Jon Urbanchek (born August 23, 1936) is an American swimming coach, best known for his 22-year tenure as the head coach of the

Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving The Michigan Wolverines swimming and diving program has both a men's and women's team. The University of Michigan swimming program is one of the most highly respected college swimming programs in the country. The men's and women's teams, which ha ...

team of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1982 to 2004.Urbanchek's bio
from the University of Michigan Athletics website: MGoBlue.com. Retrieve 2009-06-15. He has served as a coach on multiple United States national swim teams, including the U.S. Olympic swim teams in 2004 and 2008. He is of Hungarian descent.

Early years and education

Born in Hungary. In 1957 emigrant to USA. Urbanchek attended the

, where he was a member of the

team from 1959 to 1961. He received All-American honors as a college swimmer in 1959 and 1961, and was a member of the Wolverines teams that won the 1959 and 1961

NCAA Men's Division I Swimming and Diving Championships The NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships are annual college championship events in the United States. The meets take place in a 25-yard pool, except for the Division I meets in 2000 and 2004 which were swum in a 25-meter competi ...

. After graduating from college, Urbanchek's first job was as a health teacher and aquatics coach at Garden Grove High School in 1963−64. In the fall of 1964, he started teaching at

Anaheim High School Anaheim High School is a public, four-year high school in the city of Anaheim, California, United States and serves students living in the Colony District of Anaheim. Anaheim High School was first established in 1898, which makes it the oldest o ...

, where he coached highly successful teams in both water polo and swimming. Highlights at AHS included a third-place finish in CIF water polo in 1968 and a CIF team finals appearance in boys swimming in 1970. Also in 1964, Urbanchek co-founded the Fullerton Aquatics Sports Team (FAST Swimming) in Fullerton, California. Urbanchek left Anaheim High School in 1978 to become the head coach at

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

, where he coached the 49ers swim program for five years. In 1981, he was named

Pacific Coast Athletic Association The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

Coach of the Year. He also coached on the international level for the first time, guiding the United States to a second-place finish behind his native

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

at the

1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup The FINA Water Polo World Cup, 1979 FINA Men's Water Polo World Cup was the first edition of the event, organised by the world's governing body in aquatics, the International Swimming Federation (FINA). The event took place in Rijeka and in the Ta ...

University of Michigan Head Coach (1982−2004)

Urbanchek was responsible for the renaissance of the Michigan Men's swimming program upon entering taking over the position in 1982. Within four years he won the Big Ten Championship and then continued to win another 9 in a row establishing a Decade of Dominance for the program (1986-1996), during which time he won the NCAA Championship as well. In total, he won a total 13 Big Ten Championships. Upon his retirement as Men's team head coach in 2004, he was replaced by Bob Bowman.

Post Michigan (2004− )

After retiring as Men's Head Coach at the University, Urbanchek for several years continued to coach with the club team affiliated with the school (Club Wolverine) and to assist the University's men's team as a Head of Aquatics. Urbanchek returned to Southern California in 2010 to direct the U.S. Olympic Post-Graduate Training Center at Fullerton Aquatics (FAST Swimming). He coached two swimmers to gold medals at the 2012 Olympics (

Tyler Clary Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

and

Matt McLean Matthew McLean (born May 13, 1988) is an American competition swimmer who has been a member of several winning U.S. teams in freestyle relay events. He was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and earned a gold medal as a member o ...

) and served as special assistant coach for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team. Urbanchek was inducted into the

International Swimming Hall of Fame The International Swimming Hall of Fame and Museum (ISHOF) is a history museum and hall of fame, located at One Hall of Fame Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, operated by private interests and serving as the central point for the stu ...

(ISHOF) in 2008. Urbanchek was inducted into the

Michigan Sports Hall of Fame The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame is a Hall of Fame to honor Michigan sports athletes, coaches and contributors. It was organized in 1954 by Michigan Lieutenant Governor Philip Hart, Michigan State University athletic director Biggie Munn, presid ...

in 2009 In December 2019, the newly-rebuilt pool at

was officially opened in his honor as the Jon Urbanchek Aquatics Complex.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbanchek, Jon Michigan Wolverines men's swimmers American swimming coaches American people of Hungarian descent Michigan Wolverines swimming coaches American diving coaches College diving coaches in the United States Living people 1936 births

Early years and education

University of Michigan Head Coach (1982−2004)

Post Michigan (2004− )

See also

References