Four months after being named interim head coach, Steven Cartwright was officially named yesterday as the successor to 13-year head coach Bethany Bower, who resigned in December.
“I am both honored and privileged to become the next head swimming and diving coach at Georgetown University and I am excited to serve the Athletic Department in this capacity,” Cartwright said in a press release.
Cartwright came to the university as an assistant coach in 2004. Prior to joining the Hoyas, he served as a coach at the Rockville-Montgomery Swim Club in North Bethesda, Md., a prestigious private swimming organization. In college, Cartwright swam for both St. Bonaventure and Catholic University.
“We’re pleased to have Steve Cartwright stay on deck and continue to lead our swimming and diving program,” Athletic Director Bernard Muir said in the release. “He has shown a commitment and dedication to our student-athletes and the university during this transition and wants to see the Georgetown program continue to grow. We’re confident that he will be a tremendous leader for our program.”
Bower’s departure in December came as an abrupt surprise to both Cartwright and the athletes on the team. She left in the middle of one of the team’s worst seasons in recent memory. The women finished the 2006-07 campaign at 2-9 and the men at 0-10, though the Hoyas bested 13 school records at the Big East championships. The women finished 10th out of 12 teams, while the men checked in at 11th.
Improvement for Georgetown has been slow but steady. The Hoyas’ 2007 performance at the league championship contrasted sharply to that of 2006, when not a single one of the Hoyas’ 20 swimmers scored. The season before that, Georgetown did not send anyone to the Big East championships.
Although the win-loss records were not pretty, Cartwright was impressed throughout the year by the individual performances turned in. All 12 of the men and 20 of 22 women on the 2006-07 roster are underclassmen.
“Not only is there amazing potential here, but I truly believe Georgetown University provides one of the best settings for student-athletes to be able to achieve both their academic and athletic ambitions at the highest level,” Cartwright said in the press release.
Still, turnover was a problem under Bower, and it is unclear whether that trend will continue under new leadership. Only five of the 13 underclassmen listed on the men’s roster at the start of the 2005-06 season returned for 2006-07. The women lost five of the 16 swimmers on the 2005-06 squad.
Cartwright will hone his coaching skills this summer at the University of Texas’ Longhorns swimming camp, where he will aid 2008 U.S. Olympic swim coach Eddie Reese, an eight-time NCAA coach of the year.
The 2007-08 season begins in October.
