Texas A&M Adds Wes Foltz, Allyson Sweeney, Duncan Sherrard To Coaching Staff (2024)

Anya Pelshaw

by Anya Pelshaw 53

May 20th, 2024 Coaching Changes, College, News, SEC

Texas A&M has announced numerous additions to its coaching staff after Blaire Bachman was announced as the school’s first Director of Swimming and Diving earlier this month. Wes Foltz has been hired as an associate head coach while Allyson Sweeney and Duncan Sherrard will be assistant coaches. Diving coaches Jay Lerew and Jeff Bro have been retained.

Introducing the newest additions to our staff!

👍 Wes Foltz, Associate Head Coach
👍 @dswsherrard, Assistant Coach
👍 @allysonasweeney, Assistant Coach

🔗 Learn More: https://t.co/w9IntgYUHC#GigEm pic.twitter.com/zeoNtJqzq6

— Texas A&M Swimming & Diving (@AggieSwimDive) May 20, 2024

Wes Foltz

Foltz arrives at Texas A&M after most recently spending a year at UCLA as an assistant coach. Prior to UCLA, Foltz was a member of the Virginia staff alongside Bachman. Foltz spent five seasons at Virginia from 2017-2022, where he primarily worked with the sprint group. While at Virginia, the women finished top ten at NCAAs in all four championships (including NCAA team titles in 2021 and 2022) while the men were in the top 10 the final three seasons.

Before coaching at Virginia, Foltz was an assistant coach at NC State for a year. That was his second stop at NC State after beginning his collegiate coaching career with the Wolfpack as a volunteer assistant from 2012-2014.

“I’m honored with the opportunity to be a part of the Texas A&M athletic department and community,” Foltz said. “I can’t wait to get back on deck with Coach Anderson and I look forward to continuing the deep tradition that is Texas A&M Swimming and Diving.

Allyson Sweeney

Sweeney will arrive as an assistant coach after most recently spending two seasons as head coach of Georgia Southern. She stepped down as head coach at the beginning of April.

Sweeneywas hired by Georgia Southern right at the start of the 2022-2023 season and was one of the last Division I coaching positions to be filled that offseason. Prior to arriving at Georgia Southern, Sweeney had most recently spent time as an assistant coach at UNC-Chapel Hill for three seasons. Before UNC, she was a volunteer assistant with Auburn.

She returns to her alma mater as she was a student-athlete at Texas A&M from 2009-2014 including helping the team to two Big 12 team titles.

“My experiences at Texas A&M University — including my athletic & academic careers — have heavily influenced my personal life’s journey,” Sweeney said. “Being extended a new opportunity to return — to honor the legacy of former Aggie student-athletes while elevating current and future generations — is a humbling moment.”

Duncan Sherrard

Sherrard comes to Texas A&M after serving as an assistant coach with South Carolina from 2021-2024. He also has prior experience in the SEC with Auburn serving as an assistant there from 2018-2021.

In addition to his experience in the SEC, he spent time at North Carolina and also brings head coaching experience as he was the head coach of Division II Florida Southern from 2009-2015.

“I am so thankful for Blaire, for giving me this opportunity to join the Aggie family,” Sherrard said. “From the moment she was hired I was intrigued by her vision and what she wants to do at A&M. I can’t wait to get to know the team, contribute to her vision, and be an Aggie.”

This is the first time that the Aggies have a “Director of Swimming and Diving.” This past season, the women’s program finished 3rd out of 12 teams at the 2024 SEC Championships and went on to finish 14th at NCAAs. That was their highest finish on the women’s side since 2019. The men’s program was 4th out of 10 teams at SECs and 16th at NCAAs.

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Rick Paine

2 hours ago

This is a rock star staff in addition to keeping a rock star diving staff.

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swim joe swim

2 hours ago

It’s funny… Allyson told AD at Georgia Southern she was “done coaching” and “unhappy coaching”… seems like a low blow to someone who named her head coach and she couldn’t live up to the title. Best of luck now coaching a bigger program & both genders. Just because you’re an assistant you can’t hide from poor coaching

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CurrentAggieWomensSwimmer

3 hours ago

Mercy please!

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That Swim Swam comment guy

4 hours ago

Man I don’t get these hires. You have one guy who just got fired at South Carolina, you have a coach that wants to leave the profession just about every year with Sweeney and well we all know the history of Wes and what happened at UVA but mistakes happen and he deserves another chance but man. Very underwhelming hires for sure.

