Nicole Benson

Biography

Nicole Benson returned for her third tenure as an assistant coach under Josh Willman in 2025-26. Previously, she was a volunteer assistant coach from 2004-11 before returning as a volunteer assistant for the 2018 season. She was part of three UNH America East Championships: 2013, 2014 and 2018. Benson returned to UNH from Phillips Exeter Academy, where she served as an assistant varsity swim coach at one of the most exclusive private schools in the world from 2018-25. Her leadership played a major factor in the success of a team that produced incredibly talented high school and age-group swimmers at the regional, national and, as of this past spring, international level. Benson was a standout swimmer at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where she swam sprint freestyle and backstroke events for three seasons. She still holds multiple top-10 times at UWGB and was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2002. She went on to complete her eligibility at the University of Kansas, where she earned her Master’s degree in Sociology. Benson started her coaching career as a graduate assistant for Kansas and assistant masters swimming coach in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1997 and 1998. She later became the head swimming coach for the YMCA Green Dolphins Swimming club in Wausau, Wisconsin. She also worked as an assistant swimming coach for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, where she assisted in recruiting and worked specifically with the sprint group. After moving to the Seacoast