After 34 years of collegiate coaching, Wesleyan Men's & Women's Swimming & Diving Head Coach, Peter Solomon, has decided to retire after the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. Solomon joined the Wesleyan staff in the fall of 2012 after coaching at both Middlebury College (1997-2011) and Amherst College (1993-1997). Prior to becoming a NESCAC Head Coach, Solomon also served as an Assistant Coach at Providence College (1989-1991) and the University of Connecticut (1991-93). He also spent a year coaching at the University of Vermont (2011-2012) where he served as the Assistant Swim Coach and Director of Operations.

During his 29-year NESCAC tenure, Solomon has been selected Conference Coach-of-the-Year nine times (1995, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2019).  While at Wesleyan, his recruiting efforts have doubled the size of the team in recent years with close to 40 men and 40 women on the 2022-2023 team roster. Additionally, he has been involved in fundraising efforts responsible for many of the recent facility improvements. Solomon worked closely with contractors and Facility Management personnel during the pandemic to help complete a comprehensive renovation of the natatorium. These facility updates continue to keep The Webster Family Natatorium a premier aquatic complex in the NESCAC Conference and in the Northeast Region.

In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Solomon teaches Physical Education classes (Beginning Swimming & Lifeguard Training) and hires and supervises the lifeguarding staff. Other university involvement includes serving as a Pre-Major Academic Advisor (2020-2022), and working on Wesleyan's Smoke, Tobacco, & Vape-Free Policy Workgroup (2020-2022), as well as the university's Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Committee (2018-2021). He also serves as the Swim Lesson Program Coordinator on campus. In 2020, Solomon finished up a five-year term with the NCAA on the Swimming & Diving Rules Committee (2015-2020).

Some of the coaching accolades that Solomon has amassed over the past 11 years at Wesleyan include coaching nine NCAA Qualifiers and bringing six women to the 2019 NCAA Championships, Wesleyan's largest Swimming & Diving team contingent to compete at NCAA's in the program's history. That year, Wesleyan hosted the 2019 Women's NESCAC Championship in one of the most amazing meets in Solomon's storied career, as swimmer-after-swimmer enjoyed personal best times which helped propel the Cardinals to a sixth place team finish, Wesleyan's highest NESCAC team standing ever. In that same competition, Caroline Murphy '20 won the 50 & 100-yard backstroke events and established the NESCAC record in the 50-yard backstroke while setting the Championship meet record in the 100-yard backstroke.  When all was said-and-done, nine new school records were established and Wesleyan qualified six women for the national championships.

In 2018, the national championship participants of Zoe Kerrich '18, Murphy, Hannah O'Halloran '20, and Grace Middleton '20 became Wesleyan's first relay team to qualify and place at the Division III NCAA Championships in over two decades. Their relay performance along with  Murphy's All-American accolades in the sprint backstroke events helped Wesleyan to a 17^th place team finish at the NCAA Championships, Wesleyan's highest national ranking.

During his years as the Head Coach at Middlebury College, Solomon's 2002 men's team dethroned perennial NESCAC Champions, Williams College, to win the school's first and only Swimming & Diving Conference Championship. In 2010, one of his swimmers, John Dillion, set an NCAA Div. III record in the 200 butterfly and took top honors in both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly. John became one of five different athletes Solomon coached at Middlebury to win individual events at the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships. His Middlebury men's team were consistently ranked in the top 10 during his tenure and placed as high as fifth in 1999.

Amherst College was Solomon's first Head Coaching job out of graduate school. In 1994, his inaugural season, his men's team pulled off the college's first dual meet victory over Little III rival, Williams College. His women's team compiled their own amazing feats, including a sixth place finish at the 1996 Div. III NCAA Championships.

In college, Solomon attended North Carolina State University where he was a Team Captain his senior year, a 1980 Olympic Trials and 1980-81-82 NCAA Championship Qualifier. Coming out of high school, Solomon earned All-American honors in the 100-yard backstroke and won the 1979 Junior National Championships with a national record in the 200-yard backstroke. Growing up and competing as an age-group swimmer in Rhode Island, Solomon is proud to have been inducted into the RI Aquatic Hall of Fame in 1988.

