Phil Hurley was named Lock Haven University’s head swimming coach on August 14, 2017. He enters his second season as head coach of the Bald Eagles
 
In his first season as head coach, Hurley was able to help the Bald Eagles send seven swimmers to the PSAC Championships, including five who qualified for individual events. Hurley will look to build off of an inspiring PSAC Championship performance in which every swimmer that dove into the pool set their personal best time. The relay teams were able to improve their bests by a jaw-dropping 20-30 seconds. Each individual swimmer also crushed personal records by around three to four seconds each.

With over 15 total years of collegiate coaching experience, Hurley came to LHU after spending the last 13 years as a men’s and women’s swimming & diving assistant coach at South Dakota State University.
 
During his time at SDSU, Hurley played an important role in helping the South Dakota State athletic department and the men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs transition from the NCAA Division II level to the NCAA Division I level.
 
Although he was personally responsible for the distance and sprint programs at South Dakota State, Hurley worked with, and coached all training groups and strokes. He coached numerous Summit League individual champions and helped a number of student-athletes reach NCAA DI “B” cut standards.
 
While at SDSU, Hurley also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator. In that role, he nearly doubled the team’s roster size.
 
Under the guidance of Hurley, the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams also excelled in the classroom. The men’s team earned 10 consecutive Scholar Team Awards and the women achieved a team GPA of 3.0 or higher for every semester Hurley was on campus.
 
Prior to his time at South Dakota State, Hurley was a two-year graduate assistant coach at Division I George Mason University. He has extensive club and high school coaching experience, and also brings with him a strong collegiate teaching background.
 
A native of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Hurley graduated from Dickinson College in 1998 (B.A., economics). He earned his master’s in exercise, fitness and health promotion from George Mason in 2006. Following his graduation from Dickinson, Hurley was an officer in the United States Army.
 
As a member of the Dickinson College swimming team, Hurley was a four-year letter-winner, three-year team captain, All-Conference performer and former school record holder.