Drew Names New Swim Coach

MADISON, N.J. - Drew Athletics Director, Dr. Connee Zotos, has announced the hiring of Eric Scheingoltz as the new Head Coach of Men’s and Women’s Swimming. Previously an assistant at Columbia University, Scheingoltz brings a wealth of experience and technical expertise to the Ranger program.

“We are thrilled to have Eric join the Drew Athletics Department,” said Zotos. “He is the perfect fit for our program for two reasons. First, he has spent the majority of his career at an institution where the integration of academics and athletics is essential. Second, he is the consummate teacher with great attention to technical detail and to the development of each athlete as an individual. I have no doubt that he will bring Ranger swimming to the next level and I am confident that he will be tremendously successful at Drew.”

Most recently, Scheingoltz spent seven seasons with the Columbia University swimming program. As the assistant coach for the Lions, Eric has helped guide the men’s team to four of the program’s most successful seasons. During his time at Columbia, the Lions saw marked improvement on the conference and regional levels, including three consecutive third place finishes at the Eastern championships.

A 1996 graduate of the University of Florida, Scheingoltz served on the Gators’ coaching staff as a volunteer assistant from 1994-1996. His professional coaching career started in 1996, when he coached for the West Point Swim Club, a U.S.S. club team in Highland Falls, N.Y. From 1999 to 2001 Scheingoltz ran the senior group of an inner city team called the Big Apple Marlins, located in Manhattan. Also during that time Scheingoltz ran a “learn to swim-team” program for youngsters at a local sports club. Many of the athletes that Eric has worked with, at the USS age group level, have gone on to successful college swimming careers.

A native of New York’s Rockland County, he has been a part of Metropolitan Swimming since 1983. In 1988, as a member of the West Point Swim Club, he was part of a 200 freestyle relay team that swam the 10th fastest time in the country. With a promising future in the sport, Scheingoltz was slowed by shoulder injuries that ultimately needed surgical treatment. Despite the setback, Scheingoltz was a state and Junior National qualifier as the breaststroke leg on the 200 medley relay and an all-county swimmer as a senior, just one year removed from shoulder surgery.

Scheingoltz earned his B.A. in liberal arts and sciences from the University of Florida in 1996, and received his master’s in biobehavioral sciences, physical education from Columbia University’s Teachers College in 2005. Eric and his wife, Julie, and daughter Lilly, born in May 2006, reside in New Jersey.

Scheingoltz becomes the fifth coach in Drew’s history, replacing Dorsi Raynolds, who after three successful years in The Forest accepted a coaching position in her native Vermont.