Courtney Shealy Hart completed her 15th year as the head swimming and diving coach at Georgia Tech in the 2023-24 season. She resigned from the position in August 2024. In her 17 seasons overall at Georgia Tech, she’s coached 71 NCAA Championships participants and 21 NCAA All-Americans. In total, Hart has developed 12 ACC Individual Champions and 29 All-ACC performers, while also shattering more than 40 program records between the men’s and women’s teams. Prior to her arrival on the Flats, she also served as an assistant coach at North Florida (2006-07), coaching nine individuals to top-16 finishes at the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference Championships and one to a top-eight finish.
A highly decorated swimmer, Hart is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, 26-time NCAA All-American, five-time NCAA Champion and 19-time SEC Champion while at Georgia. She and her husband, Justin, have two children – Jackson and Mara.
| THE COURTNEY SHEALY HART FILE | ||
| PERSONAL | ||
| Hometown | Irmo, S.C. | |
| Family | husband: Justin; son: Jackson; daughter: Mara | |
| Education | Georgia, 2001 (B.S. cum laude, sports studies/communications) Georgia, 2005 (M.S., sports administration) | |
| COACHING EXPERIENCE | ||
| 2006-07 | North Florida | Assistant Coach |
| 2007-09 | Georgia Tech | Assistant Coach |
| 2009-2024 | Georgia Tech | Head Coach |
FULL BIO:
A two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, a five-time NCAA Champion and the 2000 NCAA Women’s National Swimmer of the Year, Courtney Shealy Hart was named the head coach of the Yellow Jackets’ swimming and diving programs on April 30, 2009. Hart, who was a Georgia Tech assistant coach for two years from 2007-09, became the eighth head coach in the history of the program. She resigned from the position in August 2024.
Thanks in part to deep recruiting classes and the development of talent, Hart steadily built Georgia Tech into a program that can compete in the nationally recognized Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). Since taking over the reins of the program, both the men’s and women’s teams consistently increased its points total at the ACC Swimming & Diving Championships each year.
Hart presided over a fantastic stretch for the Tech program that saw multiple men’s swimmers compete in eight NCAA Championships since taking over the program before the start of the 2009-10 season. Since taking over as head coach, all but one women’s record has been rewritten and a all but two program records have been established on the men’s team. The one women’s record that did not occur during her head coaching tenure happened during her time as an assistant coach.
The success extended beyond the pool as the Yellow Jackets annually been one of the nation’s top academic swimming & diving programs. The men’s swimming & diving team earned APR Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA in 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16, while both the men’s and women’s programs annually received CSCAA scholar all-America team honors.
Hart spent one season as an assistant coach at North Florida in 2006-07 prior to arriving on The Flats where she served as an assistant coach from 2007-09.
She helped guide North Florida to a fifth-place finish at the Pacific Coast Swimming Conference Championships and led nine individuals to top-16 finishes at the meet. She also guided one student-athlete to a top-eight finish in the conference championship meet.
Hart’s long list of accomplishments include:
Before heading into the coaching scene, Hart participated in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games for the United States. She took home a pair of gold medals in Sydney, Australia, in the 400 meter medley relay and 400 meter freestyle relay.
Hart also competed on the international scene in the Pan-American Games (1999, 2003), Pan Pacific (2002) and the United States World Cup Teams (2000-04).
At the University of Georgia, Hart led the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA team championships in 1999 and 2000. She was named the 2000 NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year after capturing individual national titles in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 back. She also captured NCAA titles as a member of the 400 free relay and 400 medley relay teams. She finished her NCAA career with 26 All-America honors, the most in UGA history, plus two more honorable mention citations.
Hart won nine individual Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles, 10 SEC relay crowns and set five conference records. She was named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Year in 2000.
In the pool, her accomplishments include:
After graduating from Georgia in 2001 cum laude with a degree in sports studies/communications, Hart worked as a motivational speaker for the NCAA, Coca-Cola, Healthsouth and Arby’s, and served as the director of the Golden West Swim Lessons Program in Huntington Beach, Calif., before heading to North Florida.
In the summer of 2013, Hart was inducted in to the Georgia Aquatic Hall of Fame, signifying both her achievements as a collegiate all-American and National Swimmer of the Year at the University of Georgia and as a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist. She was also inducted into the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2010.
Hart, who earned her master’s degree in sports administration from Georgia in 2005, was inducted into the Irmo High School Hall of Fame in September 2017.
Hart and her husband, Justin, have two children – Jackson and Mara.
