Swimming & Diving
- Title:
- Associate Head Coach (Men)
- Email:
- lasti@utk.edu
The 2020-21 season will be Lance Asti’s ninth year in Knoxville as a coach for the Tennessee swimming and diving programs, and his second as an associate head coach for the men’s team.
In his first year as Associate Head Coach, Asti led the men’s team to their highest SEC finish since 2011, ended the season with a Top-12 national ranking, and helped the Vols post 7 school records.
In 2019-20, the men's team finished the dual meet season at 7-1 to record their best regular season since 2001-02 and won four medals at the SEC Championships. Tennessee defeated several of the nation's top teams, including No. 9 Louisville, No. 11 Florida and No. 15 Virginia. The Vols had 15 qualifiers for the 2020 NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, the most since 2011.
Over the past eight seasons, Asti has worked primarily with both the male and female sprint groups and has had significant success with both. The sprinters have contributed to four NCAA relay titles and posted four NCAA runner up finishes. The team has won 21 SEC titles in sprint events, including Erika Brown’s 2018, 2019 and 2020 campaigns when she won an incredible 18 SEC titles (nine individual – 50 free (3x), 100 free (3x), 100 fly (3x); as well as being a part of back-to-back-to-back titles in the 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay). Under Asti’s guidance, Kyle DeCoursey became the first Tennessee Vol to crack :19.00 in the 50 free and :42.00 in the 100 and Ryan Coetzee went on to become school record holder in the 100 Fly (:45.46). In his first seven years on staff, Tennessee has recorded six NCAA individual and relay titles, 35 SEC titles and has earned 314 All-America honors.
NATIONAL TEAM EXPERIENCE
Asti has mentored numerous athletes on to international success. In 2018, he was named to the Team USA coaching staff for the FINA Short Course World Championship Meet in Hangzhou, China. This meet proved to be one of the most successful SC World Championship Meets in USA history as Team USA brought home 36 medals including 17 golds, five American records and three world records.
In China, Asti joined up with Vol sprinters Erika Brown and Kyle DeCoursey who brought home a combined 5 golds, 1 silver medal and two American records in the women’s 800-meter freestyle relay and 200-meter free relay.
In July of 2019, seven Tennessee Volunteers competed at the FINA Long Course World Championships while Michael Houlie won silver at the 2019 World University Games in Naples, Italy and broke the World University Games Record in the 50 Breast. Michael became the first Tennessee Vol to break 1:00 in the 100 LCM Breast posting a :59.64.
At the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, the Vols were represented by Houlie, Ryan Coetzee, PJ Stevens, Kira Toussaint, David Heron, Liam Stone, Cherelle Thompson and Renato Prono.
In 2016, Vol backstroke ace, Toussaint, qualified for her first Olympic Games. Toussaint swam in Rio for her home country of the Netherlands and is the Dutch national record holder in the 50 and 100 Backstroke.
PREVIOUS STOPS:
AT LSU:
During his two seasons in Baton Rouge (2010-12), the men's team finished in the top five in the SEC in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 12 years, and the women finished the season 14th nationally, their highest finish since 1993.
In his time with the Tigers, the sprinters produced five NCAA first-team All-America honors, an SEC individual title and record, four All-SEC selections and 11 medals at the conference meet.
Among the standout swimmers Asti coached at LSU are: Jane Trepp, an SEC record holder in the 100 breaststroke and a FINA world championship finalist; Amanda Kendall, a Pan-American Games record holder and a four-time gold medalist; and Hannes Heyl, an NCAA finalist in the 100 butterfly and German National Champion.
AT CLEMSON:
Asti spent five seasons (2006-10) at Clemson as the recruiting coordinator and sprint coach for the men’s and women’s swimming programs before going on to hold the same position at LSU. During his time at Clemson, Asti’s sprinters sent 12 school records that still stand as the top times in program history. The women’s 4 x 50 Free Relay broke the ACC Record in his first year on staff.
FAMILY & EDUCATION:
A former Tennessee swimmer, Asti earned his bachelor's degree in child development in 2002 from the University of Tennessee and received his master's in coaching education in 2003 at Ohio University, where he served as graduate assistant and sprint coach with the swimming program.
While Asti was an SEC finalist and earned honorable mention All-America accolades for the Vols, he was even more successful in the classroom, where he was named Academic All-America, was a finalist for the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholarship, the highest academic honor given by the conference, and was the 1999-2000 University of Tennessee Scholar Athlete of the Year.
Asti's wife, the former Lizzy Flynt, was a standout diver for the Lady Vols herself. She was a three-time All-American and the 1997 US National Champion and National Diver of the Year in addition to being a two-time Academic All-American at Tennessee. The couple has three children: Bryden, Gaines and Campbell.
