HICKORY, NC - Vic Riggs has been named the Head Coach of the Lenoir-Rhyne Men's and Women's Swim programs, as announced by Vice President for Athletics Daron Montgomery on Tuesday, June 3. 

"We are excited to welcome Coach Riggs to the Lenoir-Rhyne community as the next head coach for men's and women's swimming," stated Montgomery. "His background of competitive success at the Division I level combined with a passion for coaching really stood out to us. We look forward to seeing both teams thrive under Vic's leadership."

Riggs joins the Bears following a successful 17-year stint at West Virginia University. While at WVU Riggs coached 48 NCAA qualifiers, 17 NCAA All-Americans, 19 Academic All-Americans, nine Big 12 Scholar-Athletes of the Year and 20 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifiers.

"I am excited to join the Lenoir-Rhyne Athletic Department and the Swimming program. I want to thank Vice President for Athletics Daron Montgomery and his staff for welcoming me to the LR Bears' family," said Riggs. "I look forward to helping our student-athletes and the swim program reach their full potential both in and out of the pool. I'm excited to be back in the sport I love most."

In total, Riggs' swimmers hold all 38 of the best times swam in each event in West Virginia Swimming history. During his 17-year tenure the West Virginia Men's and Women's swim programs never finished lower than fifth at the Big 12 or Big East Championships, with the men notching 11 top-three finishes and the women picking up seven. 

Riggs came to West Virginia from Georgia, where he served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs in 2006-07. Prior to his stint at Georgia, Riggs coached at USC under Mark Schubert, guiding numerous Trojan sprinters and breaststrokers to All-America recognition. In his first year at USC, he worked closely with the distance and mid-distance freestyle and 400 IM athletes. Riggs helped guide Erik Vendt, Kaitlin Sandeno, Lindsay Benko and Kalyn Keller to Olympic berths for their respective 2004 Olympic teams. 

Riggs previously served two years as head coach and owner of the Gator Swim Club in Gainesville, Florida. He also served as head coach for the U.S. National Distance Camp in 2000 and 2002.
 
From 1995-2001, Riggs and his wife, Renee, directed the Nellie Gail Saddleback Valley Gators, coaching novice to Olympic-level swimmers. Among the athletes Riggs coached during that time was the USC All-American Kaitlin Sandeno, who was a part of the 800 free relay that won a gold medal and broke a world record at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Riggs also served as the age group head coach at Saddleback Valley Aquatics in Lake Forest, California, from 1991-95. He was an assistant coach at Cal State San Bernardino from 1990-91 and served as head age-group coach for Riverside Aquatics in that time. He began his coaching career as the senior assistant at Fullerton Area Sports Team (FAST) in 1989.

Riggs competed at California-Berkeley, earning All-America honors in 1986 and swam on Cal's second-place NCAA team. He was ranked seventh in the world in the 1,500 free and ninth in the 400 free in 1985. He was in the top 25 in the world in both events in 1984. A 1985 World University Games participant for the U.S., he was an Olympic Trials qualifier in 1984 and 1988. He was a 28-time qualifier for the U.S. Senior Nationals from 1983-89 and won a junior national title in 1982.