Just days after the end of the 2023-2024 season, Bowling Green State announced it was “parting ways” with its head coach. Ricky Perkins. Perkins took over the program in August 2018, where he served for nearly six years, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are extremely grateful to Coach Ricky Perkins for his contributions and commitment to Bowling Green State University's women's swim and dive over the past six years,” said BGSU Director of Athletics. Derek van der Merwe Said. “He positively impacted the lives of our student-athletes, not only in competition, but in their lives outside of the pool. We appreciate Ricky's contributions to Bowling Green State University Swim & Dive.”
A press release said the program would launch a national search to find his replacement, adding:BGSU Athletics We strive to compete at the highest level of competition so that our athletes can grow both on and off the competition venue. ”
Van der Merwe became the school's director of athletics in February of last year, and less than a month after taking over as head of the boys' basketball team, he fired Michael Huger after eight seasons at the helm. Reforms were immediately initiated.
When Perkins arrived in 2018, BGSU had just finished fifth in the MAC Championship. He replaced Matt Ence, who was arrested in July 2018.
At last week's MAC Championship, the Falcons finished last out of eight teams with 149 points, 81 points behind seventh-place Toledo. The competition got off to an inauspicious start on the first day, with the team losing 22 points after the 800-meter free relay was controversially disqualified.
From the 2013 to 2016 seasons, the Falcons finished in the top three in the Mid-American Conference for four consecutive seasons. The program's results shifted downward before he took over, but ultimately the program sank to the bottom of the conference in three of his last four seasons.
BGSU's MAC ends during Perkins' tenure
| 2019 | 6th place | 305 |
| 2020 | 5th place | 293.5 |
| 2021 | 8th place | 252.5 |
| 2022 | 6th place | 339 |
| 2023 | 8th place | 121 |
| 2024 | 8th place | 149 |
The team failed to break a school record the past two seasons, last breaking a record in 2022, with five individual records and two relays before Daisy Pratts transferred for her fifth year at Auburn. broke the record.
Only three athletes in program history have posted top-10 finishes in individual races this season. Blanca Sanz placed 10th in the 1000m free with a time of 10:19, Grace Bodrock placed 9th in the 200m fly with a time of 2:02.67, and Joanna Robertson placed 9th in the 2000m fly with a time of 1:02.63. It became. Breast 100 ranks her 6th.
Whoever takes over the program will inherit a team loaded with young talent. All three of the swimmers mentioned above, and most of the program's top performers this season, were freshmen and sophomores.
Although his performance in the pool was down, his performance in the classroom continued to be strong. The Bowling Green State women's team ranked in the top 25 of Division I programs for the fall 2023 semester with a team cumulative GPA of 3.69.
Perkins comes to the school from the University of Evansville in neighboring Indiana, where he served as the head coach of both the men's and women's programs since 2002. During that time, he was named Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year five times. He coached 13 of his swimmers to Missouri Valley individual event titles, and his swimmers broke 30 of his school records.
Prior to joining Evansville, Perkins' career included three seasons as head assistant coach at the University of Washington from 1999 to 2002, one year as national coach at Barracuda Swim Club in the Bahamas, and 10 years as a coach in Alaska starting in 1989. Includes what you have done. This includes serving as head coach at his alma mater Alaska Anchorage from 1994 to 1998.
