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 | Hometown:
Denver, Colo.
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| Last College:
Texas
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| Position:
Head Coach
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Whitney L. Hite, the ninth head coach in Wisconsin swimming history, is in his second season with the Badgers.
Ten school records fell during Hite's first year on the job, and the number of NCAA qualifiers nearly doubled on both the men's (from one to two) and women's (from six to 11) squads compared to last year. The women's team improved its team finish at the Big Ten Championships from seventh place last year to fourth place this year. The men's team posted six school records at the Big Ten Championships alone, up from only two the last year.
On the men's side, Hite's Badgers completed a 2-9 dual season, finishing eighth in the Big Ten Championships and 27th at the NCAA Championships.
Michael Weiss arguably took the biggest step forward of anyone in their first year under Hite. Coming into the year without ever earning a berth to the NCAA Championships, Weiss not only qualified but took third-place overall in the 400 IM with a school-record time of 3:43.12. The junior also earned Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 200 breast, again breaking his own school record with a time of 1:55.76 in the preliminaries. To go along with his strong performance at the NCAA Championships, Weiss set two more school records at the Big Ten Championships in the 200 free (1:34.99) and the 500 free (4:19.07). He was also named Second Team All-Big Ten after the meet.
Under Hite, Dan Lester also finished the season as Second Team All-Big Ten, powered by his school-record setting performance in the 200 IM (1:44.47) at the Big Ten Championships. He would go on to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the third-straight year and nearly qualified for the Australian Olympic team with a second-place, 23.81, finish in the 50 meter fly at the 2012 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships.
Hite joined the Badgers in 2011 after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Arizona, where he was responsible for training the middle-distance and distance swimmers. The men's and women's teams each earned top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships in Hite's two seasons. The men's team took third place at the NCAA Championships in 2010 before earning a fourth-place finish this past season. The women's team earned a fifth-place finish in 2011, a year after taking fourth place.
Prior to his time with the Wildcats, Hite served as the University of Washington men's and women's head coach from 2006-09. During his tenure in Seattle, Hite led the Huskie women to their best-ever NCAA finish, 12th in 2008. On the men's side, they earned a top-16 finish in 2009, the best finish for the team in the last 30 years. While at Washington, Hite coached 18 All-Americans and four Pac-10 Champions.
Before becoming the head coach at Washington, Hite was the women's assistant coach at California from 2004-06. At Berkeley, Hite helped the Golden Bears to three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, sixth in 2004, eighth in 2005 and fourth in 2006. While working under head coach Teri McKeever, Hite coached the mid-distance and distance program that included three U.S. National Team members.
Hite also served as an assistant coach with the University of Georgia for five seasons from 1998-2003. With the Bulldogs, Hite helped Georgia's women's team capture three straight national championships from 1999-2001. In 2002 and 2003, Georgia finished as NCAA runner-up.
A Denver, Colo., native, Hite was a four-year swimmer on the University of Texas men's swimming team. He swam sprint freestyle for the Longhorns and graduated with a B.S. in sports management in the spring of 1997. He earned his master's degree in education from Georgia in 2001. Whitney is married to his wife, Helen.
