SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Peterson Family Head Swimming Coach Chris Lindauer has made another addition to his staff as he has hired Josh Stanfield as an assistant coach. Stanfield comes to the Irish after spending the previous four seasons with the Duke Blue Devils as an assistant coach.
“Josh will immediately make an impact on our team culture at Notre Dame,” said Lindauer. “His passion and dedication to our student-athletes is his number one priority. Josh brings with him a proven track record in recruiting and developing high achieving academic student-athletes that will fit the Notre Dame standard. No matter where you are on pool deck, you will always hear Josh supporting our student-athletes with everything he has! Josh, Kristin, and Ruby…welcome to our Irish Family! Go Irish!”
During his time in Durham, the Blue Devils tallied a number of individual and team-best performances. In his most recent season with Duke, the women’s squad matched its best finish at the ACC Championships, as they finished fifth overall. At the NCAA’s, the women’s team finished 24th. Stanfield worked with Sarah Foley who earned All-ACC and All-American honors in 2021-22. He also coached the men to two new sprint freestyle relay records in both 200 (1:17.86) & 400 Freestyle relays (2:52.71). Both records that were broken were set three years prior.
“My wife and I are extremely excited about joining the Notre Dame family and we are grateful to the administration and to Chris for this opportunity,” said Stanfield. “The mission, and the vision that Chris has for the program is clear and I am thrilled to be part of this with him, Kelsi, Kameron, Mark, and the rest of staff.
“Notre Dame has been a place that stood out to me, and the environment on campus and within our program will be special to be a part of. I look forward to the interactions with the student athletes, alumni, and Notre Dame family…GO IRISH!!”
During the pandemic-shortened season in 2019-20, 10 Blue Devils were set to compete at the NCAA Championships. Alyssa Marsh broke three school records during the season as the men’s and women’s teams earned their highest rankings each side had received in program history. The women were dubbed ninth in the final CSCAA poll while the men reached 15th during the November edition of the poll.
In his first year in Durham, Stanfield guided the Blue Devils to 18 school record times, including nine of the ten relay events. Overall, Stanfield worked with nine CSCAA All-American honorees in his first season with the Blue Devils. Both squads had strong finishes at the NCAA’s, the women finished 23rd (highest since 2011) and the men finished 29th (highest since 2014).
Prior to working at Duke, he spent six years at Gardner-Webb. He started as an assistant coach but was elevated to associate head coach in his final season. In 2017-18, he mentored a squad that won three Coastal Collegiate Sports Association (CCSA) titles and tallied five NCAA ‘B’ cuts. In the season prior in Boiling Springs, they set 10 program records and won four individual CCSA titles.
Stanfield’s previous coaching experience includes time as a volunteer assistant coach at his alma mater, Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Stanfield also held an age group coaching position at Texas-based Nitro Swimming and was the primary coach for several individual state champions.
A native of Huntsville, Texas, Stanfield graduated from Southwestern in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology.
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