Jon Urbanchek
Honors and Awards
1995 NCAA Team Championship
35 Individual National Champions
1996 Baton of Victory
1995 NCAA Coach of the Year
1995 ASCA Coach of the Year
13 Big Ten Team Championships
139 Big Ten Individual Champions
Eight-time Big Ten Coach of the Year 2003
International Coaching Experience
1984,1988,1992,1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 Olympic Games
1986,'90,'94,'98 World Championships
1999, 2002 Pan-Pacific Championships
1990 Goodwill Games
1990 International Cup of Rome
1983,'87, 2003 Pan-American Games
1979 FINA Cup
In 22 years as head coach, Jon Urbanchek has made himself a permanent fixture in the Michigan history books. He has maintained the respect and achieved the stature famed Michigan coaches Matt Mann and Gus Stager initiated dating back to the 1920s, and will continue to be considered one of the finest swimming coaches ever to grace the pool deck.
In those 22 years, Urbanchek has helped guide the Wolverines to a total of 13 Big Ten Conference Championship titles, 10 of them in consecutive years (1986-95). His teams have lost just four Big Ten Conference dual meets, and won 42 straight Big Ten Conference dual meets from 1988-89 to the end of the 1998-99 season. His numbers are nothing short of astounding, with Wolverines winning 35 NCAA titles and 139 Big Ten titles since 1983.
From a 16th-place NCAA finish in 1982, Urbanchek led the Maize and Blue to four straight NCAA top 3 finishes from 1993-96, the only team to accomplish such a feat in that time span. The Wolverines have finished in the Top 10 in 15 of the last 17 seasons at the NCAA Championship. In 1990, UM finished fourth, followed by a runner-up finish in 1993, a third-place finish in 1994, the national championship in 1995 and another third place finish in 1996.
In 1995, Urbanchek placed himself in the NCAA record books, coaching the Wolverines to the NCAA National Championship title. It was Michigan's 11th such title, tying it with Ohio State for the national record. Urbanchek himself was a member of Michigan's 1958,1959 and 1961 NCAA champion teams. He was named the 1995 NCAA Coach of the Year, after leading Gustavo Borges to his 10th national title and Tom Dolan to four NCAA titles and three American records over the weekend.
Urbanchek also received the 1995 Swimming Coach of the Year award from the American Swimming Coaches Association. Recognized by his peers, Urbanchek earned the honor based on his successes both nationally and internationally as an American coach.
In 1996, he received the Baton of Victory from the NCAA, honoring his 1995 national title. His team placed third at the NCAA Championship that year, as his Wolverines won a fourth straight 800-yard freestyle relay title, breaking a 12-year-old American record in the process. In 1997, Michigan won a record fifth straight NCAA title in the distance relay, while senior captain John Piersma won the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyles, giving the Wolverines their third straight NCAA titles in both events.
The past five Olympics have taken on a Maize and Blue tint with Urbanchek serving as an assistant coach while joining many of his own swimmers. Most recently at the 2000 Sydney Games, Urbanchek placed three Wolverines on the men's U.S. Olympic Team, in addition to six others on their respective national squads. All told, 28 of his swimmers have made Olympic teams.
Urbanchek's swimmers consistently earn spots on various United States teams and represent the country world-wide. Seven swimmers with Maize and Blue ties were at the 1998 World Championships in Perth, Australia. Former Wolverines Marcel Wouda and Tom Dolan swept the 200- and 400-meter individual medley gold medals, while Wouda added a silver in the 400-meter IM.
Tom Malchow also won the 200-meter butterfly bronze medal.
At the 1994 World Championships, five Wolverines earned medals, including Dolan's world record-setting 400-meter IM performance. Three Wolverines earned 1992 Olympic medals in Barcelona, and four 1991 World Championship medals in Perth.
Coaching for his alma mater, Urbanchek's ties to the University of Michigan enhance the rich tradition of Wolverine swimming. A member of the team from 1958-62, he contributed to three NCAA champion teams and placed second in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the 1959 NCAA meet.
On deck, Urbanchek has experienced more success than imaginable. As a tribute to his coaching, he has been named head coach of the United States' 1994 and 1998 World Championship teams. He has been honored as the 1995 NCAA Coach of the Year, the Big Ten Coach of the Year eight times, and the 1990 and 1995 United States Swimming Coach of the Year by his peers in the American Swimming Coaches Association.
Before coming to Michigan, Urbanchek spent 20 years coaching in southern California.
From 1978-82, he was the mentor at Long Beach State University, and in 1981 he earned Pacific Coast Athletic Association Coach of the Year honors. Prior to his collegiate coaching, Urbanchek enjoyed 15 successful years as the swimming and water polo coach at Anaheim High School in California.
Jon and his wife, Melanie, reside in Ann Arbor. Their daughter, Kirsten, is a 1991 Michigan graduate and lives in Pittsburgh, PA.
Urbanchek's Olympic Medalists
All told 28 of Jon Urbanchek's Wolverine swimmers have made Olympic teams from nine different nations. All told, eight former Maize and Blue swimmers have won 15 Olympic medals: five gold, six silver and four bronze medals.
Mike Barrowman (United States)
1992 Gold Medal
200-meter Breaststroke
Gustavo Borges (Brazil)
1992 Silver Medal
100-meter Freestyle
1996 Silver Medal
200-meter Freestyle
1996 Bronze Medal
100-meter Freestyle
2000 Bronze Medal
400-meter Freestyle Relay
Tom Dolan (United States)
1996 Gold Medal
400-meter Individual Medley .
2000 Gold Medal
400-meter Individual Medley
2000 Silver Medal
200-meter Individual Medley
Brent Lang (United States)
1988 Gold Medal
400-meter Freestyle Relay
Tom Malchow (United States)
2000 Gold Medal
200-meter Butterfly
1996 Silver Medal
200-meter Butterfly
Eric Namesnik (United States)
1992 Silver Medal
400-meter Individual Medley
1996 Silver Medal
400-meter Individual Medley
Chris Thompson (United States)
2000 Bronze Medal
1,500-meter Freestyle
Marcel Wouda (Netherlands)
2000 Bronze Medal
800-meter Freestyle Relay