Nathan Mundt is entering his fourth season as head coach of the University of Iowa women’s swimming and diving program. It is Mundt’s second stint with the Hawkeyes as he served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator from 2008-16.
In the 2023-24 season, Mundt led the Hawkeyes to a 5-5 record, with dual meet victories over Illinois, Iowa State, Nebraska, UNI and Vanderbilt. The Hawkeyes’ win over Iowa State clinched the final point necessary to bring the CyHawk Trophy back to Iowa City. The Hawkeyes scored 303 points at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, an over-100-point improvement from last season. Iowa had 14 individual performances in the finals session and reached the podium with an eighth-place finish in the 400-freestyle relay. Four Hawkeyes posted a total of 10 NCAA B cut times (Kennedy Gilbertson, Jenna Kerr, Scarlet Martin, Olivia Swalley). The Hawkeyes combined for 23 top-10 program performances throughout the course of the 2023-24 season. Further postseason success took place at the National Invitational Championships in Ocala, Florida. Competing against 65 teams, Iowa placed ninth with 327 points. Four Hawkeyes earned CSC Academic All-District honors (Olivia Asay, Annie Galvin, and Alix O’Brien and Leslie Wendel).
Mundt has more than 16 years of coaching experience, including being the head coach at Western Illinois, where he was voted the 2007 Mid-Continent Conference Women’s Coach of the Year. Mundt coached 33 NCAA All-Americans during his first Hawkeye stint. He was named the seventh head coach in program history in May, 2021.
During his first season as Iowa’s head coach, Mundt began rebuilding the program, competing with a roster of 13 student-athletes. Iowa had nine scoring performances at the Big Ten Championships and eight student-athletes garnered Academic All-Big Ten honors.
Mundt rejoined the program after serving the Iowa Flyers Club (IFLY) head coach from 2016-21. Under its Club Excellence Program, USA Swimming recognized IFLY as a Silver Medal Club in 2017, a Bronze Medal Club in 2019 and 2020, and will be recognized as a Gold Medal Club in 2021 for having two 18 & Under athletes qualify for the USA Swimming Olympic Trials.
Mundt and his coaching staff were also named to the 2021 Iowa Swimming, Inc., Senior Coaching Staff of the Year as voted on their coaching peers.
During his time with IFLY, Mundt had two athletes named to USA Swimming’s 18 & Under World Top 100 list. He coached a 2017 U.S. Open champion in the women’s 200-meter butterfly and that same athlete was named to the USA Swimming National Junior Team in 2017.
Before becoming head coach of IFLY, Mundt spent eight years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Hawkeyes from 2008-16. He helped lead the program to six top 40 finishes (men and women), while coaching 33 All-Americans, 42 NCAA qualifiers and the program set 115 school records.
Mundt recruited and coached Becky Stoughton to a Big Ten title in the 1,650-yard freestyle – the first since 2001 – and All-America honors in the 500 and 1,650 free in 2015. Stoughton was also the first Hawkeye to be named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2012.
Mundt also recruited four international men’s student-athletes who represented the program at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the 400-yard medley relay and assisted in coaching the Big Ten-winning 200 and 400-freestyle relays in 2012. The Iowa men placed fifth at the 2012 Big Ten Championships and had five first-team All-Big Ten honorees.
Mundt joined the Iowa coaching staff after serving as the head men’s and women’s swimming coach at Western Illinois. He coached swimmers to 13 school record-setting marks and six athletes to 12 Summit League individual event championships.
A native of Portage, Indiana, Mundt was a four-year letterwinner and academic all-conference honoree at the University of Tampa while earning a bachelor’s degree in sports management in 2001. He served as a graduate assistant at Valparaiso University from 2003-05 and was named interim head coach for the 2003-04 season. Mundt also earned a master’s degree in sports administration while at Valparaiso.
He and his wife, Erika, have three sons, Nolan, Macklin and Lincoln.