Donald Keough, News Editor–

If you believe the “urban legend,” as head coach Gregg Parini says, he wasn’t Denison’s first pick as head coach for the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams. 

In fact, he was a last-minute-pick after four others turned down the position. He had returned to the states after coaching overseas prior to Denison’s swim season in 1987 before applying for the job.

“I showed up back in the country in August, and they were desperate,” Parini said. “And so Ted Barclay, who was the director [of men’s intercollegiate athletics] at the time, said, ‘OK, we’ll take a chance on this kid’. And so they offered me the job.”

In his 38th season, Parini has the progam at the elite level in Division III. In total, the men’s and women’s teams have combined for seven national championships, 17 national runner-up finishes and currently have a streak of 70 top-10 finishes when including both teams. 

Most recently, the men’s and women’s teams took home first and second place, respectively, on Dec. 7 at their annual invitational. They also received a slew of NCAA “B” cut times, 30 collectively, and Patrick Daly ‘25 set a new program record in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 1:57.09. 

“We’ve had a lot of success, a lot of good stories here, and [I] feel really fortunate to have been here for as long as I have,” Parini said.

Parini swam at Kenyon College and helped lead their team to their third national championship win as a tri-captain during the 1981-82 season. He also earned five national records, and was inducted to the Kenyon College’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

“The Kenyon piece has always been an interesting dynamic within coaching at Denison,” Parini said. “Having competed and swam at Kenyon, has just added a dynamic, a twist in the relationship to the sport and to the competition that has, in some ways, taken on a life of its own.” 

Based on the November 2024 College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll, the men’s team is ranked third nationally and Kenyon’s team is ranked eighth. The women’s team is ranked fifth nationally while Kenyon is ranked second.

Parini was announced in November by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America as an inductee to the CSCAA Division III Hall of Fame Class of 2025. 

According to the association’s website, the Hall “honors and celebrates the swimmers, divers, and coaches who have made a significant impact on the sport of swimming and diving within the division. Those enshrined in the hall represent the best of the best in aquatics and serve to inspire the next generation in the sport.” 

Parini described his coaching philosophy as student-centered. 

“I think my role here is to try to develop each of the swimmers that are here, and try to help them reach their goals and show up opportunities that maybe they don’t even see for themselves,” Parini said. “But ultimately, I think I’m here to try to help young men and young women as student-athletes. And that’s providing them with the resources and opportunities for them to get where they want to go, academically, professionally, and then ultimately in the pool for us too.” 

Since he began coaching, he believes that Denison has changed in many ways. 

“It’s been fun witnessing the evolution of the institution along with the evolution of our swimming program, and part of it’s been really fun because Denison’s not the same school it was when I first arrived here,” Parini said, jokingly adding that “most” changes are “for the better.” 

Navigating coaching amid these changes has been one of the biggest challenges Parini said he’s faced throughout his almost four decades with the program.

“The swimming and diving program here at Denison has its own gravitational pull, but the student culture here has a much larger gravitational pull, and making sure that we can provide a productive and I think, satisfying experience for our kids, despite those changes around us, is probably one of the challenges that I would never have anticipated when I first started here,” Parini said.

Even with his long term commitment to Denison, Parini has also taken into consideration when he might not be the head coach. He has made it a priority to leave a positive impression on the team no matter what season it is for him.

“All jobs are on loan. These are all temporary things, you know, at some point, this all comes to an end. At some point, I’ll no longer be the Denison swimming coach. So I want to make sure that I leave it in a better way than I found it. That’s always been the thing that I thought about as I’ve gone through this… leave it better than you found it.”