FORT MYERS, Fla. – FGCU swimming and diving head coach Dave Rollins announced the additions of Taylor Loewen and Matt Ventura to the coaching staff on Wednesday. Loewen will serve as an assistant swim coach while Ventura will be the diving coach.

"It is not often one finds themselves looking to hire two new coaches at the same time, but I am truly appreciative of everyone in our program helping us get to this point," said Rollins. "Lara Jackson and David Boyko are two of the best people I have ever had the pleasure of sharing the pool deck with. Their impact on our program will be felt for many years to come. I wish them all the best and am thankful for everything they have done."

"With that being said, I am excited to welcome both Taylor and Matt to the Eagle Family. Going through this process, I knew there were only a handful of coaches I wanted to work with and to be able to bring both Taylor and Matt on board is very special. They are both rising stars in our sport and each brings new and exciting ideas and experiences to the deck.  We will continue to grow and develop as a program with them on deck, without a doubt."

Loewen arrives in Fort Myers after spending two seasons as a graduate assistant at Georgia Southern. In her two years, she helped the Eagles improve from an eighth-place finish at the CCSA Championships in 2020 to a sixth-place finish in 2021.

Prior to her time as a coach, she swam for four years at Campbell University. As a Camel, she set program records in the 50y breast (29.52), 100y breast (1:03.24), and the 200y breast (2:18.91) as well as the 200-medley relay (1:42.17).

Ventura joins the Eagles after previous stops coaching for the Ohio State Diving Club and the Legacy Dive Club out of Eastern Michigan.

Before coaching, Ventura dove for four years at Eastern Michigan and was part of three MAC Championship-winning teams. He had personal-best scores of 283.35 on the 1-meter springboard and 323.15 on the 3-meter springboard.

The Eagles will kick off the 2021-22 season with the UNF Invitational on September 25.

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HEAD COACH DAVE ROLLINS
Head coach Dave Rollins is only the second coach in program history. He was hired Sept. 1, 2016 and owns a 34-22-1 (.609) dual meet record, which includes a 13-2 (.857) mark against CCSA opponents, in his fourth season. Rollins guided FGCU to back-to-back CCSA titles (2017, 2018), as well as the program's fourth-straight title in 2018, marking the ninth championship in 10 years before winning the 10th championship in program history in 2021. In addition, he has been awarded CCSA Coach of the Year in two of his seasons at the helm. Previously, Rollins was the associate head men's swimming coach at The Ohio State University. Rollins brings over a decade of coaching experience to The Nest, which includes helping to develop Olympians, NCAA Champions and All-Americans, along with multiple conference champions. A native of Brockton, Mass., he was a standout collegiate swimmer in his own right and was inducted into the University of Arizona's Hall of Fame in 2017, as a nine-time NCAA All-American, national champion, school record holder and team captain.

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FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.

ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 42 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.