Kaia Anderson, online publishing coordinator

Augsburg’s women’s swim and dive team has struggled to stay afloat over the past three years. From low recruitment to a lack of coaching staff, the team’s fate remains uncertain. Problems first arose during the 2023-24 season, when the team began training under Hamline coaches after Augsburg’s coaches stepped down. This solution, however, was only temporary. The final decision was to pause the swim team in 2024. During the following year, Augsburg planned to hire a coach and recruit swimmers in an attempt to revive the program.

The missing coach is not the only issue the team faced. Since the 2022-23 season, there has been a drop in swimmers. While there had been previous dips in roster count, since 2010 there were about 10 members; the team then decreased the following year. That was not the case when the roster dropped to seven swimmers in 2022. Instead, the trend continued into the next season, with only six competitors. According to the NCAA, there must be eight active members on a team to be considered NCAA eligible. The significance and enforcement of this rule is unclear, as Augsburg has competed with fewer than eight members for the past three seasons.

Pausing the team appeared to yield results. Zach Wood was hired as head coach, and Madeline Weil was hired as diving coach. There was also a fair amount of recruiting and interest for the 2025-26 season. At least a dozen potential recruits toured campus and attended informational meetings about the upcoming season. However, when the 2025-26 season began, there were only five participants: four swimmers, enough to compete in relays, and a lone diver. Despite the small numbers, the team persisted.

In May, it was announced over a Zoom meeting that Wood would no longer be Augsburg’s swim and dive coach. During the same meeting, the team was told a search for a new coach would begin, and that Wood would remain through part of the summer to help with the transition. There were also hopes of having a team for the upcoming school year.

No news was shared from that point until mid-August, when an email was sent asking the team to schedule individual meetings with Amy Cooper, head of the athletic department. The meetings were intended to discuss athletes’ schedules, what they wanted in a coach, and their hopes for the upcoming season. The consensus was that if there were a team this year, it would look very different than in previous years. Practice might be only a few times a week with a part-time coach, raising the question: Would they be ready to compete while swimming just three times a week? One follow-up email was sent a week later, but since then there has been no new information and no confirmation about whether the 2026-27 season will happen.

With low numbers, no coach and no communication, it seems unlikely that there will be a 2026-27 season.