Last edited 4 hours ago by That Swim Swam comment guy

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Jeah

Reply to That Swim Swam comment guy

4 hours ago

What happened at UVA?

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Clown Show

Reply to That Swim Swam comment guy

4 hours ago

What happened with Wes?

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Shogun

Reply to That Swim Swam comment guy

4 hours ago

All good points. I do think if Blaire had hired a bigger name she would have been worried about losing control/influence with the swimmers. She has almost no experience as a head coach/management and wants to establish her presence amongst swimmers and staff.

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CurrentAggieWomensSwimmer

Reply to That Swim Swam comment guy

3 hours ago

What happened with Wes at UVA? The group chat is interested

Swimfan29

6 hours ago

Pumped to see Wes & Blaire back together again!! Obviously Todd is a huge reason for UVA women’s rise to success a few years back, but both Wes and Blaire led incredibly successful groups that really helped round out the UVA team. It’ll be fun to see them lead the Aggies!

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Swimmer209

6 hours ago

Wes and duncan are HOTHEADS! 😂 goodluck aggies

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AggieSwammer

7 hours ago

At least from a men’s program perspective, someone PLEASE try to defend how this regime could be an upgrade from Jay, Jason, and Mike. C’mon now.

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EmbarrassedAlum

Reply to AggieSwammer

7 hours ago

TWO GIRL COACHES?? How are the MEN supposed to succeed with not one, but TWO GIRL coaches??

Y’all are going to burn it to the ground before it even starts just to prove you’re right aren’t you? Damn that’s tough. At least let them fail before you declare them a failure.

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AggieSwammer

Reply to EmbarrassedAlum

7 hours ago

It wasn’t broken!

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Dude

Reply to AggieSwammer

6 hours ago

No one or nothing has been mentioned through out all of this transition the hazing incident that took place last fall that led to suspension of swimmers. Find it interesting that no one remembers it to think it probably factored in to the cleaning out the staff…….

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Just a thought…

Reply to Dude

5 hours ago

Lol. They each drank 2 beers as fast as they could for the “hazing”. That is NOT why they fired/ forced Jay to retire. The new AD is trying to get rid of the swimming program by diminishing their budget. Plain & simple.

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Dude

Reply to Just a thought…

5 hours ago

Drop the drumbeat of eliminating the program……an old and tired take. You don’t invest or upgrade facilities if you are going to eliminate a program. It was time for a change. Hazing incident was an article last fall. Swimmers were suspended. Embarrassing the school has consequences.

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SwimGod

Reply to Dude

4 hours ago

Take a look at UMN track and field. They built a state of the art facility and cut the Mens Indoor/CC program in heartbeat in 2021. The teams were saved however thru alumni funding. New facilities do not equal safety of the team. Another great example is Iowa Swim

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Dude

Reply to SwimGod

3 hours ago

Again, it’s an old take to say they are phasing out the program, especially when you reference two examples that are not even close to being comparable. Texas A&M is loaded with money, and they are in the SEC, come on.

Going back to the point of my original comment, I feel bad for Jay Holmes, good man who devoted over 40 years of his life to that school. But, hazing incident provides documented justification to move on from him and the coaches who were part of the men’s team. It happened on their watch, new AD comes in, you want to set a tone about conduct of students and team culture in swimming and across all sports, youRead more »

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Aggie Fan

Reply to AggieSwammer

6 hours ago

INSANE to say that 19th/10th (because of a guy who ran away)/17th/14th/16th/25th/N/A/N/A/24th/13th/13th/12th/12th/etc. is “not broken” for a school with the athletics budget of A&M

Last edited 6 hours ago by Aggie Fan

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Creative Aggie Alum Username

Reply to Aggie Fan

6 hours ago

Willing to have whatever conversation y’all want about who they could have brought in. But agree with Aggie Fan that it was time and that this was the moment. We had to listen all year how this was going to be the Aggies’ big year, and they were 16th at NCAAs. That just ain’t it, I’m sorry, but it isn’t.

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Follow my bubbles

Reply to Aggie Fan

5 hours ago

Not broken is a very relative term. Even with all the money A&M has, the last football conference championship was 1998. So I’d argue a consistent top 25 program is well better than the football team had over the same stretch – and its well known that A&M spent stupid money on the football program.

