Jake Tapp, an Olympian and former world record-holder, is in his second season as an assistant coach at Wisconsin in 2017-18.
Tapp competed for the University of Arizona and has since proven himself as an up-and-coming coach while moving through the collegiate ranks.
In his first season on the UW coaching staff, Tapp helped both the Badgers men and women to impressive finishes. The Wisconsin women took third place at the 2017 Big Ten Championships for their best conference showing since 2005, while the men claimed fifth place to secure a third-consecutive top-five Big Ten finish — something the program had not achieved since doing so from 1999 to 2004.
Senior Brett Pinfold became the first UW men's swimmer to earn first-team All-America accolades in the 200 freestyle with a school-record time of 1:33.21 — one of 12 UW records that fell for the Badgers men during the season. UW had five swimmers named All-America at the NCAA championships.
Another senior, 2016 Olympian Matt Hutchins, closed out his career by securing his 10th All-America honor with a fifth-place NCAA showing in the 1650 free.
On the women's side, newcomer Cierra Runge smashed five school records and combined with teammates Chase Kinney, Emmy Sehmann and Marissa Berg to topple the Big Ten record in the 400 freestyle relay with an All-America effort of 3:12.91 at the 2017 NCAA Championships. In all, nine Badgers women were named All-Americans in 2016-17.
Tapp joined the Badgers after spending the 2015-16 season as an assistant at New Mexico, including a stint as interim head coach of the Lobos, who sponsor only women's swimming and diving. Prior to that, Tapp spent two seasons as an assistant at IUPUI as he transitioned into the coaching ranks.
A native of Langley, British Columbia, Tapp enjoyed a successful career on the international stage, highlighted by representing his native Canada in the 100-meter backstroke and 400-meter medley at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Tapp was part of a Canadian quartet that broke the short-course world record in the 400 medley relay in 2009 and still holds national records in the 100- and 200-meter backstroke.
Tapp competed collegiately at Arizona, where he helped the Wildcats claim the NCAA team title in 2008. Individually, Tapp twice finished as NCAA runner-up, taking second in the 200-yard backstroke as a junior in 2009 and in the 100-yard backstroke as a senior in 2010.
A team captain for the Wildcats as a senior, Tapp finished his collegiate career with 13 All-America honors and still holds Arizona's school record in the 200 backstroke, at 1:38.67.
