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Pete Hovland

Position: Men's and Women's Head Coach Experience: 33rd Season Alma Mater: Chico State, 1976

2012 Hall of Honor Induction Interview

Pete Hovland enters his 33rd season with the Oakland University Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving teams. He arrived on campus in 1979 and spent his first two years as the men's assistant coach and the women's head coach. In 1981, he relinquished the women's duties to become the men's head coach. In 2001, he added the head coaching duties for the women.

OU's men's and women's teams have captured the Summit League title every year the teams have been eligible for the championship, 12 years in a row for each team. His women's teams have also won four consecutive National Independent Conference championship titles (2002-05). Seven times since OU's move to Division I, he has seen swimmers qualify for the NCAA Championships, four for the men and three for the women.

On the men's side, Hovland is 210-94 and has led his team to a record of 27-0 at conference championship meets in 30 years. Three times (1994-95, 1997-98, 1998-99) there was no conference meet. The Golden Grizzlies have won 147 individual titles, 55 relay championships and 31 individual awards. In addition, OU has had the Swimmer of the Championships all 12 years and Hovland has been named Coach of the Championships six times.

On the women's side, Hovland is 78-46-1 and has led his team to a record of 10-0 at conference championship meets in 12 years. There was no conference meet in 1979-80 or 1980-81. The Golden Grizzlies have won 149 individual titles, 59 relay championships and 38 individual awards. In addition, OU has had the Swimmer of the Championships all 12 years and Hovland has been named Coach of the Championships six times.

The Golden Grizzlies have won 296 individual titles, 114 relay championships and 69 individual awards. Hovland has been named Coach of the Championships a total of 12 times.

In 2008-09, Anders Jensen earned All-America honors by placing 12th in the 200-yard backstroke. The Golden Grizzlies scored five points to finish in 35th place at the NCAA Division I Championships. It was the fourth straight top 35 finish for Oakland.

In 2007-08, Marcin Unold earned his second and third All-America honors in the 100 and 200 back. In 2006-07, Unold earned All-American honors in the 100 back. In 2005-06, Chris Sullivan went to the national meet where he twice earned All-America status and scored 22 points for the Golden Grizzlies, good for a 25th-place overall finish. Also, each year since OU's inauguration in the Summit League, a member of the men's and women's teams have taken top honors in the annual meet as Summit League Swimmer of the Year.

He has also coached Oakland record-holder Tanya Korniyenko to All-American status in 2004.

The Golden Grizzlies have done it all under Hovland, winning numerous national and conference championships. In OU's Division II days, his men's team finished in the top-three at the national championships in 15 of 16 appearances, including winning four consecutive NCAA titles before making the move to Division I status.

In 1997, OU captured its fourth consecutive Division II National Championship in San Antonio, Texas. In the 1990s alone, Hovland and his team claimed four national championships, three NCAA runner-up finishes and one third-place mark. In his 18 years, Oakland has finished in the top three in the country 15 times, with eight second-place finishes, including five in a row from 1987-91. The success has become habitual for the man who has been selected NCAA Division II Coach of the Year six times.

Hovland has had the honor of coaching the NCAA Division II Swimmer of the Year in seven of the 18 seasons he coached. Chris Zoltak was the last to win the honor, being named Division II's top swimmer in 1994. Prior to that, former assistant coach Doug Allen captured the honor in 1991. Tracy Huth, OU's former women's swimming coach, won the honor three times, while Mark VanderMey won it in 1988 and Hilton Woods won it in 1989.

All four of Oakland Olympian's have competed for Hovland. Hilton Woods, who won a bronze in the 50-meter freestyle at the 1987 Pan-American Games, swam for the Netherlands Antilles at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was joined by Hovland who served as his coach. Also competing at the games were Scott Dickens (Canada - 2004), Dario DiFazio (Venezuela - 1992, 1996) and Haitham Hassan (Egypt - 2000).

While the success in the pool has been astounding, it has been matched by success in the classroom. The Golden Grizzlies are consistently named as an All-Academic Team by the National Swimming Coaches Association of America, and a number of OU individuals, including 1997 graduate Jay Judson, have been honored by being named to the NSCAA All-Academic Team. With his 3.74 GPA in English Literature and his many athletic accolades, Judson was awarded the prestigious $5,000 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship in 1997, becoming the seventh OU male swimmer to do so.

Prior to being handed the head coaching reins, Hovland served as an assistant to OU head coach, and now Oakland Hall of Honor member, Ernie Maglischo for two seasons, one of which was OU's NCAA Championship year.

The pair first hooked up at Chico State, where Maglischo coached Hovland. He won five individual national titles and was part of eight national championship relay squads as he was a 23-time NCAA Division II All-America. He swam on four NCAA Championship teams. In 1976, he was selected as the Far Western Conference (FWC) Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the Chico State Hall Of Honor in 1998 and the City of Chico Hall of Fame in 2009.

Hovland earned his bachelor's degree in physical education Chico State in 1976, and received his master's degree from the Northern Iowa in 1979. Following his swimming career, Hovland was an assistant coach at Chico State and Northern Iowa.