Fernando Rodriguez, a University of Georgia graduate and one of the nation’s top young coaches, is entering his first season as Women’s Swimming & Diving Assistant Coach.
Rodriguez joins Georgia after eight seasons at his undergraduate alma mater, Kenyon College, where he served as the senior assistant swimming coach, first working with the middle-distance group for six years followed by two with the sprint group. While at Kenyon, the São Paulo, Brazil native helped guide the Lords and Ladies to two NCAA Division III championships (2022 – women, 2015 – men) and five runner-up finishes, while also earning five North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) championships. Beyond the team accolades, his tenure produced 16 NCAA individual champions, 10 title-winning relays, and 20 NCAA records, as well as four CSCAA Swimmer of the Year honorees, including a sweep of this season’s awards by Bryan Fitzgerald and Crile Hart.
Kenyon was also a model program in the classroom under Rodriguez, earning 17 NCAA postgraduate scholarships and four finalists for NCAA Woman of the Year. In addition to his coaching duties, he served as an assistant aquatics director at the Steen Aquatic Center, an academic instructor at the school, and a coach at the Total Performance Swim Camp.
Prior to Kenyon, Rodriguez spent one season as an assistant at Richmond, helping the Spiders’ women’s team win the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championship. He also served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Colgate (2013), William & Mary (2009-12), and Wabash College (2004-05). As a graduate student in Sport Management at Georgia from 2007-09, he was an assistant coach for the Athens Bulldog Swim Club senior and masters groups and assisted with the Jack Bauerle Bulldog Swimming Camp, along with his work as a graduate teaching assistant.
In his individual collegiate career at Kenyon, Rodriguez was a seven-time All-American who led four-consecutive NCAA and NCAC championship teams and was named a co-captain in the 2003-04 season, graduating in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology.