And, for what its worth, A&M blew up the men’s program because they thought they could score a huge coach. They failed. And now the men’s (and women’s) program is taking a massive hit.

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Creative Aggie Alum Username

Reply to Follow my bubbles

5 hours ago

Errr and the football coach was fired.

Also can we stop pretending that a top 25 finish in swimming is the same as a top 25 team in football? They’ve been playing these silly games since I was a student there like 100 years ago.

The ADs through the years might not know better, but we do. Give us more credit than that.

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Follow my bubbles

Reply to Creative Aggie Alum Username

2 hours ago

1998 was like 5 coaches ago (and a few trailers full of buyout dollars). And I’m not so sure that the top 25s are so different, especially when it only takes a few elite swimmers to move the needle and you have limited scholarship dollars and out-of-state tuition to deal with (unlike football).

You may think it was time for change. Good for you. Maybe it was. That doesn’t show the blatant disrespect for Jason and the work he was doing (including a massive fundraising effort). I’d get it if A&M landed one of their 3 target coaches with elite D1 POWER 5 HEAD COACHING resumes. But they didn’t. They grabbed an associate head coach that had a worstRead more »

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Did not Cali UT

Reply to Follow my bubbles

5 hours ago

Ouch, but I believe dead on correct …

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Xanadu

Reply to EmbarrassedAlum

7 hours ago

So the whole “how a men’s team succeeds with 2 female coaches” argument is misogynistic and quite frankly dumb. Can you make a case this staff isn’t nearly to par with where the previous women’s and men’s staff was, 100%. But let’s move into the 2020s and accept that 2 female coaches on staff can create a potentially successful men’s team.

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Swammer TX

Reply to Xanadu

6 hours ago

NCAA can’t tell me what a female is so neither should you

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Snarky

Reply to EmbarrassedAlum

6 hours ago

Misogynist much bro?

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Braden Keith

Admin

Reply to Snarky

6 hours ago

I think there was an implied [/sarcasm] at the end of that comment, based on the 2nd paragraph lol.

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Aggie_Parent

Reply to EmbarrassedAlum

4 hours ago

Really ……. how old are you? I think they are grow woman at this point. I have head good things about Wes so I am sure the boys shoud be fine with him. Blaire does not seem to be lacking in the confidence cateogry and is executing her plan as she fit. I am sure she also has a good mentor network. Plus failure for her in this role is not an option if she wants a future coaching/directing in D1. The only hire that I do question is Allyson – unsure if she will make it (boys or woman). She interviewed for Tanica’s former positon, then took the Georgia Southern position then stepped down, now back at A&M. YesRead more »

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EmbarrassedAlum

Reply to Aggie_Parent

4 hours ago

God I’m even more embarrassed now at how many fellow alums read the second half of my comment and couldn’t figure out that the first half was sarcasm. 🤦‍♀️

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EmbarrassedAlum

Reply to EmbarrassedAlum

4 hours ago

I’m shocked at how many people I need to spell this out for, but the first sentence was satire/sarcasm.

I thought the second half made that obvious enough but I guess I need to be more direct. Sorry.

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swim joe swim

Reply to EmbarrassedAlum

2 hours ago

What’s wrong with girl coaches? They’re better than half the men coaches in this swim world. Girl coaches are on the rise and taking men’s positions.

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Just a thought…

Reply to AggieSwammer

5 hours ago

Wow. Just wow.

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Did not Cali UT

Reply to AggieSwammer

5 hours ago

They cannot …

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Shaddy419

7 hours ago

With a major coaching change happening, does this now mean the A&M swimmers have 30 days to enter the portal now? Is there anyone that has recently entered?

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Follow my bubbles

Reply to Shaddy419

5 hours ago

The 2 best female swimmers already did, with one bolting for Indiana. It’s starting to look like a rebuild is underway.

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Braden Keith

Admin

Reply to Shaddy419

2 hours ago

It’s 30 days from the departure of the old coach. Given that the women’s retirement was announced mid season, not really sure how that clock works, but I will try to find out.

I assume the portal is now available to the men, but again I’m not sure when that clock kicks off.

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About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022 and 2023 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam.Currently, Anya is pursuing her B.A. in Economics and a minor in Government & Law at …

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Texas A&M Adds Wes Foltz, Allyson Sweeney, Duncan Sherrard To Coaching Staff (2024)
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