University of Arizona Wildcats Official Athletic Site

Frank Busch

	Position: Head Coach/21st Year at Arizona
	Alma Mater: Loyola (Ill.), 1973

E-Mail Coach Busch: abusch@arizona.edu

Entering his 20th year as head coach, Frank Busch has transformed the University of Arizona swimming and diving into one of the nation's most powerful programs.

The 2007-08 season was a breakthrough for Busch and his charges, as both the men's and women's swim teams captured NCAA championship, the first two in school history. Over the course of seven days the Wildcats used a team-first mantra to rise to the top of the collegiate swimming world in dominating fashion - the men prevailed by 94 points and the women triumphed by 136. The squads combined to win two individual national championships, eight relay national championships and earn a total of 57 All-America accolades. For his efforts, Busch earned both the men's and women's NCAA Coach-of-the-Year accolades, an honor he has earned six times in his career.

On March 22, the UA women captured its first national championship. One week later, the Wildcat men claimed its first national championship trophy. In doing so, Arizona became only the second team in NCAA swimming history to sweep the men's and women's national championships in the same season while being led by the same coaching staffs.

Other historic markers fell during those combined six days of competition. Arizona became the first team to win eight out of a possible ten championship relays. Five of those relays set NCAA meet records and four were American records as well. Although four Arizona student-athletes claimed individual titles, the national championships were won - as is the foundation of Busch's coaching excellence - by putting the team first. Busch accurately predicted that the 2007-08 teams would have the depth of talent necessary to score repeatedly through all 16 places, and ultimately this depth accounted for the combined winning margin of 230 points.

Arizona is one of only four programs nationally to sweep the NCAA championships in the same season since 1982 (accomplished 12 times).

Busch's 2008 campaign was capped by a successful Olympic experience. He was named an assistant coach for the United States swim team, where a total of 15 of his current or former swimmers participated and represented seven different nations at the Beijing Games.

On Sept. 5, 2008, Busch was inducted into the American Swim Coaches Hall of Fame.

Arizona's swimming and diving teams completed the 2006-07 season posting another impressive finish to a successful year. The men and women stayed in the top 10 of the CSCAA poll for the entire dual-meet season and finished in the nation's top three for the third consecutive year by earning third- and second-place finishes at the NCAA Championships. The Wildcats broke 14 school, four NCAA and two American records, earned 81 All-America honors and won six individual and three relay national titles.

The women defended its Pac-10 title for a second straight year, climbing seven spots from the first day of competition to win the meet with 1,481.5 points. Arizona's men finished third at the Pac-10 Championships finishing with 625 points, the most points Arizona has accumulated at the meet in the program's history. The Cats tallied two conference championships and 10 NCAA automatic qualifying times throughout the four-day meet. The Cats again posted one of the top swimming and diving seasons in UA history, proving to be one of the most consistently successful athletic teams at the school, as well as one of the most competitive programs in the nation.

In the summer of 2006, Busch was named assistant coach to the USA World Championship team that competed at the Pan-Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia.

Busch closed out the 2005-06 season earning NCAA Men's Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career. He was also named Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year for the sixth time at Arizona. Both the men and women completed the dual meet season ranked in the top 10 of the CSCAA poll and went on to upset several top-ranked teams to earn second- and third-place finishes at the NCAA Championships. The Wildcats broke a total of 38 records, including 22 school and four NCAA, while posting 78 All-American honors. Arizona also finished with seven national relay titles, three individual national championships and a first-place finish at the Pac-10 Championships on the women's side.

Busch earned the 2004-05 NCAA co-Men's Coach of the Year award and the Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year. Both men's and women's teams finished third at the 2005 NCAA Championships, while producing three individual national champions and a total of 77 All-American honors.

Busch was recognized as the 2004 NCAA women's swimming Coach of the Year and 2004 Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year. He was later named assistant coach on the staff of the women's U.S. Olympic Team at the XXXVIIIth Summer Olympiad in Athens, Greece.

