Women's Swim & Dive
- Positon:
- Director of Swimming and Diving
- Email:
- dorenkott.2@osu.edu
- Phone:
- 292-5052
Bill Dorenkott, who has 34 years of experience coaching at the collegiate level, enters his 17th overall season at Ohio State in 2024-25; he enters his eighth season as the Director of Swimming & Diving after spending nine seasons working with the women's team exclusively. His programs are among the best, if not the best, in the Big Ten Conference. Consider:
- The men's and women's teams both placed second at the Big Ten Championships in 2023-24 and went undefeated in dual meets during the regular season;
- Each program has finished in the Top 3 at the Big Ten championships for seven consecutive years;
- The women's team placed tied-for-ninth and the NCAA Championships and the men finished 13th;
- Dorenkott has been named has been named the Big Ten Women's Swim Coach of the Year four times in his career;
- Dorenkott is the longest-tenured coach in the Big Ten, entering his 30th season within the conference.Â
Dorenkott has also guided the women’s team to nine Top 20 finishes at the NCAA championships, including a program-best sixth in 2023, and he has coached the men’s program to a Top 10 finish four times.Â
Dorenkott has guided seven teams to Big Ten championships, including the Penn State women three times – in 2002, 2005 and 2006 – in addition to the Ohio State women in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Dorenkott has coached 82 individual Big Ten Conference champions, including 42 Buckeye champions, in addition to 30 relay championship teams. He has coached 416 total NCAA qualifiers.Â
Dorenkott took over as the head coach of Ohio State’s women’s swimming program in 2008, and in March 2017 he was announced as the director of swimming and diving for OSU’s new combined men’s and women’s program.
A proven winner who inspires that excellence in his swimmers, Dorenkott placed three Big Ten championships – 2002, 2005 and 2006 – on his resume during a 10-year stint as Penn State’s women’s coach; the Nittany Lions never finished lower than fourth at the women’s Big Ten championships during the Dorenkott decade (prior to his arrival, they had never finished higher than fourth). His Nittany Lion teams also finished in the Top 20 at the NCAA championships in three of his last five years in State College.
During his final season of three coaching the Penn State men, he guided Pat Schirk to an NCAA championship in the men’s 200 backstroke. A total of 57 of his PSU swimmers qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials, and his student-athletes set 10 Big Ten records and four Big Ten championship records.
Just as in the pool, Dorenkott’s athletes experience success in the classroom. Two of his Penn State swimmers and one of his Ohio State swimmers earned the prestigious NCAA postgraduate scholarship. He has had a total of 845 academic All-Big Ten honorees and 135 College Swimming Coaches Association Scholar (CSCAA) All-Americans. His teams have been honored with a CSCAA Team Academic Award 16 times, most recently in 2024.
Dorenkott has a keen eye for recruiting student-athletes who are a good for for both the university and the Ohio State program, and who have vision and goals beyond just being a swimmer. In fact, he recruits on the philosophy that swimming is going to be the fourth-most important priority for his student-athletes. He believes if his athletes take care of the first three priorities: 1) Be a great person; 2) Remember who you are, where you came from and understand that family is important; and 3) You are at Ohio State to get an education, and your degree will open doors for you a long time after you leave Ohio State.
Dorenkott’s is considered one of the top developed of talent in the United States and his swimmers have gone on to reach incredible success on the international stage, including world record holder Hunter Armstrong. Armstrong helped Team USA to a gold medal in the 4x100 free relay and a silver medal in the 4x100 medley relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics and to a gold medal in the 4×100 medley relay at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. At the 2022 U.S. World Team Trials, he set a world record in the 50 backstroke (23.71).
