Geoff Hanson is in his third year as Colorado Mesa University’s head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach, a position he was named to in April of 2016.
He is also CMU’s head triathlon coach.
Hanson's impact at CMU was immediate as he led the men's swimming and diving team to the RMAC title in 2017 while earning RMAC Men’s Coach of the Year honors. The Mavericks also sent a program-high 20 student-athletes to the NCAA Championships in his debut season, with the teams collecting 23 all-America honors, also a program-high, and 45 All-RMAC honors.
The success continued in 2018 as both Maverick programs set new program records for team points and overall placing at the NCAA Championships. Crowning their first ever individual national champion in 1 and 3-meter winner Ammar Hassan, the Maverick men finished 16th while the women took 17th place.
The teams also combined for a new program-record 25 all-America honors in 2018.
He was also named as the RMAC Women’s Coach of the Year after the Mavericks took second at the RMAC Championships, which came down to the final event. The Mavericks also earned a combined 66 All-RMAC.
Those successes have been just as strong in the classroom as the Mavericks have had 15 RMAC All-Academic selections in each of his first two years with the program. They also had 13 first team and six honorable mention CSCAA Scholar All-America team selections in 2018 after combining for 12 first team and three honorable mention selections in 2017.
The Maverick women have also been named as a CSCAA Scholar All-America Team during all four semesters of Hanson’s tenure while the men have earned that honor for three straight semesters.
Prior to coming to CMU, Hanson previously served as the head women’s swimming and diving coach at RMAC foe Western State Colorado University for the past two seasons.
Hanson was named the RMAC Women’s Coach of the Year in 2016 and coached RMAC Freshman of the Year Randi Yarnell, who became the first swimming all-American in WSCU history. The Mountaineers won the Brechler Award for the team with the highest GPA in 2015.
Prior to his time at Western State, Hanson served as the associate head coach at the University of Arizona for two years and was an assistant head coach at the University of Wisconsin for 10 years after serving as assistant coach for two years.
Hanson served as the personal coach of Carly Piper who won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and set a world record in the 4x200 freestyle relay. He also coached Alyssa Anderson who won a gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay at the 2012 London Olympics.
In his 18 years of collegiate coaching experience, Hanson has coached five Olympic finalists, three NCAA Individual National Champions and 55 NCAA All-Americans.
Hanson swam collegiately at Arizona earning All-American honorable mention accolades. He was a two-time USA Swimming National Finalist and earned the Mary Roby Academic/Athletic Achievement Award. Hanson earned All-Academic Pac-10 honors and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in history with a minor in sociology.
