Mark Howard
Assistant Swimming Coach
Phone: 419-372-7478
Email:
mhoward@bgsu.edu
Year Started at BGSU: 2006
For the 2010-11 season, Mark "Howie" Howard will be starting his 13th year in coaching and his fifth with the Falcons. Howard is responsible for coaching the sprinters and breaststrokers, recruiting new student-athletes and coordinating team travel arrangements. Howard also follows the academic progress of all swimmers and obtains the team gear for the athletes.
During the 2009-10 season, Howard helped lead a team that included senior Meg Richardson. During her tenure as a Falcon, Richardson put her name on eight different school records. Howard also worked with returning sprinter Sarah Reinink. Reinink recorded BGSU's second-best time at the MAC Championships, finishing 13th in the 50 Freestyle in 23.68 seconds. Returning senior Carrie Enright rounds out the top three on BGSU's all-time sprint list.
Aside from coaching the Falcon swimmers, Howard is responsible for teaching the PEG swimming courses at BGSU. Thanks to his involvement in this role over the last three years, Howard has worked with over 1,000 students and athletes in his career.
Howard, a Dallas, Texas native, joined the Falcons in the 2006 season after working at De Anza Cupertino Aquatics in California. In addition, he has been mentored by both "BBQ" Bill Thompson and Gordy Smith. Both men were swimmers under coaching great George Haines, who was a coach of seven different Olympic teams. Prior to working at DACA, Howard refined his coaching skills in Australia.
A 1997 graduate of the University of Arizona, Howard was a PAC-10 finalist for the Wildcats swimming program. His coaching career began with City of Plano Swimmers (COPS) and has spent time with Olympic Coaches Frank Bush, Rick DeMont, Eddie Reese, Kris Kubik, and Pierre LaFontaine.
As a high school athlete, Howard was a National High School Champion and Texas state record holder in the 200 IM, as well as the 200 and 400 medley relays. He was also a Senior National Qualifier and National Age Group Champion while attending Plano Senior High.
He is the son of Ann and Larry Howard and has one sister, Heather Kruthers. His extended family includes a brother-in-law, Mark, and two nieces, Kendall and Avery.
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