CHARLESTON, Ill. - A new but familiar face will be on campus this fall as Eastern Illinois University athletic director Barbara Burke announced the hiring of former Panther swimmer Matt Bos as the new head coach for the EIU men's and women's swimming program.
Bos will start in mid-July and replaces Ray Padovan who retired in May after 42 years as the EIU head swimming coach.
"I'm excited to be coming back to Eastern Illinois," Bos said. "I was a student-athlete and graduate assistant here. I greatly admire Coach Padovan and I am honored to be replacing him as the Panthers swimming coach."
Bos comes to EIU after working the past three years as the head swim coach for the San Antonio Wave, a top swim club in Texas. During his tenure he has coached several Junior and Senior National qualifiers. He also coached Jimmy Feigen who has set two National High School records and recently competed in the 2008 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb.
"I am thrilled with the caliber of coach we were able to hire in Matt Bos," stated Burke. "His knowledge of the program and his broad based coaching experience will help in moving forward for a new era of Panther swimming. Eastern Illinois can not thank Coach Padovan enough for his years of service and we know that he will continue to around to assist with any needs the program may have."
Prior to coaching in San Antonio, Bos worked for a year and a half as the coaching director at Swimming Wanganui in New Zealand. While abroad he helped coach athletes from seven different countries with his squad earning its first-ever Top 20 national ranking in 2004-05. Bos also coached Annabel Kosten who would go on to earn a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics as a member of the Dutch 4x100 freestyle relay team.
As a collegiate coach Bos was a two-year graduate assistant coach at Eastern Illinois from 2000-02. He also worked one year as an assistant coach at Trinity University, an NCAA Division III school in San Antonio. In 2003-04, Bos was the head coach for the Swordfish Swim Team and assistant coach for Niles West High School in Skokie, Ill.
Bos is a ASCA level 4 certified coach and earned both his bachelor's (2000) and masters (2002) degrees from EIU as a member of the Panthers swim team from 1996-2000. He was a two-time Midwest Classic Champion in the breaststroke and was named team captain as a senior in 2000. As a graduate assistant he helped coach the Panthers to the 2002 Midwest Classic Championship.
He and his wife Amanda, also a former EIU swimmer, have both served as camp directors for Swim with the Stars, a swim camp owned by Olympians Michael Phelps, Ian Crocker and Lenny Krayzelburg.
"I am looking forward to this fun and exciting challenge," Bos added. "This is a good time to be involved with Eastern Illinois athletics and I think there are many positive changes happening within the athletic department."
