Swimming and Diving Announces Coaching Staff Changes
6/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
June 23, 2008
HOUSTON - While the faces will remain the same, the University of Houston women's swimming and diving team announced a pair of changes to the coaching staff, head coach Mark Taylor announced Monday.
Assistant coach Jarrod Marrs, who has served at UH in that capacity since 2005, announced his resignation but will remain as the program's volunteer assistant coach.
Jaime Lewis, who served in 2007-08 as the team's volunteer assistant coach, will join the staff as the full-time assistant coach.
Lewis joined the Cougar program prior to the start of the 2007-08 season and assisted in practice duties and home-meet management. A talented coach who is proficient in stroke technique and corrections, Lewis said she was thrilled about the promotion.
"I am excited to be here full-time," Lewis said. "I look forward to the program moving forward and in the right direction. I will definitely come in with some high expectations."
"Jaime will make me a better coach, our swimmers better swimmers and will make our overall program better," Taylor said.
Lewis previously served as an assistant age group coach for the Cy-Fair Swim Club. She entered the coaching ranks in 2004, when she served as an assistant coach with the Gators Swim Club in Gainesville, Fla.
Lewis lettered at Florida from 2000 through 2004 as a freestyle and individual medley swimmer, winning All-America accolades every season. As a senior, she helped lead the Gators to a fourth-place finish at the 2004 NCAA Championships, earning a team-high seven All-America honors in various events.
During the 2003-04 season, she won seven All-America awards and qualified for the 2004 Olympic Trials.
As a freshman during the 2000-01 season, Lewis scored 48 points at the SEC Championships, the Gators' second-highest score and the ninth most overall.
Lewis graduated from the University of Florida in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in business and criminology.
In addition to her extensive collegiate experience, Lewis also competed on the national and international level, swimming at the Summer National Championships, World Championship Trials, World University Games and U.S. Olympic Trials.
Prior to joining Florida, Lewis was an award-winning performer at Klein Oak High School in Spring. There, she was a 24-time All-American and ended her prep career as the Texas state record-holder in both the 200-yard freestyle and the 200-yard individual medley.
She finished as a two-time recipient of the Jack Bialas Award, given annually to the outstanding female swimmer of the year, and was named the Army Reserve Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
She is married to Justin Lewis, and the couple lives in Houston.
Marrs has been with the Cougar program since 2004 when he joined the staff as a volunteer assistant coach. He was promoted to a full-time assistant coach a year later, handling on-deck coaching and recruiting.
An All-American breaststroker during his collegiate career at LSU, Marrs worked closely with that group at UH, including Szintia Szanto, who finished her UH days as the owner of all but six of the Top 10 times in both the 100- and 200-yard events.
Marrs will continue to work with the Cougars' dry-land program and strength and conditioning but made the choice to step down to spend more time at home with his wife Holly, who is expecting twins, the couple's first children.
"We have not lost any coaches from our program. We just switched jobs," Taylor said. "All three (coaches) have been there, done it and seen it. We have people who have been there at the highest level of swimming."
Players Mentioned
