Zach Mertens

Biography

Zach Mertens joined the Minnesota coaching staff as an assistant coach in August of 2023. Mertens joined the Gophers after spending six seasons on the swimming and diving coaching staff at Drury University in Springfield, Mo. Mertens served as a full-time assistant for five seasons with the Panthers. In 2022-23 he helped guide the men's swimming and diving team to an NCAA Division II runner-up finish as well as national championships in five events. The Drury women's team finished fourth in the country and won the GLVC Championship. The Panthers' 2021 men's team featured Karol Ostrowski, who was named GLVC Freshman of the Year and competed for Poland in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. Mertens graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in 2014 with a degree in History and Political Science and was named to the Academic All-NSISC Team in 2013 and 2014. Mertens was also a Jean K. Freeman Scholar with the CSCAA in 2022. The Jean Freeman Scholarship is given annually to six collegiate assistant coaches whose exceptional contributions have brought recognition to their institution, and whose leadership, integrity, honesty, competitive attitude and personal graciousness epitomize those characteristics reflected by Jean Freeman.