After nearly 13 years at the helm of Georgetown’s swimming program, head coach Bethany Bower has resigned, the athletic department announced Wednesday in a press release.
Assistant Coach Steven Cartwright was named interim head coach of men’s and women’s swimming for the rest of the reason, the release said.
“We are grateful for Bethany’s service and guidance during her time here and we wish her well in her future pursuits,” Athletic Director Bernard Muir said in the statement. The press release did not say why Bower had resigned.
Bower’s departure comes in the middle of the Hoyas’ worst season in recent memory. The women finished the 2006 half of the season 1-5 (0-2 Big East), while the men check in at 0-6. Neither team has performed this poorly since before 1999-2000, the last season for which the athletic department kept detailed records.
Georgetown has struggled with a great deal of turnover on its roster. The current team includes just 12 men (11 swimmers and a single diver), all of whom are freshmen and sophomores, and 22 women, just two of whom are seniors.
Only five of the 13 underclassmen listed on the men’s roster at the start of the 2005-06 season returned this year. The women lost five of the 16 swimmers on last season’s roster.
Contacted Tuesday evening, Bower declined to comment on whether or not she was resigning. She did not immediately return repeated requests for comment on Wednesday.
Cartwright, who joined the Hoyas as an assistant coach in 2004, is a 2001 graduate of Catholic University, where he was a two-time team MVP and the 2000 swimmer of the year in the Capital Athletic Conference. He holds the CUA record in the 200-meter butterfly.
Prior to joining the Georgetown leadership, Cartwright worked with several successful private swim teams, including the nearby Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club in North Bethesda, Md and the Montgomer County Swimming League. He also worked with the Seacoast Swimming Association in Dover, N.H.
“Our program will be in good hands during this time of transition with Steven Cartwright at the helm,” Muir said.
Cartwright led practice on Wednesday and met with several members of the athletic department, but was unavailable for comment.
