Olympian Jennifer Brinegar Named Head Coach at Franklin College
Franklin College’s swimming and diving program has had just two head coaches in its proud history. The third brings a track record of success to match that, both in and out of the water.
Jennifer Brinegar, a prominent name in the swimming world for the last five decades, takes over the helm for the Grizzlies after several years of coaching club swimmers in central Indiana. She succeeds Zach Rayce ’20, who departed after two seasons to become the aquatic director and head coach at nearby Indian Creek High School.
“Jennifer Brinegar is one of the most accomplished names in the history of Indiana swimming, and we are thrilled to welcome her to Franklin College,” Griz athletic director Lance Marshall said. “Her championship pedigree, years of coaching success and her deep roots in this state’s swimming community make her the ideal person to lead our program into its next chapter. Our student-athletes are going to learn from someone who has competed and coached at the highest level, and that’s a tremendous opportunity for Griz athletics.”
Andrew Hendricks, the swim program’s inaugural head coach and now the college’s vice president for enrollment and marketing, shares Marshall’s excitement about Brinegar’s arrival.
“Jennifer has had a lifelong passion for the sport of swimming,” Hendricks said. “That love has shown as an athlete, a coach, an administrator and as a parent. She understands how the sport complements the student experience and serves as a catalyst for meaningful relationships and unforgettable memories. The program has been built on the shoulders of teammates and a legacy of expectation. We are thrilled our swimmers and divers will have this opportunity to have Coach Brinegar as a mentor in their lives.”
Brinegar has been a household name in the sport since 1976, when she made the U.S. Olympic team as a 15-year-old and made the final in the women’s 200-meter freestyle while also swimming in a preliminary heat for the gold-medal winning 400 freestyle relay. She went on to win a pair of national championships in 1977, a gold medal in the 400 free relay at the 1978 World Aquatics Championships and a silver in the 800 free at the 1979 Pan American Games.
She went on to swim at Indiana University, winning national championships in the 500- and 1,650-yard freestyle and taking home seven Big Ten titles before graduating in 1984. The Hoosiers inducted Brinegar into their Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999.
Brinegar later received a law degree from Vanderbilt and practiced law in St. Louis and Rochester, Minnesota. She has been a member of the state bars in Illinois, Minnesota and Missouri.
In 1994, Brinegar returned to Indiana to work in the athletic department at her alma mater. She earned a master’s degree in sports management in 1996 and was promoted to assistant athletic director in 1999, serving in that role until 2008 and then as senior assistant athletic director until 2021.
Her swim coaching career began in 2009, when she began working as a volunteer assistant for Donner Swim Club in Columbus, Indiana. Among her students there were her own sons — Kevin, who was a member of a Division III national championship team at Denison in 2016; and Michael, who went on to win a state championship in the 500-yard freestyle as a freshman at Columbus North and then make the 2021 U.S. Olympic team as a distance freestyler.
Most notably, Brinegar founded Club Olympia Swim Team in 2016, where she has trained some of the top age-group swimmers in the state of Indiana. She headed up that club for nine years before rejoining Donner in the summer of 2025.
At Franklin, Brinegar takes over one of the most successful Division III collegiate swim programs in the Midwest. After debuting under Hendricks in the fall of 2009, the Griz men won the Liberal Arts Championships in 2014, their first of five straight crowns at that meet. The women also won Liberal Arts titles in 2017 and 2018.
Since the inaugural HCAC Championships were held in 2018, Franklin’s women have won all nine conference titles; the men finished first in 2019 and 2020 and have never placed lower than second.
In addition to their team success, the Grizzlies have had 27 NCAA Division III national qualifying swims since 2015 in addition to 20 All-America and 14 Academic All-America recognitions. That group of prior national standouts includes the likes of Artur Schneider, Brynna Sentel, Gauge Creech and Kosmo Wojack.
This past spring, Celeste Hollis and Kat Lundy became the newest members of that elite group when they qualified for the 2026 NCAA Division III Championships in Indianapolis.
The Grizzlies have a talented roster in place for 2026-27, one that includes returning conference champions in Hollis, Avery Tomlinson, Petal Sloan, Zachary Jackson-Blaine, Isaac Layton, Keaton Stephenson and diver Alexis Fleming.
Brinegar is eager to get to work with that group, which she met for the first time on Monday along with new assistant coach Christian Travis.
“I am honored to be named the head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach at Franklin College,” she said. “(The team is) a well-rounded group of quality student-athletes who are ready to start training for the upcoming season. I’m hopeful we can get to where we have enough swimmers and divers qualify for the NCAA D3 Championships in both individual events and relays. I want to see Franklin College on the scoreboard at the NCAAs!”
The above press release was provided to Swimming World by Franklin College.
