Lindsay Announces Retirement After 31 Years
3/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
OXFORD, Ohio -- Pete Lindsay, the head men's swimming and diving coach at Miami University for the last 31 years, has announced his retirement. Lindsay's last day at Miami will be on May 31, 2016.
"It was a lifetime dream and goal to teach and coach at my alma mater," said Lindsay. "It has been an amazing calling to serve with such a staff and such fine teams. It's time for new leadership to enable our young people to experience the excitement and challenge that comes from participating at the very top of a conference championship race."
Lindsay, a six-time Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year, guided the RedHawks to three conference titles and 172 career dual meet victories, the most in school history.
"Pete has been a tremendous role model and coach for our men's swimming and diving program and exemplifies our mission to Graduate Champions," said Athletics Director David Sayler. "We will miss his passion in providing the tools to succeed in life beyond the pool."
Since taking over the Miami program in the 1985-86 season, Lindsay helped the RedHawks finish as either the runner-up or the conference champion on 17 occasions, including Mid-American Conference titles in 1997, 1999 and 2006.
The 2005-06 season was one of Lindsay's most successful, as Miami upended six-time defending champion Eastern Michigan and captured its first MAC title since 1999. Winning 10 of the 20 events at the conference meet, the RedHawks took home eight individual conference titles, two relay crowns and placed a league-high 12 athletes on the all-conference squads.
In 16 of the last 26 seasons, Lindsay's squads have produced a record of .500 or better, including a school-record tying 12 wins in 2001-02. In the mid-90's, Lindsay guided the RedHawks for back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins in 1995-96 and 1996-97, the first time Miami had accomplished the feat since the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. Additionally, Lindsay was named coach of the year four times in the 1990's, taking home the award in 1991, 1994, 1996 and 1999.
During his career in Oxford, Lindsay has mentored Miami swimmers and divers to a combined 114 MAC individual and relay championships. He has had seven swimmers win a combined 10 MAC Swimmer of the Year awards. Additionally, six divers have combined to earn 11 MAC Diver of the Year titles during Lindsay's tenure heading the Miami program, including Chris Heaton who won an unprecedented eight MAC titles and four MAC Diver of the Year accolades.
Prior to Miami, Lindsay was the head coach of the women's team at the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbor, he coached six All-Americans and led the Wolverines to a ninth-place finish at the 1984 NCAA Championships. Before his stint with the Wolverines, Lindsay served as the men's and women's coach at Western Michigan University from 1979-1983 where he produced 11 MAC Champions. Lindsay started his coaching career in 1967 as a coach with the San Diego Swimming Association.
As an undergraduate at Miami in 1971-72, he was the varsity coach at Talawanda High School in Oxford before spending the 1973-74 season at the Long Beach Swimming Club. After serving as a volunteer assistant at the University of Washington from 1974 to 1975, Lindsay spent two seasons a as an assistant at the U.S. Naval Academy before working as Miami's graduate assistant from 1977-79.
Players Mentioned
