Damion Dennis was named Head Coach of the IU Indy Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving program in June of 2019. He has coached the Jaguars to several Horizon League awards and record breaking times in IU Indy program history during his five years.
During his time at IU Indy so far, Dennis has led the men's program to back-to-back runner up finishes at the Horizon League Championships (2022-23, 2023-24) and has earned Horizon League Coach of the Year three years in a row. Dennis lead the women's team to a runner up finish during the 2022-23 Championships.
Under his coaching, IU Indy has seen three #HLSD Freshman of the Year with Emmaleigh Zietlow (2021-22), Gabby Puryear-Lynch (2022-23) and Nathan Rariden (2023-24). The Jags have earned three #HLSD Swimmer of the Meet titles following the championships with Emmaleigh Zeitlow (2022-23, 2023-24) and Spencer Jyawook (2023-24) earning the title. Under Dennis, the IU Indy program has also seen two swimmers earn #HLSD Athlete of the Year with Logan Kelly (2022-23) and Emmaleigh Zietlow (2023-24) earning the award.
Dennis also helped guide Logan Kelly to become the first ever male swimmer in program history to qualify and compete at the NCAA Championships during the 2022-23 season. Kelly also qualified for the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials following the 2023-24 season.
Dennis joined the Jaguar staff after spending 11 seasons with the West Virginia Mountaineers, serving as Associate Head Coach by the end of his tenure in Morgantown. During his time at West Virginia, Dennis was an integral part in transforming WVU’s program into a nationally recognized force. Working primarily with the power group, Dennis helped achieve some of the top individual and relay performances in WVU history, and he has assisted 14 Mountaineer swimmers in qualifying for the NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships in the last five years. In 2014, West Virginia qualified all five of its relays to the NCAA Championships, including an “A” cut from the 200 freestyle relay team.
Thanks to his coaching expertise in sprinting, nearly every top time in the sprint events has been established during Dennis’ tenure, including six Big 12 champion titles.
As a coach at West Virginia, Dennis boasted an impressive repertoire of stats: 17 All-Americans, 31 NCAA Championships qualifiers, 40 conference champions, 15 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifiers and one World Championships qualifier. Dennis-coached athletes have consistently been ranked nationally, as well as train for some of the sport’s most prestigious events.
In 2016-17, the Mountaineers combined to earn one gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals at the Big 12 Championship, leading the way for 11 swimmers being named to the All-Big 12 First Team and 14 others named to the second team.
Before coming to West Virginia, Dennis had a two-year stint at the University of California-San Diego, where he served as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. Prior to his stay at UC-San Diego, Dennis spent three years at Princeton, where he was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator under U.S. National Team Manager Susan Teeter.
From 2000–02, Dennis worked as a graduate assistant at Michigan under world-renowned coaches Jim Richardson and Jon Urbanchek. He earned his master’s degree in kinesiology/exercise physiology in 2002. During his time at Michigan, the women’s team ranked in the top 20 in the country and the men were in the top 10.
Dennis put together an impressive undergraduate career at Western Illinois, where he earned a degree in exercise science/biomechanics in 2000. He was part of a six-time conference championship program, swimming the 100 back, 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 1,650 free, 400 individual medley, and diving two seasons. Under Hall of Fame coach Jerry Champer, Dennis was an eight-time all-conference swimmer.
Dennis and his wife, Hillary, have two sons, Jameson and Hudson.
