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Anne Goodman James

  • 48th year as a collegiate head coach in all three NCAA Divisions
  • Has coached 29 Individual NCAA National Champions, 99 All-Americans and three Olympians
  • CSCAA Centennial (1921-2021) 100 Greatest College Swimming & Diving Coaches of the past century
  • Two-time NCAA Division II Coach of the Year - 1988 and 1991
  • Nine-time Conference Coach of the Year
  • President of College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) - 1993-95 
  • Member of NCAA Swimming Committee - 1987-94 and 2007-13
  • NCAA Swimming Committee chair for two years in Division II and one year in Division III 
  • Recipient of CSCAA Richard Steadman Award in 2005
  • Inducted into Northern Michigan University Sports Hall of Fame in 2007
 
Under the leadership of head coach Anne Goodman James, the Colorado College men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs remain perennial contenders for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference team championships after another strong performance by both teams at the 2023 SCAC Championships.
 
Both teams finished second at the league meet and received Team Scholar All-America honors from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America for 19th consecutive semester in the spring of 2023. In 2015, Colorado College was the only school in the country across all three NCAA divisions to have each squad earn a spot in the top five of its respective division.

Goodman James, who has produced 99 All-Americans, 29 national champions and countless NCAA qualifiers at five different schools since 1976, has coached Colorado College's swimming and diving teams since 2006. She also serves as director of aquatics for the athletics department.

This past season, Goodman James coached senior Kate Brush to a pair of All-America accolades after Brush finished eighth in the 100-yard butterfly and ninth in the 200 butterfly at the 2023 NCAA Division III Swimming Championships. Brush also earned All-America honors during the 2022 Division III Championships.

With the second place finish, Goodman James and her staff was named the SCAC Men's Coaching Staff of the Year.

In 2006-07, her first season at the Tigers helm, Goodman James guided CC through an impressive inaugural campaign as a member of the SCAC. Both the men (3.225) and women (3.523) posted the highest team grade-point averages in the SCAC while earning repeat Academic All-America recognition.

In 2012, the Tiger men set 17 school records en route to a program-best second-place finish at the SCAC championships. The Colorado College women set seven school marks and recorded season bests in all 14 swimming events to record a program-best third-place finish. The staff received coaching staff of the meet recognition for the breakthrough weekend.

The milestone performances did not go unnoticed at the national level. Colorado College earned its first national ranking since the 1970's when the Tigers were listed at No. 18 in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America's final regular-season poll. Five Tigers advanced to the NCAA national meet where senior Jordan DeGayner won the school’s first swimming national championship in the 200-yard freestyle.

In 2015, diver Austin Howlett earned All-America honors for the third straight year and was named the SCAC Diver of the Year all four seasons after sweeping the 1 and 3-meter events at the conference championships for the second time in his stellar career. 

The following year, Olivia Dilorati became the third female swimmer in school history to earn All-America honors with a third-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly at the 2016 NCAA Division III National Championships. Dilorati posted the highest finish ever by a CC swimmer at the national meet and broke her own school record in the event with a time of 54.83 seconds. She joins Sue Wolfe (1983) and Taylor Jaramillo (2004 and '06) on the All-American list from the women's program.
 
A 1975 graduate of Texas Tech University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in physical education, Goodman James went on to coach the swimming teams at her alma mater (1976-80 and 1982-86) as well as at California State University at Hayward (1980-81), Northern Michigan University (1986-96) and the University of Arkansas (1996-2006).

While at Northern Michigan, where she also doubled as assistant AD for five years (1991-96), she twice was named NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year (1988 and 1991). She was named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year three times (1990, 1991 and 1992) and was inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the 2007 class.

Goodman James, who also owns a master's degree from Indiana University, is a former president (1993-95) of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America and recipient of the CSSAA’s prestigious Steadman Award for contributions to the sport and her athletes. She served on the NCAA Swimming and Diving Committee from 1987-94 and again from 2007-13.

She has made numerous presentations on coaching, training and Title IX legislation during her career. She also has written articles published in the NCAA News, Swimming World magazine and Coaching: Women's Athletics magazine.

The fifth head coach in the history of the Colorado College swimming and diving program, Goodman James succeeded Brian Pearson, who left CC in summer of 2006 to accept a similar position at Mesa State College.