MISENHEIMER — Pfeiffer University’s Brad Flood — the only coach in NCAA history to lead a four-time NCAA men’s swimming individual event champion at both the NCAA Division I and Division II levels — announced his retirement this past Friday.
Flood had served as the head coach of the Falcon women’s swimming team, as well as the university’s aquatics director, since 2018.
“I thoroughly enjoyed my time coaching at Pfeiffer. Working with my fellow coaches, administrators, and the student-athletes was such a joy for me,” Flood said in an official press release issued by the university. “Pfeiffer is a special place and has a tremendous family-like atmosphere. I’ll miss that atmosphere and, most importantly, the student-athletes that brought so much happiness and joy to me.”
During his tenure in Misenheimer, Flood had nine swimmers earn all-conference honors, including Tiffany Bartholomew, who won the 100 breaststroke SunCoast Swimming Championship back in February.
Flood’s time at Pfeiffer was also known for its academic success — as an adjunct professor himself, his teams excelled both inside and outside the classroom.
With a collective GPA of 3.63, Flood’s 2019-20 squad took home the Scholar All-America Team Award from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). That GPA ranked Pfeiffer as the ninth-highest score in the country out of 187 Division III swimming programs and the second-highest GPA out of every university in North Carolina.
“Brad was not only a tremendously successful coach over his career, but he was also a very loyal Falcon,” Pfeiffer Director of Athletics Danielle Lafferty said. “He has such passion for the sport of swimming and his student-athletes. Brad has made Pfeiffer and our program better by bringing energy to work that is hard to match. All will miss him, and we wish him all the happiness as he moves into retirement.”
Flood’s coaching journey extended from time with Central Connecticut State, Clemson, Texas A&M and Iowa to a four-year stint leading the Polish National Swimming Federation to a silver medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
One of his most notable coaching achievements was building the University of Bridgeport’s swimming programs from the ground up, where he coached Oscar Pereiro to four-consecutive NCAA Division II titles in the 100-yard backstroke. In total, Flood’s time with the Purple Knights led to eight combined individual All-America honors and 20 relay All-America honors.