Duncan Sherrard

Duncan Sherrard is entering his fourth season at the helm of the Mocs in 2012-13 and is looking to follow up a successful 2011-12 campaign that saw the Moccasins finish as third place nationally on the men's side and 10th on the women's side at the NCAA D-II National Championships. The men finished second at the SSC Championships, while the women finished in third place at the SSC Championships. Last season, six Mocs earned National Championships, including Jeb Halfacre repeating at the 200-yard backstroke champion for the third consecutive season. Additionally, seven Mocs earned All-American honors last season. For all of his efforts last season, Sherrard took home SSC Men's Swimming Coach of the Year honor and was recently awarded the Senior Coach of the Year for 2012 by the Florida Swimming Association. Both of Sherrard's teams in 2011-12 were CSCAA Scholar All-America squads in both the fall and spring term.

In just his second full season (2010-11) as head coach, he guided the Moccasins to their second most successful season in the program's eight-year history.  After qualifying eight individuals for the NCAA Division II Championship the year before, FSC qualified 13 individuals for the 2011 Division II Championship and came home with four national champions and top ten finishes for both the men and the women.  Jeb Halfacre captured the 200-yard backstroke for the second straight year.  He also swam on the championship 400-yard medley relay team with Miguel Ferreira, Bruce Janzen and Walter Rumans.  Mary O'Sullivan won national titles in the 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard backstroke, setting an NCAA record (1:56.90) in the 200 backstroke.   At the NCAA meet the men scored 200 points and placed eighth, while the women scored 206 points and placed seventh en route to producing a total of 53 All-America awards (25 men, 28 women).  Seven Moccasin individuals and both teams also received Scholar All-America recognition from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.  The women and men were ranked 13th and 14th, respectively, in the final CSCAA Coaches' Poll.  Each team set 18 school records in 2010-11. 

At the first-ever Sunshine State Conference Championship the men placed third and the women were second.  The Moccasins won a total of 14 events, while O'Sullivan was named the female swimmer of the meet after winning three individual events and swimming on four winning relay teams.  O'Sullivan and Halfacre were named SSC female and male swimmers of the year, respectively.

In 2010, the Moccasins produced their first-ever national qualifiers, sending eight swimmers to the Division II Championships.  Halfacre became FSC's first national champion in swimming, winning the 200-yard backstroke.  The Moccasins' eight qualifiers produced a total of 24 All-America certificates, with the men placing 14th with 114 points and the women finishing tied for 34th with eight points. 

At the 2010 Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championship, FSC's improvement from the previous year (women went from 12th to fourth, men went from 11th to fifth) was significant enough that Sherrard was voted BGMC Women's Coach of the Year and Men's Co-Coach of the Year.

A 14-time All-American swimmer and three-time Southeastern Conference champion at the University of Florida, Sherrard began his duties at FSC on Jan. 19, 2009, joining the program in mid-season. Sherrard came to Florida Southern from junior college swimming power Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, where he had been the assistant coach for two seasons, helping Indian River extend its string of national junior college championships. In Sherrard's two seasons, Indian River extended its streak of men's national junior college swimming titles to 34 consecutive years and the women's national title streak to 26 consecutive years.

A four-year letterman (1998-2002) for the Gators, Sherrard still ranks in the top ten in three events (200-yard butterfly, 200-yard individual medley -9th, and 200-meter butterfly - 9th) at his alma mater, including UF's fourth-best 200-yard butterfly time of 1:43.18. 

"We are extremely excited to have someone with Duncan's character and background take over our swimming program," said FSC Athletics Director Pete Meyer at the time of Sherrard's hiring. "He was a highly-talented swimmer himself and he's coming from the top junior college swimming program in the country, so we feel confident he will make our swimming program competitive on a national level."

"Florida Southern always has had a strong tradition of excellence in its athletics program and I'd like to bring that kind of tradition to the swimming program," Sherrard said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge of building Florida Southern's swimming program into a highly-visible part of its outstanding athletics program."

Following his standout career at Florida, where he was team captain as a senior, Sherrard began his coaching career as an assistant at Buchholz High School in Gainesville in 2003. The following year he became head coach and guided the Buchholz girls' team to a 3A state runneer-up finish in 2004 and the 3A state championship in 2005. He was named the 3A Girls Swimming Coach of the Year in 2005. From Buchholz he went to Indian River, where he helped produce 39 national champions in the 2006-07 season and 37 in the 2007-08 season. In that two-year span, Indian River swimmers set 32 national junior college records.

A Polk County native, Sherrard graduated from Bartow High School, where he was a two-time team captain and was state runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly and placed fourth in the 200-yard freestyle at the 1997 4A state championship. He also holds the Polk County record in the 100-yard butterfly. He received his bachelor's degree in history in 2002 from the University of Florida.

In addition to his Florida Southern coaching duties, Sherrard coaches the Lakeland Area Swim program for competitive juniors.  The program brought in 55 swimmers this past summer and produced one Junior Olympic state champion.  Sixteen of the program's swimmers qualified for the U.S. Swimming Area 3 and 5 championships.

Sherrard and his wife, Diane, who was a six-time All-American swimmer at Florida, have a four-year-old daughter, Reagan, and a two-and-a-half-year-old son, Nathan.