Scott Blanchard - Head Coach - Men's Swimming & Diving Coaches

Scott Blanchard

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
blan2581@stthomas.edu
Phone:
651-962-5950

Awards & Achievements

2017 MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Coach of The Year
2016 MIAC Women's Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year
2015 MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Coach of The Year
2015 MIAC Women's Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year
4-time MIAC Women's Swimming and Diving Champion (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
4-time MIAC Men's Swimming and Diving Champion (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)

Coming off the best men's and women's stretch of success in program history, Scott Blanchard is set in 2023-24 for his 13th season with Tommie men’s and women’s swimming and diving, including his ninth as head coach.

The Tommies path into NCAA Division I continued in 2022-23 as Blanchard led the men to break five program records and the women to break four. Joe Rudd earned All-Summit League honors after placing second in the 200 breaststroke with a school record. Rudd also broke the program records in the 100 breaststroke and 200 IM at the Summit League Championships, in which the men finished sixth. Grace Urkiel was a part of all four of the women’s records, including individual records in the 100 breaststroke, 200 breaststroke and 200 IM, while also swimming a leg of the 200 medley relay team. Also setting an individual record for the men was Blake Baertlein in the 100 IM while the men’s 200 medley relay also set the new Tommie standard. Both the men’s and women’s programs earned four selections to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. Blanchard helped guide both the men’s and women’s programs to CSCAA Scholar All-America honors.

Blanchard, who also serves as Director of Aquatics at St. Thomas' Anderson Pool, replaced retiring Tom Hodgson in May 2014. Hodgson directed the women’s program for 35 seasons and was head coach for the men for 34 years.

Blanchard has continued to improve on the rapid gains Hodgson’s teams demonstrated since moving into the state-of-the-art Anderson Pool in 2010.

The St. Thomas men had posted 11 consecutive top-two MIAC finishes, with championships in 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

In 2013, the Tommie women had their best conference finish in 22 years by taking second place, and they repeated that showing in 2014 and 2015. Blanchard's 2016 team broke through to claim the first conference title in program history, and the Tommies won again in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Purple took second in 2020.

Both teams have had an emerging presence at the national meet. As a sophomore in 2015, Emma Paulson finished third in the 100 back and fourth in the 200 back to lead the women to a 15th-place team finish at nationals. In 2016, she became the first national champion in school history and won the 50 free and 100 and 200 back to lead the Tommies to a tie for 13th in the nation. Junior Mike Lanz competed for the men's team in nationals and finished third in the 100 fly and the 200 fly to lead the men to a 25th-place team finish in 2015. Lanz finished fifth in the 100 fly in 2016 and helped the men's swim team finish 15th at nationals.

Blanchard was named the conference Swimming Coach-of-the-Year for both the men and the women in 2015 and received the honor again for the women's team in 2016 and men in 2017.

Deep Resume

"I am very excited to have the opportunity to continue, and build upon, the strong tradition of excellence that we have established here at University of St. Thomas,” Blanchard said on his 2014 hiring day. “I feel privileged to work with such fine young men and women, and for an institution committed to the education of tomorrow's leaders."

Blanchard’s 25-year coaching career began in 1994 at Minneapolis Southwest High School as an assistant coach for both the boys and girls teams, from 1998 through 2000 he took over as head coach. He has been a USS club coach in Minnesota since 1996 with Richfield Swim Club, West Express Swim Club and Blackline Aquatics having worked with athletes at the Senior and Junior National level.

Before joining Hodgson’s staff in the fall of 2011, he spent two previous seasons coaching swimmers at nearby Macalester College.

A graduate of Susquehana (Pa.) University, Blanchard earned his Master’s degree in Education in Kinesiology from the University of Minnesota in 2002.

Outside of the pool, he spends as much time as he can with his wife Jennifer, and their sons Scottie and Anthony. He trains for and runs marathons and triathlons in his spare time. A certified triathlon coach, he owns and operates SwimBikeRun Minnesota.

Hodgson said Blanchard has an excellent rapport with current team members. "They like Scott, trust him, and would probably swim through a wall for him," Hodgson said.

Scott Blanchard as St. Thomas head coach
2014-15: Men 1st, Women 2nd in MIAC; Men's 25th, Women 15th in NCAAs
2015-16: Men 1st, Women 1st in MIAC; Men's 14th, Women 13th in NCAAs
2016-17: Men 1st, Women 1st in MIAC; Men's 50th, Women 14th in NCAAs
2017-18: Men 1st, Women 1st in MIAC; Men's 39th, Women 27th in NCAAs
2018-19: Men 2nd, Women 1st in MIAC; One male and four female qualifiers to NCAAs
2019-20: Men 2nd, Women 2nd in MIAC; Four female qualifiers to NCAAs (national meet canceled by COVID-19 outbreak)
2020-21: Shortened season due to COVID-19
2021-22: Men 5th, Women 5th in Summit League
2022-23: Men 6th, Women 6th in Summit League