Brad Bowser enters his 11th season as the head coach of Rowan’s men’s swimming team in 2024-25, having led the Profs to a total of five NJAC regular season titles and four Metropolitan Championships during his tenure. His dual-meet record stands at 57-21, giving him the third-highest winning percentage (73%) in the history of the program.
Bowser also served as the head coach of the Profs’ women’s program from 2014-15 to 2018-19, where he guided Rowan to three conference championships and two METs titles.
In addition to numerous swimmers receiving All-America honors during his nine years, he has coached two NCAA Champions – Kevin Gillooly (2022) and Jesse Novak (three titles in 2015 and 2017).
In 2023-24, Bowser led the Profs to a third-place finish at the inaugural NJAC Swimming & Diving Championships. The 2022-23 squad finished third at METs, following the 2021-22 campaign that saw the Profs win the NJAC Championship as was named the league’s Coach of the Year for the fourth time. This followed the 2020-21 season which was canceled due to Covid-19.
In 2020, Bowser guided the men’s team to its to its fourth consecutive NJAC Championship and its third METs title in four years while being named the NJAC Coach of the Year. Despite the cancellation of the NCAA Championships due to the pandemic, the Profs’ NCAA qualifiers Kevin Gillooly, Kevin Grubb, Chad Shire and the 200 and 400 medley relay teams were named All-Americans. Additionally, Gillooly and Shire were chosen the top swimmer and diver, respectively, in both the NJAC and the METs.
His 2019 men’s and women’s squads each captured their third straight NJAC titles, while the women’s team also claimed its second consecutive Mets Championship. The Profs were represented on the All-America teams by Gillooly (two events), two men’s relays and Carlee Timmins. Gillooly and Shire earned the NJAC’s top swimmer and diver awards, respectively, with Kevin Yanigasawa being named the league’s Rookie of the Year. On the women’s side, Timmins was chosen the NJAC Swimmer of the Year with Bowser receiving the conference’s Women’s Coach of the Year award for the second time.
Bowser was the 2017-18 NJAC Coach of the Year in both men’s and women’s swimming for the second straight year as the squads each captured the conference and METs titles. The men’s squad notched a 17th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, led by All-Americans John Tepper, Sean Piacente and three relays. Rowan swept the top conference awards with Tepper (Swimmer), Piacente (Diver) and Gillooly (Rookie), while Veronicz Alferez was the women’s Rookie of the Year.
He guided the men’s team to a best-ever ninth-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Championships as Jesse Novak claimed his third national championship in the 100 freestyle, and John Morris and Mike Simunek earned All-America honors in two events each, and three relays garnered honorable mention. That men’s squad won championships in the NJAC and METs while the women’s team won its first conference title since 1998-99.
The 2015-16 season saw the men’s team place 11
th at the NCAA Championships and both the METs and NJAC titles while Bowser garnered his first conference Coach of the Year award. All-American recognition went to Novak (two events) and the 200 freestyle realy, with three relay teams earning All-America honorable Mention. Miranda Coughlan was selected the NJAC Women’s Rookie of the Year, starting a three-year streak of the Profs having the league’s top newcomer.
Bowser took over for legendary coach Tony Lisa in 2014-15 and guided the men’s team to a 10-1 record and a second-place finish at the METS. Among the highlights was Novak winning the national titles in the 50 and 100 freestyle at the NCAA Championships in Shenandoah, TX, and Morris being named the top diver in the NJAC and at the Metropolitan Championships.
Rowan’s women’s squad went 8-4 and posted a fifth-place finish at Mets in his first year at the helm.
Bowser spent over 15 years coaching high school and youth swimmers and came to Rowan after three years as an assistant head coach at the Machine Aquatics Swim Club and head site coach at Audrey Moore Recreation and Tyson’s Sport & Health in Virginia. He oversaw the development of age group to national team swimmers, mentored 10 national team and multiple sectional team members, and guided numerous 14U Junior Olympic winners and qualifiers.
From 2001 to 2011, he was the assistant head coach for the Jersey Wahoos Swim Club in Mount Laurel, NJ, where he assisted in the development of high school-aged swimmers. Bowser coached five Middle Atlantic Junior Olympics champions, four Star Invitational champions, seven Olympic Trial qualifiers, nine 18U Summer US National qualifiers and 36 National Collegiate Scouting Association (NSCA) Junior National qualifiers. He also helped lead four teams to top 10 finishes at the NSCA Junior National Championships.
Bowser, an American Swimming Coaches Association-certified Level III Coach, served as a Middle Atlantic board member from 2005-2011 with tenures as Age Group Coaches Representative, Technical Planning Chair and Senior Swimming Chair.
A two-time All-American at Shawnee High School, Bowser starred at North Carolina State University where he was a nine-time Atlantic Coast Conference finalist and two-time US national qualifier, while reaching the 2000 US Olympic Trials. The 2001 graduate N.C. State earned his bachelor’s degree in parks, recreation, and tourism management with a concentration in sports administration.
A native of Medford, NJ, Bowser and his wife Courtney live in Philadelphia.
COACHING RECORD
| Season |
Record |
NJAC |
Notes |
| 2023-24 |
3-4 |
-- |
3rd place NJAC | T43rd place NCAA |
| 2022-23 |
4-3 |
3-1 |
3rd place METS | 26th place NCAA |
| 2021-22 |
6-0 |
4-0 |
NJAC Regular Season Champs | 2nd place METS | 10th place NCAA |
| 2020-21 |
-- |
-- |
Season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2019-20 |
6-3 |
4-0 |
NJAC Regular Season Champs | METS Champions |
| 2018-19 |
6-4 |
4-0 |
NJAC Regular Season Champs | 3rd place METS | 20th place NCAA |
| 2017-18 |
9-1 |
4-0 |
NJAC Regular Season Champs| METS Champions | T17th place NCAA |
| 2016-17 |
7-2 |
4-0 |
NJAC Regular Season Champs | METS Champions | 9th place NCAA |
| 2015-16 |
6-3 |
3-1 |
METS Champions | 11th place NCAA |
| 2014-15 |
10-1 |
3-1 |
2nd place METS | 22nd place NCAA |
(Starting with the 2023-24 season, the NJAC held its first-ever swimming and diving championship meet to determine the conference champion. Prior to that, the NJAC Champion was determined by conference head-to-head meets during the regular season)
