Bill Koppelman

Veteran swimming coach Bill Koppelman is entering his seventh season at Georgia Tech and his second year as associate head coach. Since he arrived on The Flats, the Yellow Jackets have qualified a swimmer to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships every single year while also steadily increasing their point-total at the ACC Championships each season. Under Koppelman’s tutelage, the middle-distance swimmers have almost completely re-written the Georgia Tech record book on both the men’s and women’s sides. Also serving as the team’s recruiting coordinator, Koppelman has helped Georgia Tech bring strong recruiting classes annually that have included most of the school-record-holders in program history.

His more than 17 years of coaching has featured stops at TCU, Utah, Wyoming and the Panamanian team at the 2012 Olympics. Koppelman and his wife, RheaAnn, reside in Atlanta and have two children — Adelyn and Knox.

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Bill Koppelman was promoted to associate head coach for the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s swimming program in June 2017 after working the previous five years as an assistant coach. He joined the Yellow Jackets’ staff in July 2012 following six years as an assistant coach at Texas Christian University (TCU).

Koppelman’s new role will expand his coaching, recruiting and administrative responsibilities with both the men’s and women’s swimming teams. He will continue to serve as the recruiting coordinator and also work with the middle distance swimmers for both the men’s and women’s rosters.

He has guided a Tech swimmer to the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships all six years that he has been on The Flats with Nico van Duijn (2013, 2014 and 2015), Alex Kimpel (2016), Rodrigo Correia (2017) and Caio Pumputis (2018).

Since coming to GT in the summer of 2012, a number of middle distance performers have set school records and career marks each season, while both the men’s and women’s teams have consistently increased its points total at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships each year.

As the recruiting coordinator, Koppelman has helped bring in a number of strong recruiting classes over the last six years, including current record holders Iris Wang, Maddie Paschal, Chiara Ruiu, Laura Branton, Kira de Bruyn, Caroline Lee, Morgan Lyons, Emily Ilgenfritz, Megan Young, Rodrigo Correia, Christian Ferraro, Colt Williamson, Goerzen, Moises Loschi, van Duijn, Youssef Hammoud, Mats Westregren, Noah Harasz and Ben Southern, among others.

While at TCU, the Horned Frogs skyrocketed in the national rankings, and their recruiting classes consistently gained recognition from around the country. Koppelman was an integral part of TCU’s climb to the top of the Mountain West Conference in 2009-10 when the men’s team stormed through its schedule to an 8-0 overall record and 5-0 record in the league. It was the first MWC team crown for TCU.

Though he served as the men’s recruiting coordinator, Koppelman tutored both the men’s and women’s breaststroke and butterfly swimmers and saw all of those women’s school records fall under his guidance, along with 14 of 19 men’s swimming records.

Koppelman, who has been involved with coaching since before he graduated college, helped two-time Olympian Edgar Crespo claim the 2010 Mountain West Conference title in the 100 breaststroke and Sabine Rasch win the 100 freestyle conference crown in 2011. He also coached Crespo and the Panamanian team at the 2012 Olympics.

Koppelman joined the TCU staff in the fall of 2006 after spending the previous year as head coach of Cyprus High School in Magna, Utah, as well as serving as head coach of the Pirate Swim Club, a USA Swimming Club team.

Prior to his stint at Cyprus High School, Koppelman worked as a graduate assistant with the University of Utah swim team and was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Wyoming as an undergraduate.

During his time at Utah, Koppelman worked with 11 U.S. National swimmers, one Canadian National finalist, 17 all-Mountain West Conference swimmers and two NCAA qualifiers.

Koppelman and his wife, RheaAnn, have two kids – Adelyn and Knox.