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Dave Durden
Biographical details
Born (1976-01-29) January 29, 1976 (age 49)
Alma materUC Irvine 1998
Playing career
1994-1997UC Irvine
Coach Charlie Schober
Position(s)freestyle, butterfly
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
2002-2005University of Auburn
Asst. Coach to Dave Marsh
2005-2007University of Maryland
2007-U. California Berkeley
2016U.S. Olympic Men's Team
Asst. Coach
2020U.S. Olympic Men's Team
Head Coach
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
As of 2023:
6 NCAA Championships (Asst. at Auburn)
6 NCAA Championships (U. Cal Berkeley)
(2011-2012, 2014, 2019, 2022-2023)
Awards
As of 2023:
7 x NCAA Coach of the Year
(2010-2012, 2014, 2019, 2022-2023)

12 × Pac-10 Coach of the Year
Swim. World Mag. Coach of the Year '23

David Alan Durden is an American swimming coach, best known for serving as the men's head coach at University of California, Berkeley since 2007. With an exceptional history coaching Berkeley, as of 2023, he has led his teams to six NCAA Championships and eight finishes placing second in NCAA national competition, putting his teams first or second in NCAA national competition fourteen of his eighteen years as coach. Including both the men's and women's teams he coached as an Assistant at Auburn University, he helped lead the Tigers to another six NCAA championships during his tenure. His Berkeley swimmers Nathan Adrian, Ryan Murphy, and Josh Prenot, have collectively won 15 Olympic medals and in 2016, Durden's swimmers from Berkeley captured eight gold medals out of eleven won.[1]

Durden was born on January 29, 1976. He began swimming around the age of eight, but quit when he was twelve growing tired of practices, not returning to competition until he was a Junior in High School. Graduating in 1994, he attended Jersey Village High in greater Houston, Texas, where he competed on their swim team, but did his primary training with Cypress Fairbanks Swim Club. In his Senior Year, swimming with an average High School team, he was the only swimmer from his school to qualify for and participate in the Texas Swimming and Diving State Championships.[2]

UC Irvine swimmer

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Attending on an academic scholarship, Durden graduated UC Irvine in 1998 with an electrical engineering degree. From 1994-1997, he swam with the Irvine anteaters, under Coach Charlie Schober and was a 1997 200 butterfly Big West Conference champion. High School friend and Cypress Fairbanks swimmer David McGlynn also swam with him at UC Irvine, and roomed with him as a UC Irvine underclassman. Durden's best events in college were the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, and the 100 and 200-yard butterfly.[2]

Coaching career

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Already possessing a distinguished coaching resume before serving as Head Coach at Berkeley, from 2002-2005, Durden was an Assistant Coach under Head Coach David Marsh at Auburn University where he aided their swim team in capturing a remarkable six NCAA team championships. The men won the NCAA in 2003-2005, and the women won championships from 2002-2004. Auburn had a very strong swimming program when Durden was hired as Assistant Coach, as by April, 2005 near the end of his coaching tenure, the men's team had won nine consecutive SEC titles, and five NCAA Championships.[3] From 2005 through 2007, he directed the men's and women's teams as Head Coach at the University of Maryland.[1]

University of California Berkeley

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As the Head Coach of the University of California Berkeley since 2007, his teams have captured the NCAA Championship six times and finished with a first or second place ranking in fourteen successive seasons. Remarkably, since beginning his career as Head Coach at Cal, Durden has led his teams to win six NCAA championships spanning twelve years which include 2011, 2012, and 2014, 2019, 2022, and 2023. Former Auburn Coach Dave Marsh has served as an Associate Head Coach during Durden's tenure.[1][4][5]

