In his 12th season at the helm of one of the most successful and enduring programs at American University is Swimming & Diving Head Coach Mark Davin, who brings his 20-plus years of experience to redefine AU success both in and out of the pool.

Davin's focus on success in the pool is apparent with numerous student-athletes earning all-conference and national awards, including finalists at the NCAA's, the US Olympic Trials and US Nationals. His clear commitment to academics is also a strong thread that runs throughout his program. For the past 24 semesters, his team has been honored as one of the most academically successful programs in all of Division 1 by earning Academic All-America by the College Swimming Coaches Athletic Association.

The 2005-06 season saw continued success for Coach Davin's student-athletes. Kaitlin Moughty and Meghan Thiel each each won conference championships, capping off a season in which each were named to the All-Patriot League First Team and set new school records. Twenty-three Eagles on both the men's and women's sides were named to the PL Academic Honor Roll as the team earned yet another Academic All-America nod.

During the 2004-05 season, Davin's swimmers again led the league athletically and academically. Both teams had over 95 percent lifetime best performances at the conference championships. The Patriot League Co-Female Swimmer of the Meet, Thiel, led the women's team, while PL Male Swimmer of the Year Val Fomenko was the best for the men. Joining Thiel and Fomenko on the PL All Conference Teams were 400 IM Champion Steve Brennan, Kevin Falkenstein, Alex Kinzler, Cami Miller, Moughty and Estebe Salgado.

The men's and women's teams also led all PL teams in the classroom, with the highest team GPA's for the fall 2004 and spring 2005 semesters. The teams also received CSCAA Team Academic Awards for each semester as both the men and the women again finished in the top-10 of all schools in Division I.

The 2003-04 season was another triumphant year for the Eagle men with both Ethan Bassett and Erwan Jeffroy obtaining NCAA qualifying standards. Jeffroy and Bassett went 1-2 in the 500 freestyle at the PL Championships while obtaining the NCAA times and Bassett also picked up the NCAA time while winning the 200 breaststroke. Bassett also won the 400 IM, going 1-2 with freshman Brennan. Along with Bassett, Jeffroy and Brennan, Fomenko earned All-PL First Team honors. The Eagle women were led by 1650 freestyle champion Cami Miller along with All-PL First Team teammates Jessica Lidstrom and freshman Moughty.

Academically, the 2003-04 season was another strong showing as both teams again received recognition for being ranked in the top-10 nationally for the fall and spring semesters. Individually, Bassett and Jeffroy received Honorable Mention Academic All-America status.

The season ended with Bassett competing alongside teammates Mark Liscinsky and Dominic Szabo at the US Olympic Trials where Bassett finished in seventh place in the 200 breaststroke.

In the fall of 2002, the men's and women's swimming & diving teams became the first counterpart teams in modern American University history to achieve the highest team GPAs in the athletics department. The men's team led the way for all AU men's sports teams while earning the highest team GPA of any Division One swimming and diving team in the country while the women's team earned 11th place honors. The teams again shined in 2003 with the men finishing fourth and the women eighth among all Division I programs.

Individually, Seth Bell earned Verizon Academic All-America Second Team and was joined by Ethan Bassett on the Academic All-District II University Division Team. Lidstrom repeated as the PL Female Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete of the Year while Bassett and Liscinsky were honored as CSCAA Scholar All-Americans.

During the 2002-03 season, Davin coached the program's 18th individual All-American when junior Szabo raced to an eighth-place finish in the 100 breaststroke at the NCAA Championships in San Antonio, Texas, in a time of 53.77. Szabo's honor marked the 23rd All-American award garnered in AU's swimming & diving history and the 33rd student-athlete from AU to be named All-American.

The 2002-03 season was one of fantastic achievement that was highlighted by an outstanding PL Championship where 12 pool, nine meet, six league and four school records fell.

At the 2002 league championships, the men's squad set seven new PL records while the women broke two league records of their own. The men's and women's teams were academically ranked 11th and 13th, respectively, among NCAA Division 1 programs and were awarded with Team Academic All-America status.

Davin has earned Coach of the Year honors three times in his career including during his first season in the PL. Under the instruction of Davin, the 2000-01 Eagles broke six CAA records, earned 20 CAA Championship titles and boasted five NCAA provisional qualifi ers while the men's team finished a perfect 7-0 season. That season at the conference championships, the men's team scored more points than any other team while the women's team scored the second most of any other school in the conference.

Davin earned a second consecutive Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Coach of the Year nod and a perfect 7-0 men's record. In 2000, AU's last season as a full competitive member of the CAA, the men's team made its best showing in the conference since the 1995 season, finishing third. The women also celebrated their best finish since 1994, finishing fifth.

In his inaugural season with the Eagles, Davin led the men's and women's squads to a combined 10 broken school and Onishi-Davenport Aquatic Center records and cultivated five individual CAA Champions. Davin has built the women's team up from seven student-athletes during his first season to 25 members entering this season.

Before coming to AU, Davin spent four years as head coach of the Fort Lauderdale Swim Team, which won the 1994 Summer Nationals, the 1994 U.S. Open and the 1995 Spring Senior Nationals. His collegiate coaching career began at the University of California at Berkeley where he was an assistant for a men's team which won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1979 and 1980. From there, Davin took the assistant reins for the women's team at Arizona State, which brought home a fourth-place finish at the Collegiate Nationals during the 1980-81 season.

From 1981-90, Davin coached the Swim Devils throughout Arizona, during which time he guided 12 athletes to the Olympic Trials. He was the assistant men's swimming coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1990-92 where he helped guide the Panthers to back-to-back Big East titles and top 25 national rankings.

The founder of the Arizona Swimming Coaches Association, Davin is a graduate of Florida State University with a degree in behavioral psychology and was a member of the Seminole team that captured a pair of National Independent Conference Championships.

Upon graduation, Davin was an assistant coach for the Narcoossee Swim Team in Tallahassee, Fla., before joining the Pleasant Hill Swim Club in Pleasant Hill, Calif.

A native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Davin currently resides in Maryland.