COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State Director of Swimming and Diving
Bill Dorenkott has introduced updates to the Buckeye workers for the 2025-26 season.
Brian Schrader and
Norm Wright have each been promoted into affiliate head coach positions. Schrader can have a spotlight in participant improvement and Wright will work because the affiliate head coach of the boys’s swimming program.
Schrader joined the Ohio State teaching workers in August 2022 as an assistant coach, earlier than being elevated to excessive efficiency coordinator previous to the 2023-24 season. Schrader has been a part of 22 crew championships in his time as a Division I coach, together with three ladies’s Big Ten Championships to date in his time at Ohio State. Since his arrival in Columbus, Schrader has coached Big Ten champions within the 50 free, 100 free and 200 medley relay and coached athletes to crew information within the 50 free, 100 free and 200 free relay.
“We are blessed to have Brian as Buckeye,” Dorenkott stated. “Brian and I have been friends for over 30 years, including serving on the US Swimming National Team staff together. We will maximize Brian’s skillset by growing his role within our program. Our goal is to create a position to lead our efforts in meeting out student-athletes’ academic, athletic and social needs in a holistic manner. Specifically, Brian will be charged with heading up student-athlete development, strategy and culture.”
Wright was named an assistant coach at Ohio State in 2023. In his position with the Buckeyes, he’s tasked with main improvement for aerobic-driven swimmers throughout the males’s and ladies’s rosters, particularly targeted on impacting 400 IM and distance freestyle performances at Big Tens and NCAAs, bringing his expertise in membership and nationwide stage teaching to raise Ohio State’s aggressive edge on the worldwide stage and contributing to recruiting, coaching planning, athlete mentorship, and integration of efficiency programming.
“I have been a fan of Norm’s since he was back in Virginia with the Shenandoah Marlins,” Dorenkott stated. “We have spent a lot of time on each other’s pool decks before he started with us in 2023. Norm made an instant impact on our program through his infectious passion for the sport and commitment to providing our athletes a world-class experience. The nod to associate head coach for the men is fitting as Norm’s leadership will have a direct and immediate impact on our program’s current and future success. Norm will manage our roster, lead our men’s recruiting efforts and provide a clarity of purpose and direction for our men’s swimming program.”
Mike Hulme served because the earlier affiliate head coach of the boys’s swimming program. He stepped away from teaching final month after 9 years at Ohio State. He joined the workers as an assistant in 2016 and was promoted to affiliate head coach in 2022. During his time with the Buckeyes, the ladies’s program received 4 Big Ten titles, and the boys completed runner-up 4 instances. He coached over 30 athletes to All-America honors. Hulme was a four-year letterwinner at Ohio State from 2008-11.
“Mike Hulme has been a Buckeye since birth as his father, Jack, was a swimming star for the Buckeyes in the late 1960’s,” stated Dorenkott. “Mike followed in his dad’s footsteps as a student-athlete and then spent nine years as a member of our coaching staff. We are grateful to Mike and the Hulme family for all that they have done to serve the university. Mike has always paid it forward through his kind, empathetic and sincere approach to serving our student-athletes. We wish Mike, Ariel and their children all the best in the next chapter of their lives.”
The Buckeyes have additionally introduced
Michael Butler as an assistant coach and
Patrick Hemingway as a graduate intern, each working with males’s and ladies’s swimming.
Butler joined the Ohio State workers in June 2025 as a graduate assistant earlier than being elevated into an assistant teaching position. He started his teaching profession as a volunteer assistant coach at Case Western throughout the 2024-25 season, the place he ran practices assisted with method improvement, logistics and recruiting. He swam at Case Western from 2021-24 and was the previous file holder within the 1650 free. He earned bachelor’s levels in psychology and cognitive science from Case Western in 2025.
“Michael is a graduate of Case Western, a native of Ohio and an incredibly bright young man with a passion for the sport,” stated Dorenkott. “Additionally, Michael started his graduate work at Ohio State in the Master of Sport Coaching program. Ohio State has a history of finding and developing talented young coaches.”
Hemingway joined the Ohio State workers over the summer season. He swam at Villanova from 2022-25 and is the Wildcats’ file holder within the 50 free. He earned practically 20 medals on the Big East Championships over his profession. Hemingway has coached at numerous swimming camps, together with for Villanova, the Naval Academy, the University of Florida and Cornell University and has expertise teaching for numerous swim golf equipment. Hemingway graduated from Villanova in May 2025 with a bachelor’s diploma in communication, with minors in Russian language and peace and justice.
“Patrick is working with our program in his first year as a graduate intern,” Dorenkott stated. “Patrick is a graduate of Villanova, where he was a standout swimmer. He is enrolled in the Ohio State Master of Sport Coaching program. Patrick started with us this summer and quickly endeared himself to our team and staff. He has a steady presence and a genuine curiosity and desire to be an elite coach.”
The Buckeyes open the 2025-26 season Nov. 7-8 on the Raleigh Rumble the place they’ll swim towards NC State and Virginia Tech.
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