David Durden Position: Head Coach Experience: Fifth Year

In just four short years David Durden has brought the California program to the pinnacle of college swimming as he guided the Golden Bears to their first NCAA team title since 1980 this past March in Minneapolis. As a result of producing a 2011 NCAA championship and a national runner-up finish in 2010, Durden has now been selected both National and Pac-10 Coach of the Year in consecutive seasons.

In his spectacular fourth year at Cal, Durden led his 2010-11 squad to a 4-1 (3-1 in the Pac-10) dual-meet record and a second-place finish in the conference meet before bringing the program its first national championship in 31 years with a dominating 493 to 470.5 point victory over second place Texas in the team standings. As a result, Durden was named the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Swimming Coach of the Championships. In his previous three years at the helm, Durden has led the Bears to a runner-up finish (2010) and two fourth-place finishes (2008-09) at the NCAAs. He owns an overall dual meet record of 20-7 (.741).

At the 2011 NCAA meet, Durden's squad collected seven titles - the 50 and 100 frees (senior Nathan Adrian), the 100 back (sophomore Tom Shields), the 100 breast (senior Damir Dugonjic), the 400 free relay (Graeme Moore, Josh Daniels, Shields and Adrian), the 200 medley relay (Guy Barnea, Dugonjic, Moore and Adrian) and the 400 medley relay (Barnea, Dugonjic, Shields and Adrian).

Since his arrival to Berkeley in 2007 when he followed the legendary Nort Thornton as Cal's mentor, Durden's swimmers have established school records in 16 of 19 swimming events, including all the relays. He has guided Cal to 17 NCAA titles, including seven relay crowns, and 31 Pac-10 individual and relay titles.

Beyond the collegiate ranks, Durden is also helping develop some of the best swimmers on the world stage. Under his tutelage, Nathan Adrian is quickly approaching legendary status along the lines of Cal Olympic gold medalists Matt Biondi and Anthony Ervin. Adrian has earned an Olympic Games, World Championship and Pan Pacific Games Gold Medals, as well as five NCAA individual and seven NCAA relay titles. Breaststroker Damir Dugonjic, from Slovenia, is a three-time NCAA champion in the 100 breast and a potential Olympic medalist in London in 2012, while sophomore Tom Shields already has two individual and four relay national titles under his belt and is a future U.S. National Team standout.

Durden guided Maryland's men's and women's swimming and diving from 2005-07 before being hired to direct the Cal program in August 2007. A former assistant at powerhouse Auburn from 2002-05, Durden helped the Tiger men's and women's teams capture a total of six NCAA team championships - the men winning in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and the women winning in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

At Auburn, Durden was the primary coach for a number of world-class/postgraduate swimmers who were preparing for the World Championships and the World University Games. He mentored multiple world and NCAA record holders, and in 2004 coached multiple athletes who competed at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. Durden also served as the head coach for the Panama team at the 2004 Olympic Games and the 2003 Pan American Games.

"David is a perfect fit to carry on the legacy of athletic and academic excellence that has been so prevalent in the program built by Nort Thornton over the past three-plus decades," said Cal Director of Athletics Sandy Barbour. "Not only do I believe David will be a fabulous success, but I am thrilled that a person of such character and integrity will be providing leadership for the young men in our program."

Durden is a NCAA Division I Certified Coach, a member of U.S. Swimming and a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association. For five years, he was involved with the swim camps at Auburn, serving as the camp director in 2004 and 2005. Before coaching at Auburn, Durden served as an assistant for the highly regarded Irvine Novaquatics club team under current USC coach Dave Salo.

A 1998 graduate of UC Irvine, Durden earned a degree in electrical engineering. He competed on the Anteaters' swim team from 1994-97 and was the 1997 Big West Conference champion in the 200 butterfly. He and his wife, Cathy, reside in Concord with their son, Jack (born January 2009) and daughter, Mia (born March 2010).