Coaches and Staff
 
Robert Pinter
Program Co-Director and High-Performance Coach
text: 319-471-5054
 

Robert is an Assistant Swimming Coach with the University of South Carolina and most recently served as the Head Swimming Coach for Gator Swim Club, a USA Swimming Gold Medal Club located in Gainesville, Florida where he had the privilege of coaching US Olympians Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Lochte and developed several US National Team and National Junior Team Members. Prior to his stint in Florida, Robert coached at some of the top USA Swimming year-round programs in the United States, also affiliated with major universities, including Badger Aquatics in Madison, Wisconsin, and the Iowa Flyers in Iowa City, Iowa, where he developed US Olympic Triala finalist Ruby Martin. He will serve as the lead administrator of Gamecock Aquatics, responsible for many of the major decisions and day-to-day functions of the club as well as serve as a coach for Gamecock Aquatics.

 
Jeff Poppell
Program Co-Director and Coach
 
Jeff, the new Head Coach of the University of South Carolina Swimming and Diving program, will lend his expertise and knowledge to the team and will be involved in both the leadership and coaching of Gamecock Aquatics. He has 28 years of coaching experience at some of the country’s top collegiate, club, and high school programs. Most recently, Jeff spent five years at the University of Florida where he led the University of Florida’s Women’s Swimming team to three consecutive SEC Runner-Up finishes and a #1 National Dual Meet Ranking during the 2019-2020 season. Early in his career, he spent thirteen years at the nationally recognized Bolles School and Bolles School Sharks year-round swimming program in Jacksonville, Florida where he led them to a Top 5 finish at the US National Championships, Boys and Girls National High School Championships, an ASCA National Age Group Championship, and consistently developed some of the top age group, club, and high school swimmers in the United States.
 
 
Mike Kuzma
Head Coach
 
Mike Kuzma is the prpgram's very first Head Coach. Coach Kuzma will be coaching the Gamecock groups and also will be assiting with the team management and daily operational needs. Coach Kuzma has fifteen years of coaching experience and has spent the previous six years as the Head Late Nite Senior Coach for the Bolles School Sharks in Jacksonville, Florida. The Bolles School Sharks has consistently been recognized as one of the top USA Swimming club programs in the United States and a developing ground for some of the top swimmers in the sport including Olympic Gold Medalists Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Murphy and Joseph Schooling. Kuzma a USA Swimming National Junior Team Coach from 2016 to 2019 and a team USA Open Water National Team Coach, has developped sixteen swimmers on the USA Swimming All-Time Top 100 Performances list, seven US Olympic Trial Qualilfiers, two USA Swimming National Team Members, and two Junior World Finalists. He received a Bacjholr of Arts in Sport Business and Marketing from the University of Mount Union and earned a msters of Science in Leadership and Management from the Universioty of La Verne.