Coaching Staff

JJ Bean, Head Coach, Charlottesville

At the helm of the Gators is JJ Bean, an institution in Charlottesville, having coached for nearly 30 years. Many people have suggested that JJ is part-kid himself, which, tied with his knowledge of swimming and his master’s degree in sports psychology, provides him with an absolutely unique ability to connect with swimmers and motivate them to make the most of their abilities in and out of the pool. While he is a master stroke technician with an exhaustive list of accomplished swimmers with whom he has worked, he gets as much enjoyment helping a kid learn to cross the pool for the first time as he does preparing an advanced swimmer for the highest level of competition.

Alex Rayle, Head Senior Coach

Alex is the Head Senior Coach for both the Virginia Gators of Charlottesville and the Virginia Gators of Crozet/Waynesboro.  Alex was the Associate Head Coach of CYAC from 2017 -2020. He was selected as the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA)/Fitter Faster Age Group Coach of the year for 2020 and was also voted the Virginia Age Group Coach of the year in 2019. His 12 and under group at CYAC ranked 4th nationally for the 2019 long course season and 2019-2020 short course season per ASCA. Alex is an ASCA Level 5 Age Group Coach. Alex swam for SMAC, Western Albemarle and University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Rob Rule, Head Coach, Crozet/Waynesboro

Rob is retiring from his current position as Sr. Program Manager at Shell Oil to start his new career with Virginia Gators. Rob spent many years as an age group coach for SMAC and started the first High School Swim program in Augusta County where he has been Head Coach of Wilson Memorial the past 3 seasons. Rob has a BS Degree in Chemistry from William and Mary.

Stephanie Neal, Site Lead Coach, Waynesboro

Stephanie has been coaching Shenandoah Marlins Aquatic Club (SMAC) in Waynesboro for 10 years and has led SMAC Age Group Swimmers to multiple high point awards for small teams in both short course and long course. She has coached multiple top 8 finishers at Age Group Champs. She was selected to be a member of Virginia Swimming’s Zone teams coaching staff and has worked with numerous Zone and YMCA National Qualifiers. Stephanie is a former SMAC and Cumberland University swimmer. 

GATOR ASSISTANT COACHES

Wesley Kittelberger, Developmental and Age Group Coach

Wesley is a graduate student in the UVA  Curry School of Education and has been the Head Coach of the Burke Centre Penguins swim team for the past three years. She has many years of experience as a developmental swim coach.

Megan Murphy, Developmental and Age Group Coach

Megan is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington where she was a member of the Eagles' Swim Team. She is a graduate student in the UVA Curry School of Education. She has been an age group and developmental coach for Machine Aquatics in Northern Virginia and the Bates College Swim Camp for two years.

Bailee Murray, Dryland Coach

Bailee graduated from Albemarle HS in 2017 and is a 4th year at UVA. Bailee has served as a Conditioning Intern with the UVA Basketball team and brings a wealth of dryland knowledge to our program. She is a member of the UVA Swim Club.

CJ Trachta, Age Group Coach

CJ is returning to the Gators this fall, after taking time to get his board game company started. He has coached with Fairview for 14 years and worked in Albemarle County Public Schools for 6 years. CJ has a B.S. in Psychology from William & Mary where he was a member of the swim club and co-president of SCUBA club

And our always enthusiastic...

University of Virginia Madison House Volunteer Coaches!