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Augie Busch has been named Arizona head swimming and diving coach, Director of Athletics Dave Heeke announced on Saturday. A UA assistant for eight seasons under his legendary father Frank Busch and a UA alumnus, Busch returns to Arizona after spending the last four seasons as head coach at Virginia and the previous two seasons as the head women's coach at Houston.

"The opportunity to return to the University of Arizona as the head coach of the men's and women's swimming and diving program is both unexpected and thrilling," Busch said. "Tucson is not only the place of my fondest family and college memories, but of my proudest professional accomplishments as well. I can't possibly overstate my gratitude and appreciation to Dave Heeke and Erika Barnes for placing their confidence in me. With whole-hearted determination and fierce loyalty, I look forward to many years of Arizona pride and Wildcat success."

"We're excited to welcome Augie back to the University of Arizona to lead our prestigious swimming and diving program," Heeke stated. "Augie has the experience and aptitude to build on the storied history of Arizona swimming and diving. He's produced high-level results as both a head coach and assistant coach, while developing national-championship and Olympic quality swimmers. I am confident that he'll lead our program to prominence at both the Pac-12 and NCAA levels."

Before heading to Houston, Busch was a highly-successful assistant coach at Arizona from 2003-11, when the Wildcats earned 15 top-five NCAA finishes, more than any other program during that period. His tenure was highlighted by both the men's and women's programs winning NCAA Championships in 2008.

As an assistant at UA, Busch worked primarily with the backstroke, butterfly and individual medley swimmers, while also serving as the program's recruiting coordinator. In his eight seasons at Arizona, Busch's training group produced three NCAA champions, 21 individual All-Americans and swimmers on 10 national championship relay teams.

Busch was instrumental in the success of two Olympians in Albert Subirats of Venezuela and Jake Tapp of Canada. Subirats is one of the most decorated swimmers in UA history with six national titles and 20 All-America accolades. Busch served as an assistant coach for the Venezuelan Olympic team in 2008 as well as for the 2007 Pan American Games.

Great hire!