Neil Harper Position: Head Coach Experience: 13 th Season Alma Mater: Louisiana State '90

Entering his 13th season as head coach of the Seminoles, Neil Harper has established one of the elite programs in the ACC. With 84 ACC Champions, 56 NCAA All-American honors and one National Champion in that time span, Harper's Florida State squads are consistently represented on a national level. Heading into the 2011-12 season, Harper has a total of 14 athletes that have qualified for the 2012 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb.

During the 2010-11 season, both men's and women's teams finished in third place at the ACC Championships with Harper guiding four to the NCAA Championships. Three of those athletes walked away with All-American honors and two found themselves on the podium.

The team's lone ACC Champion was senior Rob Holderness, who ended his NCAA career with a seventh place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 1:54.86, capturing All-American status in the event.

On the women's side, junior Stephanie Sarandos competed at the NCAA Championships in the 200 back for the third straight season. She would go on to finish 28th.

In an overall FSU effort, the swimming and diving team was able to contribute to another season in which the Seminoles were represented at the NCAA Championships in all of its sports.

The 2009 season was a year of milestones for Harper and his athletes. Along with his 200th career win, Florida State broke five ACC conference records and seven school records at USA Short Course National Championships. By the end of 2009 Harper directed his men to a second-place finish and his women to a fourth-place finish at the ACC Championship, to a top 20 showing at NCAA Championship, and hist teams raced against nine teams ranked in the CSCAA top 25. Through this all , the swimmers and divers broke 24 school records, won ACC Performer of the Week six times and Andy Hodgson earned a Nation Collegiate Swimmer of the Week.

Florida State earned back-to-back ACC Championships when the women earned their first conference title in 2006 and the men followed with their first in 2007. The teams' ACC Championships garnered Harper two consecutive ACC Coach of the Year awards. Over the last 11 years, the women's team has won 45 titles and the men's 37. The 16 championships in 2006 and 2007 under Harper were the most during Harper's tenure.

Every school record on the men's and women's side has been broken during Harper's tenure in Tallahassee. Not only are more of the Florida State records held by Harper`s student-athletes than any other head coach's, but the all-time top ten contains more of his athletes than all of the former head coach's combined.

Harper's 98-39 (.715) mark on the men's side is second in school history and his winning percentage is first among active ACC coaches. Since the 2001-02 season, the women have won at least nine meets in all but one season and have only one loss outside the Top 25. The men have produced at least nine wins per season in all but two seasons during that same time frame with just five losses beyond the Top 25.

Previous Coaching Experience

In May of 1999, Harper returned to Tallahassee to take over the men's and women's swimming and diving teams after two years as the women's head coach at Ohio State. In two seasons with the Buckeyes, Harper's team posted a 15-12 mark while qualifying six athletes for the NCAA Championships. In the classroom, Ohio State excelled just as well as both of his teams received NCAA All-Academic selections. Within the conference, the Buckeyes received more than 20 Academic All-Big Ten Conference honors during his two seasons.

From 1994-97, Harper served as the top assistant at Florida State under Don Gibb. His two duties were to coordinate recruiting efforts and take charge of the team's strength and conditioning. With Harper on staff Florida State produced numerous All-Americans, including the school's first female All- American one in six years and FSU's first NCAA champion, Stephen Parry, in the 200 butterfly.

Harper spent six years as an assistant coach at LSU prior to his first stint at Florida State. During his time in Baton Rouge, he helped the LSU swimmers earn 21 NCAA All-America honors and seven Southeastern Conference titles. During the 1991 season, both the men and women posted one of their best finishes at the NCAA meet and came away with a 14th-place showing.

International Experience

Harper's acumen in the pool extends internationally as he has coached at the biggest most prestigious international competitions over the last six years. During the summer of 2004, he was on deck for his fourth Olympic Games as he traveled to Athens, Greece to coach Wickus Nienaber, the top swimmer for the Swaziland contingency. Nienaber was just one of five of Harper's former Seminoles competing in the Olympics as Chris Vythoulkas swam for the Bahamas, Golda Marcus carried the El Salvador flag and Julio Santos represented Ecuador.

The biggest thrill for Harper at the 2004 Olympics was watching one of his former student-athletes reach the medal stand. Parry brought home the bronze medal in the 200-meter butterfly for Great Britian.

In 2000, Harper was a member of the South African Olympic coaching staff in Sydney, Australia coaching Olympic medal hopefuls and Olympic finalists Brendon Dedekind and Brett Petersen.

In 2001, he traveled to Fukuoka, Japan to coach Nienaber in the FINA World Championships. The following summer he mentored Nienaber at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, where he was joined by former Seminole All-American's Parry and Petersen, as well as Vythoulkas. In 2003, he returned to the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain to coach Nienaber.

Swimming Experience

As a competitor, Harper is one of the top swimmers in LSU history. He first made his name in the SEC when he won the 100-yard backstroke at the 1986 SEC Championships. Throughout his career, Harper collected four SEC titles while earning seven NCAA All-America awards. During his final year, LSU won it's only SEC Team Championship and finished sixth at the NCAA championships, the highest in school history. He still ranks on the Tigers' all-time top ten performers in four different events.

The London native represented Great Britain in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics in the 100 and 200-meter backstroke as well as a member of the 400-meter medley relay with sixth and fourth-place finishes respectively.

Personal

The 45-year-old Harper is married to the former Paige Busch from Orlando, Florida, who was also an All-American and SEC champion in the 100-yard breaststroke at LSU. The couple have two daughters, Katherine (16) and Kelly (14).