The Cal 100: No. 37 Dave Durden
We count down the top 100 individuals associated with Cal athletics, based on their impact in sports or in the world at large – a wide-open category. See if you agree.
No. 37: Dave Durden
Cal Sports Connection: Durden has been Cal’s men’s swimming and diving coach since 2007, and he added the job of acting Cal’s women’s swimming and diving coach in 2022-23.
Claim to Fame: He has won six NCAA championships as Cal’s head coach, including the past two in a row, and has been named national coach of the year seven times. Durden was the head coach of the U.S. men’s swimming team in the 2020 Olympics, which were held in 2021.
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Dave Durden has, quite simply, turned Cal into the top men’s swimming and diving program in the country, and by some estimations he is the best swimming coach in the world. What makes coaching success particularly interesting is that he graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in electrical engineering.
We hate to reduce a coach’s accomplishments to a series of numbers, but the Durden data is so impressive, it is impossible to avoid it.
To wit, here are the numbers attached to Durden’s Cal resume:
---Six NCAA team championships, including the past two
---Named national coach of the year seven times
---Named Pac-12 coach of the year 12 times, including the last six years in a row.
---52 NCAA champions (35 individual, 17 relays)
---145 Pac-12 champions (97 individual, 48 relay)
---Three times the head coach of the U.S. men’s team at the World Championships.
---U.S. men’s swimming and diving head coach for the 2020 Olympics, which were held in 2020. The American men captured 12 medals, including eight gold, in those Olympics.
---Eight swimmers who competed under Durden at Cal participated in the 2020 Olympics.
And here is the clincher:
---Cal has finished first or second in each of the past 13 NCAA men’s swimming and diving championships under Durden.
That last one is little hard to believe when you consider the outstanding swimming programs at Florida, Stanford, Texas, Arizona State, Georgia, Michigan and many others.
The Bears’ national championship in 2023 was particularly impressive because they had only one individual champion – Destin Lasco in the 200 backstroke. It speaks to the depth Durden has developed at Cal.
Durden spoke three years ago in the video below about his most memorable moment at Cal, his coaching philosophy and the his reaction to the 2020 Olympics being postponed a year:
This year Durden added the task of being the Bears’ acting women’s swimming and diving head coach following the dismissal of Teri McKeever. His salary was increased by $110,000 with the additional responsibility, according to Swim Swam. That made his total annual salary at Cal $380,000, which, according to Swim Swam, matched the most recent base salary of retired Georgia head coach Jack Bauerle, who was believed to be the nation’s highest paid college coach.
Durden is still listed as the Bears’ acting women coach, and it’s unclear if or when Cal will hire a new women’s head coach and relieve Durden of the dual duties.
The Cal 100: No. 38 – Craig Morton
Cover photo by Jack Spitser
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