Florida State University Women's Swimming & Diving

2012 Olympic Coach Three-time World Championship Coach (2011 Shanghai, 2013 Barcelona, 2017 Windsor) Six All-American honors (at FSU) Six ACC gold medals 25 ACC podium performances Six-time CCSA Coach of the Year Seven-time CCSA Champions 2015 NCAA Coach of the Meet (HM) Seven All-American performances (at FGCU) Seven CCSA Swimmers of the Meet Three CCSA Swimmers of the Year 2013 Duane Swanson Jr. Inspirational Award Married to his wife Leah and has two children, Henry and Sophia. Neal Studd became the eighth head coach of Florida State swimming and diving on July 20, 2016. The six-time Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association Coach of the Year brought a wealth of experience to Tallahassee after building Florida Gulf Coast University from scratch into one of the best mid-major programs in the country in his nine years at the helm. In 2019-20, Studd built the men’s relays into some of the fastest in the nation as four of the five earned automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. All five relays also stood on the podium at ACCs for the first time since 2009. Despite graduating three members off the free relays from 2018-19, the Seminoles defended their 200 free relay title behind freshman Peter Varjasi, senior Griffin Alaniz, sophomore Jakub Ksiazek and sophomore Max McCusker (1:16.69). Varjasi also took home six medals from ACCs, including silver in the 100 free (42.58) and bronze in the 50 free (19.35), while contributing on four relays. Sophomore Izaak Bastian also swam the se

Athena Miller joined the Florida State swimming and diving staff in May of 2022. Miller brings a wealth of experience to Tallahassee after serving one season as the associate head coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 2021-22. While with the Panthers, Miller coached all training groups where she saw six school records set over the season. Miller joined the staff at Pitt following a stint after serving as the assistant coach at the United States Air Force Academy for four seasons. During her tenure, Miller coached three Mountain West Senior Swimmers of the Year, including Jinan Andrews, who was the 2018 Mountain West Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She also coached 17 swimmers who earned All-Conference honors and the team broke six school records and had 70 swims ranked among the all-time top 10. Additionally, six school records were broken and 17 captured Mountain West All-Conference honors, while 70 swims ranked were among the all-time top 10. The program also earned CSCAA Scholar All-America recognition, 23 earned Mountain West Scholar-Athlete honors, and 54 were named Academic All-Mountain West. The Falcons won 13 duals in 2019-20, which were the most since 2016. Prior to Air Force, Miller spent the 2016-17 season at Dartmouth College after she was an assistant at Duke for the 2015-16 season. While with the nationally-ranked Blue Devils, Miller primarily worked with the sprint group, helping Maddie Rusch set a new school record in the 50 free at 22.15. In fact, 33 school r

Bailey Victoria re-joined the Florida State University Strength and Conditioning team as an assistant coach in 2021. Serving as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for Florida State’s Softball, Dive, and Women’s Cross Country programs. Bailey Victoria returns to Tallahassee after a year at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Where she was an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach working with all 23 Varsity Sports. Prior to Hobart and William Smith Colleges, she spent two years attending graduate school and working in Tallahassee, Fla. Victoria earned a master’s degree in sports management from Florida State University in May 2020. While enrolled at Florida State University she was an intern Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Seminoles, working with the softball, baseball, beach and indoor volleyball, swimming, and track and field programs. During her time in Tallahassee, she also served as the Director of Athletic Performance for Florida State University Schools, where she built the High School’s Athletics Performance program from the ground up. At FSUS, Victoria worked with all the varsity sports teams, including volleyball, wrestling, basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, and swimming, as well as junior varsity and middle school teams. Bailey Victoria earned a bachelor’s degree in Health and Fitness Promotion from Luther College in 2018. A four-year softball student-athlete, Victoria also completed an internship with Luther’s Athletic Performance sta

Ben Zajic comes to Tallahassee from FAU where he has coached since 2020. In his second year with the Owls, the men’s team earned silver at the CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships where two of his swimmers were named Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet and Most Outstanding Freshman of the Meet. The men’s program broke nine program records and 12 freshman records that season. In the shortened 2020-21 season, FAU’s men’s team finished second at the CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships with a program-record 22 medals at a conference championship under the direction of Zajic. Previously, Zajic was an assistant coach at the University of Nevada – Reno for the 2019-20 season in which the Wolfpack finished second at the Mountain West Conference Championships. Before rejoining collegiate athletics, Zajic was the lead national and administrative coach for the Kansas City Blazers. Zajic previously coached at the National’s Capital Swim Club under American Swim Coach Association Hall of Fame member and six-time USA National Team Coach, Pete Morgan, in which he instructed National Junior Team members and Summer National Qualifiers. During his time with NCAP, the team was ranked first in the USA Swimming Club Excellence program, earning Gold Medal Status. Zajic also worked as a volunteer coach at George Mason University during his time with NCAP. The men’s team was the runner-up at the 2018 Atlantic-10 Championships, featuring three individual champions and seven NCAA provisional standar

