3x MPSF Coach of the Year (16-17, 17-18, 18-19)
3x MPSF Women’s Swimming & Diving Champions (16-17, 17-18, 18-19)
MPSF Men's Swimming & Diving Champions (18-19)
Dan Schemmel was named the head coach of the University of Hawai‘i swimming and diving program by athletic director David Matlin on July 18, 2016. Schemmel is the seventh head coach of the UH program since the men’s and women’s teams combined in 1987.
Schemmel had immediate success in his first year at Hawai‘i, earning 2016-17 MPSF Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year honors and leading the Rainbow Wahine to their first conference championship in since 2015 by winning the 2017 MPSF Championship. Schemmel also coached the men to a third place finish at the 2017 MPSF Championships.
Under his guidance, Hawai‘i swimmers broke a total of eight school records and recorded 41 top-10 times in program history in 2016-17. Three swimmers qualified for the NCAA Championships, where Metin Aydin earned honorable mention All-America status with a 15th-place finish in the 200 IM. The UH men finished 39th at the 2017 NCAA Championships.
In addition to their success in the pool, UH swimmers and divers also achieved high marks in the classroom, where 17 student-athletes were rewarded with MPSF all-academic honors.
Schemmel came to Hawai‘i from the University of Wisconsin, where he spent five seasons as an assistant coach. At Wisconsin, Schemmel helped guide both the men’s and women’s teams to success on the conference and national levels. The Wisconsin men’s team finished 18th at the NCAA Championships in 2016, led by Big Ten Swimmer of the Year Matt Hutchins. It was the second top-20 national finish for the program during Schemmel’s tenure in Madison.
Both Wisconsin’s men’s and women’s programs spent the entire 2014-15 season ranked in the top 25 nationally. The women’s team took home a total of seven Big Ten titles, and eight swimmers earned NCAA All-America or Honorable Mention All-America honors. Meanwhile, the men’s team claimed six NCAA All-America or Honorable Mention All-America nods, and rewrote nine school records.
Prior to joining Wisconsin’s staff in 2011-12, Schemmel spent one year as an assistant coach at his alma mater Michigan State. Before that he spent three seasons at the University of Arizona as a volunteer assistant, where he worked with 28 All-Americans and 12 Olympians.
Schemmel attended MSU where he spent time as a student-athlete, student manager, and student assistant coach with the swim program. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Michigan State in 2008, and received his master’s from Arizona in 2010.