In an attempt to pay things forward, Solomon is quick to brag about some of his own Assistant Coaches over the years who have gone on to make their own marks in the coaching profession. His Assistant Coach while at Amherst College was Steve Jungbluth, a former swimmer at UMass Amherst. Jungbluth went on to be an Assistant at the US Naval Academy, the Head Coach at Colgate University, and the Associate Head Coach at the University of Florida where he worked as the Head Sprint Coach for one of the fastest swimmers in the world, Caleb Dressell. While at Middlebury College, Solomon was fortunate to hire and work with Tom Buzzell and Norma Leduc who helped coach and guide the team. Buzzell swam from the University of Pittsburgh and Leduc handled many of the administrative duties for Solomon. Their expertise, dedication, and loyalty to the program proved to be instrumental to the team's success over the years.

Tony Bruno, an All-American swimmer from Springfield College, was Solomon's first Assistant Coach at Wesleyan. Bruno went on to be the Assistant at Iona College, the Head Coach at Fairfield University, and recently accepted the Head Coaching position at Towson University. While at Fairfield University, Bruno enjoyed immediate success capturing the school's first conference (MAAC) title in the program's history, a feat that he would replicate the subsequent three years. Another former Wesleyan Assistant, Ethan Cooke, a SUNY New Paltz graduate and team captain, left Wesleyan four years ago and has served as the Assistant Coach at Bucknell University. Cooke recently was hired by Duke University as their new Assistant Swimming Coach. Caleb Treadwell, another New Paltz graduate, followed-up Cooke as Wesleyan's Assistant Coach from 2018-2020 and has gone on to be Albion College's Assistant Swim Coach in 2020-2021.  He is now in his 2^nd year as the Volunteer Assistant Coach at North Carolina State University, Solomon's alma mater.

Solomon's current Assistant Swimming Coaches include Seamus Trzewik-Quinn, a New Paltz, NY native and recent UMass graduate who specialized in backstroke. Trzewik-Quinn is in his second year of his Internship and graduate school at Wesleyan and is making a huge impact with the team's sprint and lifting program as well as recruiting efforts. Schuyler Beeman is in his second year as Wesleyan's Assistant Coach and helps Trzewik-Quinn with the sprinting program. Schuyler was a 2010 graduate from Middlebury College and former NESCAC Champion and All-American sprinter for Solomon. He is joined by Kim Georgiades and Galen Rinaldi who are also both in their second year as Assistants. Georgiades helps coach the distance swimmers and Rinaldi helps with the stroke and IM swimmers several days each week.

Not to be outdone by their swimming peers, Solomon's former Diving Coaches have also played a huge part in Peter's success as a collegiate coach. Mandy Hixon, a former All-American diver from The Ohio State University played a heavy hand in hiring Solomon in his first NESCAC Head Coaching position at Amherst College. Mandy's divers were consistently NESCAC champions and NCAA finalists, and in 1990, she was selected the NCAA Diving Coach-of-the-Year.

Solomon's Diving Coach at Middlebury College, Lisa Gibbs, coached 2 NCAA Champions, Derek Chicarilli and Tessa Truex. Gibbs was also selected as the 2006 NCAA Diving Coach of the Year, the year Chicarilli won both the one-meter and 3-meter diving events.

At Wesleyan, Solomon has been fortunate to work with Diving Coaches Devon O'Nalty and Jessica Boni. O'Nalty coached the Wesleyan divers for nine years before moving on to be the Diving Coach at both Fairfield University and Williams College.  At the 2022 Men's NESCAC Championships, O'Nalty won NESCAC Diving Coach of the Year honors. Boni is in her fourth year at Wesleyan and brings a wealth of experience, and energy, as a Div. I diver at Clemson University and as a local club coach in Cheshire.
 
Once retired, Solomon and his wife, Andrea, look to spend more time with their children, Shiloh, Ellie, and Luke, who are spread out across the country. Shiloh, 26, lives and works in Los Angeles. Ellie, 20, is a senior at Montana State University, studying Community Health, and Luke, 18, is in his freshman year at Christopher Newport University where he will play lacrosse for the Captains. Additionally, Peter and Andrea are avid hikers and cyclists who enjoy the mountains and exploring the world. As a former Ironman Triathlete, Solomon hopes to get back into training in the pool, on the bike, and trail running. In 1995, Peter hiked the Appalachian Trail and in 2011 biked across the US to celebrate his 50^th birthday.  With plenty of adventures left on his bucket list, and a life birding list that is just shy of 500 species seen in North America, Peter will have no problem keeping busy in the years ahead.