Clif Robbins will join the Arizona swimming and diving staff after spending the last four seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia.
During Robbins’ four years at Virginia, he coached a trio of All-Americans, including Laura Simon, who finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke at the 2017 NCAA Championships with a school-record time of 58.20. Simon finished her career with nine first-team All-America honors, 12 honors overall and three ACC titles. Robbins, the 2016 ECAC Women’s Coach of the Year, also mentored Olympian Yannick Kaeser, the Swiss record holder in the 100 and 200 breaststroke and four-time All-American and school-record holder in the breaststroke, Ellen Williamson, who set a school record in the 100 butterfly and earned All-America honors in the 200 individual medley, and Luke Papendick, an All-American in the 200 backstroke.
Before coming to Charlottesville, Robbins was an assistant coach under Augie Busch at Houston for the 2012-13 season after serving as a volunteer assistant in 2011-12.
Robbins helped guide the Cougars to a program-best second-place finish in Conference USA in 2013. The Cougars recorded personal-best times in 90 percent of their swims and broke seven school records in 2013, while achieving a program-best 3.42 team GPA.
A 2007 graduate of Texas, Robbins was a four-year letter winner for the Longhorns. Robbins competed at the U.S. National Championships three times while at Texas and helped the Longhorns to four consecutive Big 12 Championships.
Robbins graduated with a bachelor of science in chemical engineering and worked as an engineer in the oil/gas industry for two years before beginning his career as a swim coach. In 2011, Robbins joined Busch’s staff at Houston and has since remained Busch’s assistant at Virginia and Arizona.
