by Taylor Cotie

On Thursday, February 1, it was announced that GC’s head men and women’s swim coach, Jim Sheridan, had announced his retirement from Greensboro College. Sheridan has been the head coach of the Greensboro College swimming program since the Fall of 2018 and alongside that, he has also been the aquatics director and building manager of the Royce Reynolds Family Student Life Center Gym. 

With over 51 years of coaching experience, Sheridan has coached at many different levels, including at the high school and college level. Sheridan graduated college from Marshall University located in Huntington, West Virginia in 1977. He remains one of the most decorated swimmers Marshall has ever had. After setting many records in the 1970s, Sheridan was eventually inducted into the Marshall University Hall of Fame back in 2012. Sheridan’s coaching journey began as a graduate assistant coach for the Marshall swim team. After his time as a graduate assistant coach, Sheridan then coached many high school teams. He had many notable accomplishments at the high school level, including being a nine-time Indiana Coach of the Year, coaching over 90 high school All-Americans and Olympic qualifiers and being initiated into the Indiana Swimming Hall of Fame in 2007. 

After years of coaching at the high school level, Sheridan became the assistant swim coach for the men and women’s swimming program at Clemson University. After coaching at Clemson, he then became the assistant head coach for the women’s swimming program at the University of Iowa. Sheridan then spent a year coaching at Auburn University before he returned as the men and women’s head swim coach at Clemson University from 1991 to 1994. 

The Collegian had the chance to speak with Coach Sheridan about his retirement and when asked what brought him to Greensboro, he replied, “My kids and grandkids brought us to Greensboro. Family always wins out.” As previously talked about, Sheridan has had many accomplishments throughout his career as a swim coach. When asking Sheridan what he would say has been his most treasured accomplishment in his long career, he said, “My most treasured accomplishments have been watching the success of my kids outside of the pool. Over a thousand of my kids have become medical professionals, educators, businessman and many more.” 

The Director of Greensboro College Athletics, Kim Strable, commended the impact that Coach Sheridan left at GC. Strable asserted, “Like several other coaches at GC, Coach Sheridan wore multiple hats including serving as the Reynolds Center Building Manager and Aquatics Director in addition to his coaching responsibilities. He also attended many other contests on campus in support of Pride student-athletes and colleagues, so his impact within the athletics department was indeed significant.” 

Once he retires, Sheridan plans to teach at his grandkids’ elementary school and hopes to be around them more. Coach Sheridan’s presence will be missed here at Greensboro College. Not only has he improved the quality of the men’s and women’s swimming program, but he has inspired many GC students during his tenure here. Coach Jim Sheridan will be remembered for years to come.