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Men's Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- michael.joyce@princeton.edu
- Phone:
- 258-1140
EMAIL: michael.joyce@princeton.edu
Michael Joyce, a former All-American and Olympic Trials qualifier from the University of Florida, will begin his second season as the assistant coach of the Princeton men's swimming/diving team when the 2016-17 season begins, but he will have a tough time matching the dramatics and success of his first campaign with the Tigers.
The 2015-16 Princeton team posted one of the most dramatic comebacks in Ivy League championship history. After trailing for much of the final weekend, the Tigers rallied in the final session; once trailing by 116.5 points during the session, Princeton won three events, loaded the A finals with Tigers and ultimately took the title by 20.5 points.
Three weeks later, Princeton sent six swimmers to the NCAA Championships, including individual qualifiers En-Wei Hu-Van Wright, Corey Okubo and Teo D'Alessandro. Multiple relays qualified, and the 200 free became Princeton's first All-America relay since 2012 when it placed 13th at the NCAA Championships.
But now Joyce, who helped recruit a talented, highly touted Class of 2020, is ready to continue building towards higher goals.
“I am thrilled to have been given this opportunity to work for Princeton,” Joyce said upon his hiring. “Princeton is one of the most respected universities in the world, with an outstanding swimming and diving program. I look forward to working with Rob Orr, and assisting him to the best of my ability. I'm also looking forward to working with the team and helping them reach their goals both in the pool and in the classroom."
Prior to arriving at Princeton, Joyce had spent the last two years as the head age-group coach and the senior assistant coach for the Raleigh Swimming Association. He coached three North Carolina age-group record holders, as well as 19 individual state champions. He helped double the athlete involvement in the program in one year, and his team placed in the top five last year.
At the same time, he worked as a volunteer assistant coach and intern at North Carolina State, which won the 2015 ACC Championship and placed eighth at the NCAA Championships. Besides writing occasional workouts, he also learned the North Carolina State philosophy on training/conditioning and recruiting athletes.
Joyce began his career at Florida, first as an intern under the Director of Swimming, and then as an assistant coach with the Gator Swim Club Elite program.
He had a highly decorated swimming career at Florida, which was punctuated by a sixth-place finish and first-team All-America honors in the 400 IM. A team captain and four-time Academic First-Team honoree, Joyce reached three SEC championship finals and was a NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship Academic Nominee. He also earned the University of Florida Athletic Senior Leadership Award.
Joyce will return to the Garden State, where he was a standout swimmer at St. Augustine Prep. He was a 16-time high school All-America honoree, and he won both team and individual state championships for St. Augustine.
