruits among the nation's top seniors in their respective events.
As a result, winning is nothing new to a Huston-coached team. Prior to joining Rice in May of 2002, Huston spent eight years at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., where he was the head coach of both the men's and women's teams. He is a four-time Division II women's coach of the year and has won back-to-back Division II national championships in 2001 and 2002. The Truman men tied their best-ever result with a ninth-place finish in 2002.
Huston, 45, has been named the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) coach of the year four times and he was the Mid East Championships coach of the year from 1995-98. He has coached the Division II women's swimmer of the year. Truman State swimmers set eight NCAA Division II meet records during Huston's tenure, and the school produced more than 100 Division II all-Americas. While at Truman State, Huston coached 22 academic all-Americas (16 women and six men) and both teams have posted 16 consecutive semesters as CSCAA all-academic teams.
The St. Louis native earned a bachelor's degree in physical education from the University of Tampa in 1988 and a master's from TCU in 1990, serving as an assistant swim coach at both schools. Before landing the head coaching job at Truman State, Huston spent four years as the head coach and program director of Katy Aquatics in Houston, where he was named age-group coach of the year in 1992. He built a program that produced three top-seven finishes at the Texas Age Group Championships, numerous state champions and a ninth-place men's finish at the 1994 Junior National Swimming Championships.
An active participant in the U.S. Swimming program, Huston is a member of the CSCAA as well as the American Swimming Coaches Association. He is an ASCA certified coach, having coached swimmers at all levels of excellence from NCAA all-Americas to Olympic Trial qualifiers and U.S. National Team members.
Huston trains and competes in masters swimming, open-water swimming, and enjoys cycling. He and his wife Amy have been married for 20 years, and the couple have three children: Hobie, 16; Hanna, 14; and Eli, 10.