Elizabeth McWilliams arrived at Florida State in September, 2025, and is in her first season as an athletic trainer with the swimming and diving program in 2025-26. McWilliams comes to FSU from Missouri State, where she was an athletic trainer with the swimming and diving team from 2024-25. As a graduate student at Texas A&M, McWilliams worked with the women’s basketball and soccer teams, the TAMU Corp of Cadets and the University of Florida’s swimming and diving program. A graduate of Texas A&M in May, 2024, McWilliams earned her bachelors degree in kinesiology and her masters in athletic training. McWilliams is a native of Houston, Texas.

Kyle Cormier joins the Florida State Swimming and Diving staff as an assistant coach ahead of the 2023-24 season. Cormier brings over a decade of coaching ex...

Stephen Parker joined the FSU Strength and Conditioning staff in May of 2018. He oversees the design and implementation of the strength and conditioning programs for men’s and women’s swimming, as well as men and women’s golf. Before arriving in Tallahassee, Parker spent three years at the University of South Florida where he assisted with the football strength and conditioning program and was responsible for men’s and women’s soccer. In his three seasons with the Bulls, both soccer programs saw post-season action. The women made it to the AAC conference championship game twice, winning it during his final season, as well as two NCAA Tournament appearances. The men’s team claimed the regular season conference championship title, while also appearing in the NCAA Tournament twice. In his final year, the Bulls football team saw a 10-2 overall record with a thrilling 38-34 victory over Texas Tech in the Birmingham Bowl. Prior to joining the USF staff, he served as a graduate assistant with the Southern Miss strength and conditioning program, working primarily with the football program. He was also the head strength and conditioning coach for the Golden Eagles’ softball team. Before his stint at Southern Miss, Parker interned with the staff at Mississippi State University, where he worked with the Bulldog football program. He joined the staff in Starkville after spending a year at LSU, working with softball, men and women’s basketball, men and women’s tennis, swimming and diving,

Steve Barnes was promoted to the associate head coach for swimming and diving ahead of the 2023-24 season. Prior to his arrival in Tallahassee, Barnes worked in athletics administration at Ithaca College, his alma mater, after nine seasons as a coach at Penn State. He spent three years as the associate head coach following six years as an assistant coach. Both the men’s and women’s programs at Penn State placed in the top 30 at the NCAA Championships in five out of seven appearances. 2016 Irish Olympian Shane Ryan earned two medals at NCAAs during Barnes’ tenure. Along with Ryan, two more Nittany Lions competed at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; both Melissa Rodriguez and Gabe Castano competed for Mexico. In 2020-21, Penn State scored points at the NCAA Championships for the ninth-straight year, eight of which were under Barnes’ direction. The 2018-19 season featured the first individual NCAA National Champion for the PSU women’s squad. Prior to his time at Penn State, Barnes spent four seasons as the head coach of the Wabash College swimming and diving program. Wabash earned three top-four finishes in four years at the North Coast Athletic Conference Men’s Championships under the direction of Barnes. Two of his swimmers claimed All-American honors at the 2011 NCAA Division III Championships. Barnes previously spent three seasons as Kalamazoo College as an assistant coach. During this time, the program set an NCAA record, 39 school records, 36 individual and relay conference titles,

Steve Wood was promoted to associate head coach ahead of the 2023-24 season. Wood returned to the Florida State swimming and diving staff as an assistant coach after serving three seasons at UNLV. “I could not be happier to work with Steve again,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “As a volunteer for us, he was just amazing and since then, he has really proved himself at UNLV. I love how well he connects with the student-athletes and his passion for what we do.” Wood was the volunteer assistant coach for FSU from 2016-18, before heading to Las Vegas to be an assistant coach for the Rebels, where he experienced a number of roles. He recently was the primary coach for the middle distance group, which saw major improvements and played a role in taking home both the men’s and women’s conference titles in 2020-21. After finishing the 2020 meet in fourth place, the women took home the Mountain West trophy, edging out the University of Nevada- Reno on the final relay for the win with a total of 1,349 points. It was the first Mountain West title in 16 years and second in program history. The men claimed its first Western Athletic Conference team title in six seasons with an all-time conference record of 907 points. It was the third WAC title in school history. Before his time in Tallahassee, Wood served on the DePauw University staff for one season after spending three years as the head coach at Francis Howell for both the boys’ and girls’ squads. He was also an assistant for the Rex-P

Wes Mattice was hired as the head diving coach at Florida State in May of 2024. Mattice arrives in Tallahassee following a head coaching stint at NC State, w...