Since taking over the Arizona program in1989, Busch's teams have maintained a steady presence among the nation's elite, posting top-10 finishes in each of the last 17 years, including NCAA runner-up finishes in both 1998 and 2000 to go with the 2008 national championships.

The Arizona men have been in the top 10 for 13 of the last 17 years, including a current streak of nine top-10 finishes. Arizona's women also won their first conference title in the highly competitive Pac-10 in 2000.

Busch has led Arizona's men on a climb through the national rankings as well, and in 1993, he was named the NCAA Division I Coach of the Year for the first time in his career. He was also selected the Pac-10 Men's Coach of the Year in 1993, 2000 and 2008. All told, Busch has earned NCAA Coach-of-the-Year honors six times and Pac-10 Coach-of-the-Year kudos 11 times.

In addition to his collegiate honors, Busch received the highest recognition of the United States Swimming in1998, when he was chosen the USA Swimming Coach of the Year. The United States Olympic Committee also bestowed its highest annual honor upon Busch, as he was selected the 1998 USOC National Coach of the Year. These honors followed a national championship season for Busch's club affiliate, Ford Aquatics.

In each of the last 17 seasons, Arizona swimming and diving has produced at least one individual or relay NCAA champion, and during that stretch, the program also posted27 national champion relays. In all, the Arizona women have accumulated 348 individual All-America honors,81 All-America relay performances, 45 Pac-10 titles and34 NCAA titles during Busch's tenure. The Wildcat men have been equally impressive under Busch, with 284 individual All America honors,82 All-America relay performances,43 Pac-10 titles and 29 NCAA titles.

Now in his 39th season as a swimming coach, Busch came to Arizona from the University of Cincinnati, where he was head coach from 1980-89 and was honored twice as the Metro Conference Women's Coach of the Year. The Bearcat men broke into the top 20, and the women finished as high as 13th at the NCAA Championships.

Busch began his coaching career at age 16 in his hometown of Edgewood, Ky., under the unlikeliest of circumstances. When he and his summer league teammates arrived for the first practice with no coach in sight, Busch volunteered for the vacancy. After seven summers (1967-1974), Busch began a four-year career with the Northern Kentucky Piranhas (1974-1978), followed by a year with the senior program of the Cincinnati Marlins.

He was an assistant coach for the Cincinnati Marlins from 1979-80, where he instructed current Arizona assistant Greg Rhodenbaugh. The Marlins placed six swimmers on the 1980 Olympic team and broke three world records. That coaching effort propelled him to the University of Cincinnati.

Busch truly believes in the concept of the student-athlete and stresses work in the classroom as well as in the pool. Since his arrival at Arizona, his swimmers regularly have earned Academic All-America and Academic all-Pac-10 recognition. His teams' grade-point averages are consistently among the best in the Wildcat athletic departments, and during his time at Cincinnati, his teams' GPA exceeded 3.0 for eight straight years. In 1991, Steve Herron, an All-American swimmer for the Wildcats, was a Rhodes Scholar candidate.

Busch and his wife, Patty, have five adult children: Frank (33) is an attorney in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Augie (32) is an assistant on the Arizona coaching staff; Peter (29) is a reporter for the KPHO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Phoenix. Peter and his wife, Rachel, welcomed the first Busch grandchild, Tori, in May 2008. Molly (27), along with Patty, recently completed a documentary about the 2006-07 UA swimming and diving season. Sam (25) is a local high school head coach and is on the Ford Aquatics coaching staff. All five Busch children, as well as Patty and Rachel, have degrees from Arizona.

Frank Busch's Career Coaching Honors

2008 NCAA Men's Coach of the Year

NCAA Women's Coach of the Year

Pac-10 Men's Coach of the Year

Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year

USA Olympic Men's Team Assistant Coach

2007 Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year

2006 NCAA Men's Coach of the Year

Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year

USA World Championship Team Assistant Coach

2005 NCAA co-Men's Coach of the Year

Pac-10 Women's Coach of the Year