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2 0 1 2 - 1 3 S w i mm i n g a n d D i v i n g Me d i a Gu i d e
Scott Olson
Associate Head Coach
Fourth Year
University of North Dakota (1996)
Watertown, S.D.
Scott Olson is in his fourth year as an assistant
head coach for the Southern Illinois swimming
and diving program. He was promoted to
associate head coach before the 2012-13 season.
Olson serves as the primary swimming coach for sprinters and some mid-
distance swimmers, and he has directly guided three swimmers to All-
Conference recognition in just three seasons. Two of those swimmers won a
combined four events at the conference championships. In just the last two
seasons, he has guided seven swimmers to a combined 16 appearances in A
Finals appearances (top-eight finishes) at the conference championships.
Olson guided Justin Wolfe to a berth in the 2012 Olympic Trials, which was the
first Olympic Trials berth for an SIU swimmer in 12 years.
At Southern, Olson also serves as the recruiting coordinator and developed
Southern’s dryland training program. His swimmers have accounted for eight
Division I B Cut times and nine NCAA top-40 times. He guided the 2011-
12 200-yard freestyle relay team to the MAC Championship record and a
conference title.
Also in 2011-12, Olson guided Juan Arbelaez to a MAC championship in the
50-yard freestyle and Wolfe to the conference title in the 100-yard butterfly.
Arbelaez was the first swimmer in SIU history to break 20 seconds in the 50
freestyle and Wolfe set a MAC Championship record in the 100 fly. In 2010-11,
Olson guided Wolfe to a sweep in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly at the MAC
Championships.
Since Olson arrived in Carbondale, Southern has been ranked as high as No.
8 in the CollegeSwimming.com rankings among mid-major schools, and the
team finished eighth at the USA Swimming National Championships in the
winter of 2010 Olson’s swimmers have broken three school records that were
more than 20 years old.
Before coaching the Salukis, Olson was an assistant coach at the College of
Charleston, where the men’s team won Coastal Collegiate Swim Association
Conference championships in his second and third years. Olson’s swimmers
broke 25 school records.
Olson also developed the school’s first-ever alumni meet, performed on- and
off-campus recruiting, and produced fundraising efforts for the program.
Olson was the interim head coach of the Tennessee women’s program in
2005 after serving two years as a graduate assistant. He maintained academic
responsibility for the athletes and acted as a consultant with the athletic staff
in hiring a head coach.
As a graduate assistant at Tennessee from 2003-05, Olson performed stroke
analysis using DART FISH, performed on-campus recruiting and arranged
travel for the team. He produced a successful marketing campaign for home
meets that resulted in attendance being doubled and built alumni relations.
Before his graduate assistantship, Olson served as a volunteer coach for the
Lady Vols swimming and diving team. As a volunteer, Olson helped guide the
100-yard backstroke swim to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships.
Olson has also served as head swimming coach for the Barracuda Swim Club
and Janesville YMCA. With the Barracuda Swim Club from 1998-2002, Olson
managed three program sites that included five pools and over 120 swimmers.
He trained swimmers at the sectional, junior national, and senior national
levels. He was responsible for hiring, training and supervising all coaches.
At the Janeville YMCA in Janesville, Wis., Olson grew the swimming team
from four total members to 65 members in just his first six months on the
job. The boys team won the district title under Olson and placed second at the
YMCA Senior State Championships. The team qualified for the YMCA Spring
Nationals for the first time in eight years.
As a swimmer at North Dakota, Olson was an All-American swimmer and
team captain. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UND in 1996 and master’s
from Tennessee in 2005. Both degrees were in recreation administration.
Olson resides in Carbondale with his wife, Melissa O’Dell-Olson.
The 2012-13 coaching staff (L to R): Chris Gaffney, Joy Zhao, Scott Olson, Rick Walker