The University of Texas has been U. Cal Berkeley's primary rival in NCAA Championships during Durden's time as coach. In 2011 Durden's team defeated Texas for the NCAA Championship in Minneapolis, and in 2012, they defeated Texas again to repeat as NCAA champions in Seattle. In 2014, they defeated rival Texas for a third time for their third NCAA championship, at Texas's home city of Austin. They defeated Texas again in Austin in 2019 to take their fourth NCAA Championship with Texas as runner-up all four times. In 2022, U. Cal defeated Texas in Atlanta, Georgia for their fifth NCAA championship with Texas as runner-up. In 2023 in Greensboro, North Carolina, Berkeley took their sixth NCAA team championship under Durden with Arizona State as runner-up.[6]

In 2016, Durden sent six of his Berkeley men's team to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where they won a total of eleven medals. These included triple gold medal winner in two backstroke and a medley relay event, Ryan Murphy, double gold medal winner Anthony Ervin in the 50 freestyle and the 4x100 free relay events, and Nathan Adrian who won a gold in both the free and medley relays, and a bronze each in the 100 and 50 freestyle. His 2016 Olympians also included 200 breaststroke silver medalist Josh Prenot, 4x100 medley relay gold medal winner Tom Shields, and backstroke participant Jacob Pebley.[1]

International coaching

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In 2018, USA Swimming selected Durden as the head coach for the 2020 US Olympic Men's Swimming Team,[7] as Durden had previously served in 2016, as an assistant coach.

He was named Coach of the Meet at the 2016 US Olympic Swimming Trials.[8]

In 2015, Durden served as head coach of the US Swimming team at the world championships in Kazan, Russia.[9] He previously worked as an assistant coach for Dave Salo's Novaquatics and an assistant coach to Dave Marsh at Auburn University.[10]

In important international roles, in 2020, he was the Head U.S. Olympic coach for the men's team. In 2016, he was an Assistant U.S. Men's Olympic Coach. In the World Championships, he was the Head U.S. Men's Coach in 2015, 2017, and 2019, and was the U.S. Men's Assistant World Championship coach in 2011.[1]

As of 2020, Durden lived in Moraga, California with his wife Cathy, and a son and daughter.[1]

Honors

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For his many NCAA Championships with UC Berkeley, and work with international teams from 2007 through 2025, Durden had been named Coach of the Year for the NCAA seven times, in the years 2010-2012, 2014, 2019, and 2022-2023. In Conference and national honors as of 2023, he had been named the PAC 12 Swimming Coach of the Year twelve times, and was a seven time CSCAA National Men’s Coach of the Year.[11][1] In 2023, he was Swimming World Magazine's American Coach of the Year.[12][1][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "University of California Golden Bears, Men's Swimming and Diving, Director of Swimming and Diving, Dave Durden". calbears.com. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  2. ^ a b Weyler, John, "These Bosom Buddies Get Along Swimmingly", The Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, November 29, 1994, pg. 124
  3. ^ White, William, "Auburn City Council Approves Annexations" The Opelika Auburn News, Opelika, Alabama, April 20, 2005, pg. 2
  4. ^ a b "CAL Men's Swimming and Diving, National Champs!". calbears.com. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  5. ^ "Keith, Braden, Swimswam Magazine, Durden, Marchand Named CSCAA Swim Coach and Swimmer of the Year". swimswam.com. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  6. ^ "Historical NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships". ncaa.com. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  7. ^ "Cal's Durden, Stanford's Meehan to coach US Olympic swimmers".
  8. ^ "U.S. Olympic Trials: Dave Durden Named Coach of the Meet". 4 July 2016.
  9. ^ "David Durden's First U.S. Head Coaching Job Comes with Unique Challenges". 16 July 2015.
  10. ^ "USA Swimming - Dave Durden: Great Coaching Begins at Home". www.usaswimming.org. Archived from the original on 2016-08-14.
  11. ^ "Dave Durden Named PAC-12 Swimming Coach of the Year For the 12th Time". swimswam.com. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  12. ^ "Swimming World Magazine, Lohn, John, December 24, 2023, Cal's Dave Durden Named Swimming World's American Coach of the Year". swimmingworldmagazine.com. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
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