Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Men's Swimming

Verge is in his 16th season as the head coach of the Shippensburg University mens and womens swimming teams that have established and maintained a culture of outstanding academic and athletic excellence during his tenure.   With the exception of the 2009-10 academic year in which he served as Shippensburg Universitys acting assistant director of athletics, Verge has been the lead instructor for his alma maters swimming programs since 1998.   Verge has coached eight SU mens squads that earned Top 3 finishes at the PSAC Championships and five SU womens squads that achieved Top 4 finishes.   Following the 2008-09 season, Verge was named PSAC Mens Swimming Coach of the Year for the second time in his career after guiding the Raider program to a second-place finish at the conference championships SUs best result at a PSAC meet in 13 seasons.   He was also named the 2006-07 PSAC Mens Swimming Coach of the Year after guiding a SU squad that boasted eight All-PSAC performances and placed third at the PSAC Championships. Among his swimmers that season was Mike Owen, who set a PSAC meet record with a victory in the 1,000-yard freestyle.   Overall, Verge has been an instructor for 14 PSAC individual championships and two PSAC relay championships, including freestyle titles for All-Americans Owen, Julie Brown and Erin Goodhart. Numerous school records have fallen under his watch, including long-standing womens freestyle marks and the first new mens school record to be set in 18 years.   Verge has had his womens swimming teams achieve great success in relay events, particularly in national championship competition. The 2011-12 season marked the Raiders achieving honorable mention All-America performances in all three freestyle relays, including a school record in the 800.   The SU women also won a PSAC championship in the 800 freestyle relay in 2012-13, marking the first time in 10 years that a school other than West Chester or Clarion had won a relay event at the conference meet.   In June of 2009, the womens swimming team affirmed its excellence in the classroom as one of the leading academic programs in the nation after posting the highest spring grade point average (GPA) among all Division II womens swimming programs as compiled by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).   The SU womens swimming team has been a nationally-ranked academic program for 29 of Verges 30 semesters at the helm. The swimming success continues in the pool, where the program has produced more than 65 All-America honors and 20 university records during Verges tenure.   Verge was a member of the Shippensburg mens swimming team from 1986-89, serving as co-captain his senior year when the Raiders placed fourth at the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships, the highest finish in school history.   He earned his bachelor of arts in psychology from Shippensburg in 1989 and his M.Ed. in counseling with emphasis in college student personnel from Northern Arizona in 1996.   He has been coaching college swimming for nearly 25 years. After his swimming career, Verge became an assistant coach at Edinboro University for three seasons from 1989-92. While there, the Fighting Scots had three-straight Top 20 finishes at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.   In 1992, Verge moved to Northern Arizona University as an assistant, helping them to a Pacific Coast Conference swimming championship for both men and women in 1994. After two seasons, he left to become the assistant womens swimming coach at Arizona State University where the team placed 12 th at the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships in 1995.   With the Sun Devils, Verge worked with Beata Kaszuba who became the first woman to break one minute in the 100 breaststroke, posting a time of 59.71 in 1995. He also had four swimmers qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials.   Following his brief stint at ASU, Verge accepted his first head coaching position at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio in August 1995. While with the Eagles, Verge coached more than 20 individuals who won more than 60 All-America honors, including two national champions.   David Kalange won the 200-yard butterfly in 1996 while Jamie McDaniel won the 50-yard freestyle in 1997 and the 50 and 100 free national titles in 1998. McDaniel was the first woman to go sub-23 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships and broke two national records. She was named Division II Womens Swimmer of the Year in 1998.   Ashland placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Division II National Championships 3 times during Verges tenure. The men were 4th in 1996, while the women placed 7th in 1997 and 9th in 1998. They broke over 20 school records as well and the men captured the GLIAC Championship in 1998.   A member of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) and the CSCAA, Verge served as the meet director for the NCAA Division II Swimming Championships hosted by Ashland University in 1998. He is also a past recipient of the ASCA Certificate of Excellence and is an ASCA Level 5 coach, the highest level possible.   Verge and his wife, Staci, live in Shippensburg, where Verge has also served as a volunteer firefighter with the Vigilant Hose Company of Shippensburg.