Miner Sports News

• S&T's Grooms named as CSCAA national coach of year
  published on Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:14:06 -0600

  Doug Grooms (right) with S&T director of athletics Mark Mullin

  Missouri S&T swimming coach Doug Grooms, who guided the Miners to a second place finish at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships over the weekend, was named as the College Swimming Coaches Association of America's national "Coach of the Year" for the 2007-08 season.

  Grooms led the Miners to the highest team finish for any athletic team in the history of the program, as they finished behind only Drury at the national meet in Columbia, Mo. During the course of the meet, 12 of the 13 S&T swimmers at the meet earned All-America honors.

  "Any time you win an award like that, it is an incredible feeling," Grooms said. "To be able to win such an award is due to the fact that the swimmers competed exceptionally well. The success they had put me in a position to win this honor and they deserve the credit."

  The 12 swimmers earned a total of 33 All-America awards, seven honorable mention citatons and set nine school records during the course of the weekend.

  In 10 years as the Miners' head coach, Grooms has led the Miners to a top 10 finish at the NCAA Division II Championships nine times; Missouri S&T finished fourth last season prior to this year's second place finish. He was an assistant coach in the program for six seasons prior to taking over as head coach and during that time, the Miners had finishes of eighth and third in the nation, the latter coming in 1998 which stood as the best team performance for S&T until this season.