June 24, 2009
ATLANTA – Chris DeSantis has been named Georgia Tech swimming and diving assistant coach it was announced today by head coach Courtney Hart. DeSantis, a 2006 graduate of Colby College (Maine), has spent the last two years as an assistant coach at the University of Pennsylvania and just completed his Master’s Degree in Applied Positive Psychology.
“I am very excited about Chris DeSantis coming on board with us,” Hart said. “His expertise in the breaststroke and IM will be extremely helpful to our program. He brings a wealth of knowledge from the University of Pennsylvania in terms of recruiting gifted student-athletes and is going to be a great fit as we move forward and take this program to the next level.”
At Penn, DeSantis was involved in every aspect of the program including recruiting, on-deck coaching and administration. DeSantis’ group of nine student-athletes was responsible for 10 of the 12 school records broken last year.
Since January 2008, DeSantis has been a contributor to Floswimming.org where he writes weekly columns on a variety of swimming topics. In addition, he has developed and maintained connections with USA Swimming Olympic coaches, the top scientists at the Counsilman Center, as well as Russell Mark, biomechanics coordinator for USA Swimming.
In 2006-07, DeSantis served as head coach of the Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pa. He was also a faculty member and taught classes in Modern World History and U.S. History. DeSantis spent the summers of 2007 and 2008 as an assistant director and coach at the Harvard Technique Swim Camp.
At Colby, DeSantis was a four-year letterwinner culminating his career as captain of the team in 2005-06 and holds the Colby College pool record in the 400 freestyle relay. At Colby, he also served for three years as both captain and coach of the school’s water polo club. In 2006, the club qualified for the Division III National Tournament.
DeSantis is a native of Wellesley, Mass.
