Brian Peresie has served as the head coach of the Malone University men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams since April of 2011. Now finishing his second year at the helm of the program, Peresie will be looking for continued growth and improvement as the Pioneers move to their first year of the NCAA Division II membership and continue competing in the challenging Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
The 2012-2013 campaign proved to be an exciting one for the Pioneer Swimming and Diving Program as the squads finished their final season as provisional members of the NCAA Division II as well as competing in their first GLIAC Championship. Throughout the course of the season, the swimmers and divers broke event records over 90 times and proved that they saved it for the end with 87% individual lifetime best performances at the championships. Additionally, Peresie brought the diving program back to life by hiring Richard Blough to lead that area. Logan Bauer (2012 Ohio State Champion on 1-Meter for Division II) completed his first season at Malone in grand fashion. At the 2013 GLIAC Championships, he won diving on both 1-Meter and 3-Meter and became the first GLIAC Champion in Malone University’s history.
In the 2011-2012 season, Peresie started growing the program by assembling a very strong recruiting class. In the past two seasons prior to becoming Malone’s head coach, Peresie had served as an assistant swimming coach and recruiting coordinator for eight seasons at Ohio University. He helped lead the Bobcat women to the Mid-American Conference championship in 2010-11 and to two MAC team titles in his final three seasons on the OU staff. In addition, the team’s dual meet record during this three-year span was 29-7. During his time at Ohio, he played a role in recruiting and developing student-athletes that achieved the NCAA Division I “B” standard on 77 occasions as well as three that qualified for the USA Olympic Trials in 2008 and two that qualified for the USA Olympic Trials in 2012. Prior to his stint at Ohio, Peresie was a graduate assistant swim coach at Ashland University for two years where the program boasted eight NCAA Division II national qualifiers and 19 All-American performances.
A 2000 graduate of Ohio University (Business Administration), Peresie went on to earn a Master of Business Administration from Ashland University in 2004.
“We are excited to bring Brian onboard as our head coach,” commented Malone Athletic Director Charlie Grimes when Peresie was hired. “He has excellent NCAA competitive and coaching experience, as well as a deep commitment to using sport to develop leaders and people of excellent character. I’m looking forward to seeing him invest his talents and passion into our student-athletes.”
Peresie and his wife, Emily (Berg), who is a 2001 Malone graduate, have three children, Brayden (6), Blake (3), and Bennett (6 mo.) and reside in North Canton.
