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| - Eric Hansen is returning to Arizona. The Wisconsin-Madison head coach for the past decade, Hansen has been most successful with the women's team where he has led the Badgers to ten top-twenty finishes. Hansen succeeds former head coach Frank Busch who was recently named as USA Swimming’s National Team Director and returns to the place where he was once an assistant for Busch. The hiring is subject to approval by the Arizona Board of Regents. A press conference will be held, April 12, 2011, in McKale Center Room 109C at 2:30 p.m. “I’m extremely excited to return back to the Arizona program in which I earned a degree and swam for under Coach Busch,” said Hansen. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue the success the program has achieved.” While at Wisconsin, Hansen transformed the program into a perennial contender with his women’s team finishing among the top-20 on 10 separate occasions at the NCAA Championships including an 11th place finish and UW’s first individual national champion at this year’s championships in Austin, Texas. Hansen revitalized the men’s program during his time at Wisconsin including guiding a two-time All-American in 2011. “We’re thrilled to have Eric as our new swimming and diving head coach and we trust our program will be able to continue its dominance under his direction,” said Byrne. Hansen’s coaching can be measured on a national scale with 56 of his student-athletes (36 women, 20 men) earning a total of 289 All-America citations during his tenure at UW. On the international scene, Hansen has coached two Olympic athletes in gold medalist Carly Piper and Adam Mania. In 2006, Hansen led the Wisconsin women’s team to its highest-ever finish at the NCAA Championships with a ninth-place showing. One year earlier, he helped swimmers Piper and Tim Liebhold to a pair of national titles with Piper winning the 400-meter freestyle at World Championship Trials and Liebhold capturing the 200-meter I.M. at the U.S. Championships The Wisconsin women’s program earned 10 top-20 finishes at the NCAA championships under Hansen, including an 11th-place finish in 2011. The 2011 season also saw Maggie Meyer become the first swimmer in school history to win a national title, doing so in the 200 backstroke. Guiding Piper to a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team in 2004 for the games in Athens, Greece, she went on to earn a gold medal as part of the 800-meter freestyle relay team that broke a 17 year-old record in the event. During the 2002-03 season, he guided the Badger women’s team to a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships and was named as the conference’s Coach of the Year. Hansen served as an assistant under Busch at UA previously from 1996-99 and coached six national champions, 11 All-Americans and numerous Pac-10 champions during his time in Tucson. Heavily involved in the U.S. National Team program, Hansen will serve as the head coach for the American team at the World University Games this summer in Shenzhen, China (also known as ) File:Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg. The Wildcats will have five swimmers in Shenzhen this summer including national champion Cory Chitwood and school-record holders Alyssa Anderson and Adam Small. Other national team coaching experience on Hansen’s resume includes serving as a head coach in 2006 for the World Short Course Championships in Shanghai, as a men’s assistant for the Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria, British Columbia. A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Hansen served as the head coach of the Phoenix Swim Club from 1992-95, coaching two world record holders, four American record holders and five members of the U.S. national team. A member of the U.S. National Team from 1987 to 1992, Hansen captained the U.S. team at the 1991 World University Games. Swimming for then-Hillenbrand Aquatics (now Ford Aquatics), he won a national championship in the 100 backstroke in 1990. Collegiately, Hansen was a six-time All-American at Iowa State and was named Big 8 Conference swimmer of the year in 1987 and 1988. Additionally, he was Iowa State’s athlete of the year in 1988. Hansen graduated from Iowa State University in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and received a master’s degree in exercise physiology from University of Arizona in 1990.
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