John Lawson Hargis (born July 3, 1975) is an American former competition

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, Olympic gold medalist, and college swimming coach. Hargis represented the United States at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, and was a member of the gold medal-winning U.S. 4×100-meter medley relay team. In his twenty year coaching career, he was the head coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers swimming and diving team at

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

from 2016 to 2022, and had formerly coached at Auburn, and Penn State.

Biography

Hargis began his competitive swimming career early on in life with coach Paul Blair with the Arkansas Dolphins swim club based in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

. His stroke specialties were butterfly and backstroke competing in both the 100- and 200-meter distances as well as competing in other events throughout his club swimming career. After graduating high school Hargis decided to have a collegiate swimming career and chose to attend

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

. While at Auburn, Hargis had several successes ending his collegiate career. He went to the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

for the 100-meter butterfly and winning a gold medal in the 4x100 medley relay. In 1997, his senior year, he led Auburn to its first national championship. After Hargis' swimming career ended, he married his wife, Lauren and they have two sons and a daughter John, Nathan, and Faith.Penn State University Profile
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Achievements as swimmer

Hargis has had a number of achievements in both his coaching career and his swimming career. He was selected as one of Arkansas's 100 Greatest Athletes, three-time

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

100-yard

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

champion, and a 12-time college All-American. He was a member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team where he became an Olympic gold medalist in the 4×100-meter medley relay. He was captain of 1997 national championship swim team and a member of world championship swim team in 1998. After his career had ended Hargis was nominated and inducted into Arkansas Swimming Hall of Fame in 2001.

Olympics

Hargis qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials in 1996 and went on to compete in the meet at the age of 21 years. He went into the meet like any other athlete, not a favorite of any sort. He advanced to the finals and won the Olympic Trials in the 100-meter butterfly in the time of 53.42. Once at the Games, Hargis qualified for B Finals with a time of 54.06. In the B Final, he swam a time of 54.29 placing him 16th overall. Hargis swam a time of 53.34 in the 100-meter butterfly in the preliminary heats of the men's 4×100-meter medley relay earning him a gold medal.

Coaching

To date, Hargis has coached swimming at five universities and one prestigious swim club, the Little Rock Arkansas Dolphins.

UNLV, Penn State

Hargis graduated from Auburn in 1999 with his Bachelor of Science degree in health promotion and sports management. From there he began his career as a coach. After college he served as an assistant to the athletic director at Auburn. Then he coached at

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

(UNLV) for the 2002-2003 season. After coaching UNLV for a year, he went on as an assistant for

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

, coaching them for three years, including back to back women's

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championships.

Dolphins, U of Arkansas

In November 2006 he moved back to Little Rock, Arkansas, to coach his old club team, the Arkansas Dolphins, where he had been coached by Head Coach Paul Blair. Shortly thereafter he was made the head coach and CEO of the club as well as the head coach of the women's team at

University of Arkansas, Little Rock The University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UA Little Rock) is a public research university in Little Rock, Arkansas. Established as Little Rock Junior College by the Little Rock School District in 1927, the institution became a private four-year ...

from 2007 to 2008. Hargis briefly became his old coach Paul Blair's replacement after Blair died in 2006.

Penn State, Auburn, Pitt

In July 2008, Hargis left his Arkansas Dolphins club team to go back to Penn State University where he served as the head coach for five years from 2008 to 2013. In June 2013 he accepted the associate head coaching position at his alma mater, Auburn University, serving until 2016. On April 5, 2016, he was named as the head coach of the swimming and diving team at the

. After serving as coach for six years, in March 2022 Hargis announced his retirement as Head Coach of the University of Pittsburgh swimming team.

References

External links

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Swimming World, Hargis Coaching Bio, Hargis Named Head Coach at U of Pittsburgh Swimming World, Hargis retires from Pitt after Six Years
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hargis, John 1975 births Living people American swimming coaches Auburn Tigers men's swimmers College swimming coaches in the United States Olympic gold medalists for the United States in swimming Penn State Nittany Lions swimming coaches Pittsburgh Panthers swimming coaches UNLV Rebels swimming coaches Little Rock Trojans swimming coaches People from Clinton, Arkansas Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics