Swimming & Diving

In six seasons at the University of North Texas, Joe Dykstra has quickly turned the Mean Green swimming and diving team into a major contender in the Sun Belt Conference.

In 2011-12, Dykstra led the Mean Green to its fourth consecutive third-place finish in the Sun Belt, matching its best finish in the meet. North Texas finished with its highest end of the year ranking of 9th in the CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major poll and leaped up to 7th during the season, a new program best. His team chopped down 18 school records in 22 events, along with 62 new entries on the program's all-time top 10 performer's list. During the record book overhaul, the team maintained a 3.3 GPA throughout the season.

Two swimmers and one diver won a combined six Sun Belt Performer of the Week honors during the 2011-12 regular season. Six swimmers and two divers achieved NCAA Consideration cuts in 13 different events.

In 2010-11, Dykstra led the Mean Green to its third straight third-place finish in the Sun Belt, matching its best finish in the meet. North Texas finished the year ranked 20th in the CollegeSwimming.com Mid-Major poll.

Additionally, a school record nine student-athletes made an NCAA Consideration cut in swimming, diving, or as part of a relay, and multiple divers competed at the NCAA Zone Meet for the first time in program history.

During 2009-10, North Texas won nine meets and placed third at the Sun Belt Conference Championships. North Texas earned a final ranking of No. 16 in the CollegeSwimming.com mid-major poll.

In addition, Dykstra helped a school-record 13 swimmers achieve All-Sun Belt Conference honors in 2009-10. North Texas also won three weekly honors from the Sun Belt Conference. The Mean Green put an assault on the school record book, breaking 11 records throughout the season.

In 2008-09, Dykstra led North Texas to its highest conference finish in program history and a final ranking of No. 14 in the mid-major poll. The Mean Green reached as high as tenth in the polls during the season which was a school best.

His young squad that included 15 newcomers set school records in 14 of the 19 swimming events with five swimmers earning all-conference honors. Two swimmers and one diver won Sun Belt Performer of the Week honors during the regular season.

Dykstra was awarded the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Women's Swimming Coach of the Year and the Greater Denton Sports Commission North Texas Coach of the Year following the 2007-08 season in which the Mean Green set every swimming record in the school record books and tallied its first two NCAA consideration cuts in the program's history.

North Texas finished the 2007-08 season ranked No. 15 in the mid-major poll after finishing No. 24 in Dykstra's first season the year before.

In his first season at North Texas, Dykstra led the Mean Green to a school-record seven dual-meet wins and a fourth-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championships. North Texas also picked up its first-ever tournament win during the 2006-07 season at the annual UALR Christmas Invitational.

Every current school-record holder in each of the 19 swimming events and all the swimmers on the all-time top 10 performances list has been coached by Dykstra. He has also coached 34 all-conference swimmers.

The Mean Green swimming and diving team held the highest cumulative team G.P.A during the 2010-11 school year (3.32) with 35 student-athletes earning at least a 3.0 GPA during one semester. Eight swimmers posted a 4.0 in at least one of the two semesters.

Prior to North Texas, the former Huskies standout and team captain spent six years as an assistant at Washington -- the last two as associate head coach. Dykstra coached the team's breaststrokers and distance swimmers, and served as the team's recruiting coordinator. Dykstra also assisted with all administrative duties, including travel, team operations and budgeting.

During his tenure at Washington, many of Dykstra's swimmers earned team and individual honors. He coached five Washington school record holders, five NCAA qualifiers, two All-Americans, one academic All-American, one Pac-10 champion and conference record holder and more than a dozen U.S. National Championship competitors. Three student-athletes also earned Pac-10 Post-Graduate NCAA Scholarships under his tutelage.

Prior to his stay at Washington, Dykstra spent two years as a volunteer assistant with the University of Tennessee while earning his master's degree in sport administration. With his assistance, the Volunteers placed seventh at the 2000 NCAA Championships.

A four-year letterwinner at Washington from 1994-98, Dykstra left the program ranked among the Huskies all-time top 10 swimmers in five events.