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Mariusz Podkoscielny enters his third season as the head coach of the Miami women's swimming team.
In 2004-05, Podkoscielny coached the Hurricanes in their inaugural season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Two Miami swimmers set school records while at the ACC Championships. Sophomore Ashley Knapp broke the school record in the 100-backstroke with a time 57.23 while senior Katalin Ferenzci tied her 200-backstroke record, which she set in 2004, with a time of 2:01.69.
In his first season at the helm of the Hurricanes' swimming program in 2003-04, Podkoscielny led a Miami squad composed of 11 newcomers to a dual record of 5-7, highlighted by wins over Michigan State, Houston and inner-city rival Florida International.
 Mariusz Podkoscielny is in his third season at the helm of the Miami swimming program  |
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In 2003-04, Podkoscielny coached two Hurricane swimmers to three school record-breaking performances with sophomore Martyna Krawczyk snapping the UM mark in the 200-breaststroke at the 2004 BIG EAST Championships with a time of 2:15.34 and junior Katalin Ferenczi breaking her previous UM mark in the 200-backstroke with a time of 2:01.69 at the BIG EAST Championships and matched her record time in the 100-backstroke at the Minnesota Invitational with a time of 57.26.
Prior to coming to Miami, Podkoscielny spent the seven seasons as the women's swimming coach at Oregon State.
Podkoscielny is credited with engineering Oregon State's rise from mediocrity to one of the country's more competitive programs. During his tenure with the Beavers, 107 swimmers set new school records and his teams went a combined 40-38 overall in the highly competitive PAC-10 Conference. In his last three seasons at OSU, each of his teams qualified for the NCAA Championships.
The Beavers' rise to respectability was rapid under Podkoscielny. Prior to his tenure, Oregon State had not had a winning record in dual-meet competition in five years. Oregon State also had two All-Americans in the same year for the first time the program's history and the Beavers' No. 31 ranking at the close of the season was the team's highest ever.
Podkoscielny began his coaching career at the University of Arizona where he served as a volunteer assistant in 1992 before being promoted to an assistant men and women's swimming coach in 1993. Podkoscielny spent three seasons at Arizona before being named the head coach at Oregon State.
Podkoscielny's success in the coaching ranks stems from his personal experience as swimmer. One of the most highly decorated swimmers in Arizona history, Podkoscielny was a 16-time All-American and won a National Championship in the 1,650 freestyle as a freshman. While at Arizona, Podkoscielny set school records in the 200, 500, and 1,650 freestyle and in each of his four years finished among the top three nationally in 500 and 1,650 freestyle.
Representing the Polish National Team, Podkoscielny finished fifth in both the 400 and 1,500 freestyle at the 1988 Olympics, and set the Olympic record that same year in the preliminaries in the 400 freestyle.
Podkoscielny graduated from Arizona in 1992 with a B.A. in political science. A native of Gdansk, Poland, he is married to the former Dagmara Grzeszczak. In August of 2004, the couple celebrated the birth of their first child, Julia.
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