Randolph School Names Austin Smith Head Swim & Dive Coach

After four years as assistant coach for the Raiders, Austin Smith is diving into a new role as Randolph's Head Swim & Dive Coach.

"We are very excited to have Austin move up into the Head Coach role for our Swim & Dive program." said Mike Morris, Randolph School Athletic Director. "Austin has played a valuable part in the success of our program over the last five years in his role as an assistant coach. Austin is highly respected in the Huntsville swim community and within our Randolph swim program."
Swimming has been part of Coach Smith’s life for about as long as he can remember. He got his start in summer league, moved on to club swimming with HSA, then swam for Huntsville High before continuing his career at the collegiate level. Even during college breaks, he found his way back to the pool deck head coaching a summer league team for three summers while he was still a student himself.

"I have been involved in swimming ever since I was little," Smith said. "I have always loved the sport of swimming, and I think I can speak for all coaches that there is no better feeling than working with a young athlete to learn a new technique or try something new within their sport — and once the athlete gets it, we move onto the next thing, and the next, until we see them start to drop time and get better and better. All that to say, I am greatly appreciative to Randolph for allowing me the opportunity to work with these young athletes."

His own swimming résumé speaks for itself. As a senior at Huntsville High during the 2016-2017 season, he was part of the winning Boys State Team and individually won both the 200 Free and 500 Free in the 6A-7A classification, plus a pair of winning relays. He went on to swim at the University of Evansville, a Division I program in Indiana, where he served as team captain his senior year and earned Academic All-MAC honors all four years.

Ask Coach Smith about his approach and it comes back to one thing: helping every swimmer, no matter their skill level, become the best version of themselves.
"That comes with hard work, which means we need to take advantage of every opportunity we have in the pool," he said. "Some days we may focus on technique and strokes, another we may do more yards to build our endurance, another we may focus more on sprint-oriented work. I love a routine, but I never want practices to feel 'boring' so we lose our focus."
Academics matter just as much to him as what happens in the water. "Our athletes are students first, so grades will have a lot of emphasis too," he said. "I want all of our swimmers to stay academically eligible, so if there is ever an issue with grades, we will seek the best way to help the student-athlete there too."

Interested in Joining the Team?
Coach Smith wants any student thinking about swim & dive to know the door is open. Students — or parents — with questions before signing up are encouraged to reach out directly to Austin at austinsmith@randolphschool.net.