Betsy Graham enters her fourth year as the UT Permian Basin Head Swim Coach. Graham came to UTPB after serving as the Head Coach at Arena Club Aquatics in Bel Aire, Maryland, where she coached 15 swimmers to Sectionals, five to Futures, two made Junior National cuts, and two Academic All-Americans.
In her first season with the Falcons, the men had a stellar showing in the pool. The team tied for their best finish at the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference Championships by taking third place. After the season, the Falcons had five men named to the All-Conference Team. The women finsihed the season sixth in the conference, breaking multiple school records at the conference championships.
Prior to that, Graham had a decorated stint from 2001-15 as Head Coach at Catawba College, in Salisbury, NC. Graham started as the Women's Head Coach before launching the Men's Swim program in 2006. At Catawba, she produced five All-Americans, seven All-Academic Team members, and a pair of Academic All-Americans. Six swimmers qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships during her tenure. Graham's teams were also excellent in the classroom. In 2015, her men's squad finished with the highest GPA in nation, including teams from all three levels of the NCAA.
Graham had stops as an assistant at various places including the University of Arkansas at the Division I level, Ferris State, and Northern Michigan where she got her start as a coach in 1988. She has experience in Texas, serving as the Head Coach for the Aqua-Tex Swim Team (ATEX) in Houston. There she coached a finalist for the 1996 Olympic trials, two Olympic Festival finalists, and placed a swimmer on the US National Team. She also coached Ashley Owens, a US National Paralympian who won four medals at the 2010 World Championships.
Graham holds an American Swimming Coaches Association Level Five certification and in 2016 was recognized as a Coach of Excellence by the organization. Graham swam collegiately at Texas Tech where she was teammates with Head Diving Coach Jennifer Mangum.
