Ben Loorz - Men's Swimming & Diving Coach - University of Arizona Athletics

Ben Loorz

Title:
Swimming and Diving Head Coach

Ben Loorz was hired as the head coach of Arizona Swimming and Diving by Vice President and Director of Athletics Desireé Reed-Francois on May 15, 2024. He enters his third season leading the Wildcats in 2026–27.

Coach Loorz, the 2025–26 Big 12 Women's Swimming Coach of the Year, has overseen the development of 65 All-Big 12 performers and 21 CSCAA All-Americans across two seasons at Arizona. Loorz joined the Wildcats after eight seasons of championship success as the head coach at UNLV.

With the Wildcats

The Wildcats continued their climb in their second season with Loorz at the helm, finishing second at the Big 12 Men's and Women's Championships, capturing six Big 12 Conference Championships, and sending 19 qualifiers to NCAA Championships (11 men, 8 women). Arizona's successes led to Loorz being named the 2025–26 Big 12 Women's Swimming Coach of the Year.

Arizona's 2025–26 season concluded with both teams ranked in the CSCAA Top 25, with the men checking in at No. 17 and the women ranked at No. 24. Across the course of the season, the Wildcats set three program records and posted 19 swims that landed among the top 10 fastest times in program history.

Of the 19 NCAA Championship qualifiers that the Wildcats sent to Atlanta, highlights included Tomas Lukminas posting a program record 41.11 in the 100 Free to finish seventh, and the women's 200 Free Relay finishing inside the top 10.

In his first season at Arizona in 2024–25, Loorz oversaw a men's program that ended the season in the top 25 nationally, and men's and women's teams that set multiple school records, earned multiple All-American and all-conference honors, and finished second in the Big 12 Conference.

Arizona men’s swimming roster ended the year with seven All-Big 12 First Team Honorees and four Second Team Honorees, in addition to five CSCAA All-American Second Team Honorees. Additionally, Coach Loorz led the Wildcats to their highest conference championship finish since 2020, with the program’s first conference relay championship gold in the 200 freestyle relay. Under the direction of Coach Loorz, seven male Arizona swimmers qualified for the NCAA Championships, and Arizona’s qualifying 400 freestyle relay set a program record and finished 12^th in the nation (2:47.64).

On the women's side, under Loorz's direction, the Cats earned their highest finish at a conference championship (2^nd) since 2008. Nine Wildcat swimmers were awarded All-Big 12 First Team Honors, three earned All-Big 12 Second Team Honors and four Arizona swimmers were named to the CSCAA All-America Second Team after impressive performances at the NCAA Championships. Also at the Big 12 Championships, Arizona's women secured the program’s first conference relay gold and conference individual gold since 2013. During his first season as the head coach of the program, four Wildcat women set top-ten program times, and over 80% of the active Wildcat roster swam personal bests in at least one event.

During Coach Loorz’s first year in Tucson, four new school records were set (400 free relay-2:47.64, 100-yard freestyle-41.56, 800 freestyle relay: 6:10.62, 200 freestyle-1:31.48), 16 top-ten program times were posted, and more than 80% of Arizona’s active roster earned a personal best in at least one event.

"We sought to hire a head coach with a successful record of coaching, recruiting and holistically developing student-athletes at the highest of levels," Reed-Francois said at the time of his hiring. "Coach Loorz is a proven leader who is nationally recognized in the swimming and diving community with a championship vision for our program. He is a tireless recruiter with an exceptional history of developing championship culture and will grow upon the legacy of the program as we enter the Big 12 Conference. We are proud to welcome Coach Loorz, his wife Jenn, and their family to the University of Arizona."

Before Arizona

Loorz guided UNLV to a WAC conference crown in men's swimming in his final season, marking the Rebels fourth consecutive conference championship while setting a conference record in scoring. He was also named the WAC Swimming Coach of the Year for a fourth straight year in 2024. UNLV's women's program, which competes in the Mountain West, tied a school record with 15 all-conference performers in 2023-24 while Vika Yanovska won the 1-meter dive crown last season to give UNLV its first ever MW diving title. Loorz was also named the 2021 MW Women's Swimming Coach of the Year.

Throughout his eight seasons in Las Vegas, Loorz coached the Rebels to a total of five WAC and MW conference championships while earning five runner-up finishes. The program has set nearly 40 school records during his tenure in addition to winning 70 WAC and 20 MW individual and relay championships.

"I want to thank the search committee, Desireé Reed-Francois, University leadership and the entire Arizona Athletics Department for the opportunity to continue the storied legacy of this program while growing and developing our student-athletes to become champions," Loorz said at the time of his hiring. "The University of Arizona is a special place, and my family and I can't wait to get to campus and begin this exciting journey together."

UNLV student-athletes have amassed numerous conference honors under Loorz's leadership, which include Ruby Howell being named the MW Freshman Swimmer of the Year in 2021, George Ratiu earning WAC Freshman Swimmer of the Year in 2021 and Kris Matuszewski repeating the feat in 2023. The Rebels also had a pair of representatives, Zsuzsanna Jakabos and Vuk Celic, compete at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. Loorz also trained Kasia Wasick, from Poland, who finished fifth in the 50-meter freestyle in the Tokyo Games before becoming the top sprinter in the world in 2022 and 2023.

High-level success outside of the pool also marked Loorz's tenure in Las Vegas as the program tallied a total of 27 CSCAA Scholar All-Americans and dozens of academic all-conference team members.

Prior to his championship tenure at UNLV, Loorz spent six seasons as the head coach at Cal State East Bay where he led the Pioneers to three conference championships, three runner-up finishes and two top-25 showings at the NCAA Division II National Championships. He was a two-time Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference Coach of the Year at CSU East Bay while coaching six All-Americans for the Pioneers.

Loorz began his initial stint with the UNLV program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007 to 2010 and was part of three team conference championships on the men's side. He served as a graduate assistant at the University of Utah for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. While on staff with the Utes, the program won MW championships both seasons.

A California native, Loorz swam collegiately at American River College in Sacramento after graduating summa cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1999. He later earned his master's degree from Utah in 2008.

Loorz and his wife, Jennifer, have four sons.