George Washington University (GWU) has announced that former associate head coach of Georgia Tech Chico Rego will be the program’s next head coach. Former GWU head coach Brian Thomas left the program in May and has said he is “planning to get out of coaching”
“First, I would like to thank Tanya Vogel and Andrew Lundt for this opportunity. It has been a goal of mine to lead a college team, and GW is one of the most attractive programs in the country!” said Rego. “The school’s international reputation of top-notch academics in the heart of the nation’s capital makes it a no-brainer for student-athletes worldwide. Helping the Buff & Blue reach new levels in and out of the water will be an honor and a privilege. I am confident that this program will build upon its reputation of swimming & diving excellence. Kat, Juliana and I are extremely excited to be surrounded and be part of the amazing team at George Washington!”
Rego most recently spent time as associate head coach with ACC Georgia Tech. He first joined Georgia Tech in 2019 as an assistant coach and was promoted to associate head coach for this past season. Both the Georgia Tech men’s and women’s programs finished 9th out of 11 teams at ACCs this past February.
Before arriving at Georgia Tech, Rego spent time at the club level, coaching Team Greenville in South Carolina. He coached the team to numerous state championships during his two-year span.
Rego began his US coaching career at Auburn, spending over two years with the collegiate program as well as the Pro Team “Tiger Elite.” At Auburn, Rego helped coach Kevin Cordes, Marcelo Chierighini, and Felipe Lima.
The Brazilian native graduated from Estácio de Sá University in Rio De Janerio in 2009. He then came to the US and earned a master’s in exercise physiology from Auburn in 2017. His wife, r. Kat McKinney, grew up in the Metro Washington DC Area.
Rego arrives to a George Washington program that is coming off of a successful season as they swept the Atlantic-10 conference titles and sent three swimmers to the NCAA Championships with Ava DeAngelis and Ava Topolewski on the women’s side and Djurdje Matic on the men’s side. Matic just finished his redshirt senior season while DeAngelis will not return as she has since announced her transfer to Ohio State.
The program was in a battle to keep their on-campus pool open for the upcoming year after the school announced in February that it would fill the on-campus pool that the team practiced in to add a practice facility for the men’s and women’s basketball programs. This would have made the swimming and diving programs move off-campus. A petition to save the pool began in March by junior Julia Knox and received more than
At the end of April, the school announced that it would not go through with construction plans for the foreseeable future as it was found the renovations would have caused structural issues to the building.