Dorenkott has coached on four continents, and his student-athletes have competed in the Olympic Games, PanAm Games, World University Games, World Championships, Pan-Pacific Championships, U.S. National Championships and on the U.S. International circuit. He has been a member of the United States Swimming National Team coaching staff since 2001. He served on the U.S. National Team coaching staff during the 2001 World University Games, the 2003 PanAm Games and the 2007 Japan International Grand Prix. In 2022, he joined the Team USA staff as an assistant coach for the Budapest World Championships.
An outstanding competitor as a student-athlete at Cleveland State, Dorenkott became a 15-time conference champion, setting a school record in the process. He was a varsity record holder and a U.S. National qualifier and scorer. In 1990, he earned the team MVP award and then served as a team captain in 1991. Dorenkott received two degrees while attending Cleveland State, earning bachelor’s degrees in both communications and psychology.
He was named a graduate assistant coach of the men’s and women’s swim team at Ashland University in 1991 immediately following graduation and was named head coach of both teams after just two seasons. In his first season at Ashland, he led the women’s team to a conference championship, and led the men to a fourth place showing. He turned the men’s team around the next season as they joined the women’s team as conference champions as the women repeated. In his two seasons as the Eagles’ mentor, the program produced 16 All-Americans in 49 events. Five Ashland swimmers were named Academic All-Americans in 1995, and 33 records were set under Dorenkott’s tutelage. His 1995 men’s team finished sixth at NCAAs after a 9-2 dual meet season, and the women placed 11th.
While at Ashland, Dorenkott was the 1993-94 and 1994-95 Penn-Ohio Conference Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year and the 1994-95 Penn-Ohio Conference Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year. He served as the meet director of the 1994-95 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. He also served as the head coach of Ashland’s women’s tennis team from 1991-93.
A native of Westlake, Ohio, Dorenkott and his wife Adrianne (who like Bill, swam at Cleveland State) have four children – Jack, Matt, Ann and Will.
| Season | Record | B1G Record | B1G Championships | NCAA Championships |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09 (Women Only) | 5-4 | 0-3 | Eighth | 24th |
| 2009-10 (Women Only) | 6-1 | 2-1 | Fifth | 22nd |
| 2010-11 (Women Only) | 7-1 | 1-1 | Third | 17th |
| 2011-12 (Women Only) | 8-0 | 2-0 | Third | 20th |
| 2012-13 (Women Only) | 7-2 | 0-1 | Fourth | 28th |
| 2013-14 (Women Only) | 9-1 | 2-1 | Fourth | 41st |
| 2014-15 (Women Only) | 11-1 | 1-1 | Sixth | 40th |
| 2015-16 (Women Only) | 11-2 | 1-1 | Fourth | 14th |
| 2016-17 (Women Only) | 12-1 | 1-1 | Fifth | 19th |
| 2017-18 | 5-1 (M); 8-1 (W) | 0-1 (M); 1-1 (W) | Third (M); Third (W) | 28th (M); 13th (W) |
| 2018-19 | 7-3 (M); 6-4 (W) | 1-1 (M); 1-1 (W) | Third (M); Third (W) | Ninth (M); 25th (W) |
| 2019-20 | 4-3 (M); 6-2 (W) | 1-1 (M); 1-1 (W) | Second (M); First (W) | *Canceled |
| 2020-21 | 2-1 (M); 3-1 (W) | 2-1 (M); 3-1 (W) | Third (M); First (W) | Seventh (M); Seventh (W) |
| 2021-22 | 6-1 (M); 5-2 (W) | 2-1 (M); 2-0 (W) | Second (M); First (W) | Ninth (M); Ninth (W) |
| 2022-23 | 5-0 (M); 5-1 (W) | 1-0 (M); 1-0 (W) | Second (M); First (W) | 11th (M); Sixth (W) |
| 2023-24 | 5-0 (M); 6-0 (W) | 1-0 (M); 1-0 (W) | Second (M); Second (W) | 13th (M); T-Ninth (W) |
| Totals | Overall: 149-33 M: 34-9 W: 114-24 |
Overall: 27-20 M: 8-5 W: 20-14 |
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