The ninth head coach of the Wisconsin swimming and diving program, Whitney Hite is in his seventh season at the helm of the Badgers in 2017-18.
Hite has created a culture in Madison that emphasizes passion for what you do, strong work ethic both in the pool and in the classroom, as well as pride in representing the University of Wisconsin and what it means to be a Badger.
His culture has not only produced All-Americans and All-Big Ten honorees, but it has also created excitement surrounding the future of the program. That was evident when Hite and his staff put together an unprecedented recruiting class for 2016, featuring 12-time Wisconsin state champion Beata Nelson — arguably the nation’s No. 1 recruit for 2016-17.
Hite has already done something in Madison that had not been done in over five decades of the program by guiding Drew teDuits to an NCAA title in the 200-yard backstroke in 2013. Not only did teDuits become the first individual NCAA champion for the Badgers men since 1959, but he also went down as just the third in program history.
In 2016, Hite coached Big Ten Swimmer of the Year Matt Hutchins, who became the first male in Wisconsin program history to claim the conference honor.
In 2017, Hite led the Wisconsin women to a third-place finish at the Big Ten championships, the Badgers' best showing at the conference meet since 2005. Five of those women went on to earn first-team All-America laurels at the NCAA Championships: senior Danielle Valley (seventh place, 500 free) and the Big Ten record-setting foursome of Chase Kinney, Emmy Sehamnn, Marissa Berg and Runge in the 400 freestyle relay (3:12.91).
On the men's side, the Badgers took fifth at the Big Ten championships to score their third-consecutive top-five finish -- UW's longest run of top-five showings since doing so from 1999 to 2004 -- while toppling 12 school records.
HITE’S SIX SEASONS HAVE FEATURED...
• 1 NCAA champion (Drew teDuits, 2013)
• 40 All-America swims (24 individual, 16 relays)
• 1 Big Ten Swimmer of the Year (Matt Hutchins, 2016)
• 2 Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships (Ivy Martin, 2014, ’15)
• 23 Big Ten champions (13 individuals, 10 relays)
• 26 First-Team All-Big Ten swims
• 100 Academic All-Big Ten honors
Through six seasons, Hite has coached 13 individual Big Ten champions and 10 Big Ten title relay teams. A former sprint freestyle swimmer himself at Texas, it comes as no surprise that Hite has coached some of the fastest female swimmers in Big Ten history. In fact, a Badger has won the women’s 50-yard freestyle Big Ten title four times since Hite has been at the helm. Beckie Thompson won the crown in 2012 and Ivy Martin won three straight from 2013-15. Hite and the Badgers have also won titles in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle relays at three of the last six Big Ten championships.
In addition to his work at UW, Hite has served several stints as a Team USA coach, most recently as head coach of the U.S. men's team for the 2017 World University Games in Taiwan. He also served as an assistant for the American men's squad at the 2015 FINA World Championships.
Hite has long believed in competing against elite programs during dual meet season so that his teams are tested and well-prepared come championship season. That tactic has shown to be an effective one, as Hite has guided both the Badgers men and women to historic championship finishes. The men’s 13th-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships ranks as the sixth-best in program history. Under Hite’s tutelage, the UW women have finished 13th two of the last four years at the NCAA championships while also scoring three top-four Big Ten finishes.
The Badgers saw great success in 2014-15, beginning with an impressive dual meet showing and ending with a strong presence at the Big Ten and NCAA championships. Both the men's and women's teams spent the entire season ranked within the top 25 of the CSCAA Coaches Poll, and the men's team brought down Pac-12 powerhouses Arizona State, Arizona and USC as well as border rival Minnesota to highlight the historic season.
Led by back-to-back Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships, Ivy Martin, the women collected a total of seven Big Ten titles and eight swimmers earned NCAA All-America/Honorable Mention All-America accolades. In all, the Badger women took down four Big Ten records and eight school records. On the men's side, Matt Hutchins and Drew teDuits each won individual Big Ten titles and six men collected NCAA All-America/Honorable Mention All-America distinction. The Badger men finished the 2014-15 season rewriting a total of nine school records.
Hite's guidance helped the Badgers earn 13 school records and a pair of Big Ten marks in 2013-14. Thirteen men and 19 women have qualified for the NCAA Championships in three years under Hite, including seven men during the 2013-14 season.
In just his third season at the helm, UW earned four Big Ten titles, including a pair of individual crowns as 12 Badgers earned All-Big Ten accolades, led by 2014 Big Ten Swimmer of the Championships and three-time Big Ten champion, Ivy Martin. Under Hite's tutelage, Martin capped off a stellar conference season with Big Ten titles in both the 50 (21.58) and 100-yard (47.78) freestyle events at the Big Ten Championships, erasing her own previous conference record of 21.84 in the 50 free, a mark which she set at the 2013 Big Ten meet.
The men's team made tremendous strides in the 2012-13 season under Hite. The team improved two spots in the Big Ten Championship team standings and rocketed from 27th place the previous year at the NCAA Championships to 15th. The men broke 11 school records, claimed two Big Ten individual titles and took home just the third NCAA individual championship ever in school history. Three men won four All-American honors, with four more honorable-mentions as well.
Hite coached senior Michael Weiss and sophomore Drew teDuits to a pair Big Ten titles before teDuits went on to earn the program's first individual NCAA title since 1959. teDuit's time of 1:38.27 in the 200-yard backstroke was the third-fastest in NCAA history.
In Hite's first season, he coached Beckie Thompson to Big Ten titles in five different events (50 free, 100 free, 200 free relay, 100 medley relay and 400 medley relay). Hite also helped Ashley Wanland capture a pair of Big Ten championships to go along with her All-America honor.
Hite joined the Badgers in 2011 after spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Arizona, where he was responsible for training the middle-distance and distance swimmers. The men's and women's teams each earned top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships in Hite's two seasons. The men's team took third place at the NCAA Championships in 2010 before earning a fourth-place finish this past season. The women's team earned a fifth-place finish in 2011, a year after taking fourth place.
Prior to his time with the Wildcats, Hite served as the University of Washington men's and women's head coach from 2006-09. During his tenure in Seattle, Hite led the Huskie women to their best-ever NCAA finish, 12th in 2008. On the men's side, they earned a top-16 finish in 2009, the best finish for the team in the last 30 years. While at Washington, Hite coached 18 All-Americans and four Pac-10 Champions.
Before becoming the head coach at Washington, Hite was the women's assistant coach at California from 2004-06. At Berkeley, Hite helped the Golden Bears to three top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships, sixth in 2004, eighth in 2005 and fourth in 2006. While working under head coach Teri McKeever, Hite coached the mid-distance and distance program that included three U.S. National Team members.
Hite also served as an assistant coach with the University of Georgia for five seasons from 1998-2003. With the Bulldogs, Hite helped Georgia's women's team capture three straight national championships from 1999-2001. In 2002 and 2003, Georgia finished as NCAA runner-up.
A Denver, Colorado, native, Hite was a four-year swimmer on the University of Texas men's swimming team. He swam sprint freestyle for the Longhorns and graduated with a bachelor's degree in sports management in the spring of 1997. He earned his master's degree in education from Georgia in 2001.
Whitney and his wife, Helen, reside in Madison and have two children.
