Posted on: Thursday, June 14, 2001

Alabama assistant named Rainbows' swimming coach

Advertiser Staff

Mike Anderson, associate swim coach at the University of Alabama the past two seasons, will be named head men's and women's swimming coach at the University of Hawai'i.

Anderson will fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Sam Freas, who quit in January after two years at UH. Bruce Kennard served as interim coach this past season.

UH officials declined comment other than to say a new coach would be named shortly from among four finalists. Alabama officials said Anderson resigned May 31 to take a position elsewhere.

Anderson, 44, supervised sprints and recruiting for the Crimson Tide, whose women finished 16th in the NCAA Championships this year, the school's highest finish in five years.

Anderson is a graduate of Williamette University in Oregon where he was an All-American.

He was head coach at the University of Nevada for a decade, leading the Wolfpack to four top-20 NCAA finishes and earning

Big West Coach of the Year honors in 1999.

His Wolfpack teams had a 105-16 dual meet record and 10 swimmers earned All-America honors, including Limin Liu, who became the first Wolfpack swimmer to win an NCAA title.

"Mike really moved our program along," said Chris Ault, Nevada athletic director.