Cory Chitwood - Men's Swimming and Diving Coach

Cory Chitwood

Title:
Associate Head Coach (Swimming)
Email:
cormchit@iu.edu
Phone:
(812) 856-2410

Cory Chitwood enters his fifth season on Indiana’s coaching staff. He currently serves as associate head coach under head swimming coach Ray Looze and works primarily with IU’s surging distance group.

Chitwood has established himself as one of the top distance coaches in the country and has served as head coach of the U.S. Open Water national team at both the 2022 and 2024 World Championships. Between assistant and head coaching roles, Chitwood has been a national team coach for nine years.

During his time at IU, the men’s team has won two Big Ten Championships, while the women have finished top-three all four seasons. At eight conference meets, Indiana has produced the Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships in five of those – including all four of the men’s championships. IU swimmers have combined for 42 conference titles over the last four seasons.

Chitwood has helped the program maintain its powerhouse status – Over the last five years, only four men’s programs have consistently finished top six nationally: Cal, Texas, Florida and the Indiana Hoosiers. The women’s program has surged into national prominence as well, capturing program record seventh place finishes in 2016 and 2023.

At the 2023 NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, IU distance flexed its muscles with two podium finishes. Ching Hwee Gan, a Singaporean national record holder in multiple events, finished second in the 1,650-yard freestyle event at the NCAA meet with a time of 15:46.28 – the second-fastest time in program history. Gan also set a program record for the 1,000-yard free during that race, posting a 9:30.71 split. Mariah Denigan finished seventh with a time of 15:52.18.

Both Gan and Denigan have raced on the international stage, both attending the last three world championships. Denigan has also competed under Chitwood for USA Swimming’s Open Water national team and has improved in her main event – the 10K event – at each world championships from 15th in 2022 to eighth in 2023 and sixth in 2024. That recent performance qualified Denigan for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Chitwood arrived at Indiana from the University of Arizona, where he was an associate head coach for the Wildcats for two seasons. Chitwood also served as an assistant coach at Virginia for four seasons and LSU for one season.

"Cory Chitwood is one of the great up-and-coming coaches in the United States," IU head swimming coach Ray Looze remarked at the time of Chitwood's hiring. "I had the pleasure of recruiting Cory out of high school and then served on the 2017 USA World Championship coaching staff with him in Budapest. He has coached Olympic medalists and NCAA champions across numerous events. Most importantly, he is exceptional at building relationships and taking care of his swimmers to the highest degree. Cory joins our staff at a critical time as we push toward Tokyo 2020."

Chitwood was a standout swimmer for Arizona, earning 14 All-America honors and helping the Wildcats win the 2008 NCAA Championship. In 2023, Chitwood was inducted to the Arizona Athletics Hall of Fame. Chitwood was a three-time NCAA champion in the 200 backstroke and was a USA National Team member from 2011-12.