April 29, 2011
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State head swimming coach Mike Shrader has announced Brendon Bray has been promoted to the position of associate head coach. Bray came to SDSU in 2007 and recently completed his seventh season as an NCAA Division I assistant coach.
"Brendon is a brilliant coach and the best I've worked with in my 12 years as a head coach," noted Shrader. "He's been an invaluable asset to our program the past four seasons and has been a major factor in our success. He's an outstanding recruiter who genuinely cares about each and every one of his athletes. Our team and individual results since his arrival are a tribute to his coaching abilities. We're very blessed to have Brendon as part of our program here at San Diego State"
Since Bray's arrival, the Aztecs have won Mountain West Conference regular season and conference meet titles while sending swimmers to the NCAA Championships each of the past two seasons. His efforts have seen school records set in every individual and relay event with several marks being broken on more that one occasion over the past four seasons.
During his tenure at San Diego State, he has helped coach a total of 34 all-conference swimmers, many of whom earned the honors in multiple events. He was also instrumental in helping current swimmers Meghan Zimmer and Kelly Marquenie receive MWC Swimmer of the Year honors the past two seasons.
Bray also had a huge impact in helping recruit the number four ranked recruiting class in the country by collegeswimming.com for the 2009-10 season as well as the number 22 ranked class for the 2010-11 season. Both recruiting rankings were the highest of any Mountain West Conference University for both seasons.
Bray arrived at San Diego State from the University of Washington, where he was the men's and women's swimming assistant coach for three years. During his time at UW, Bray helped coach multiple NCAA qualifiers and NCAA championship scorers.
Bray also had a stellar collegiate career, competing on the swim team at the University of Utah for one year and the University of Washington for three years before beginning his stint as an assistant coach with the Huskies. He was a senior national qualifier and ranked in the top 10 on the UW all-time list in the 200 backstroke at the conclusion of his senior season.
A native of Reno, Nev., Bray was a four-year letterwinner and an All-American at Reno High School. He is coaching certified through both the American Swim Coaches Association and USA Swimming. He received his bachelor's degree in economics in 2005 and his master's degree in intercollegiate athletic leadership (2007) from the University of Washington.