E-mail Coach Lucia (JJL15@cornell.edu)
Joe Lucia has coached the Big Red men’s swimming program for 20 seasons since his appointment at Cornell in October 1987. He coached both the men and women his first nine seasons with the Big Red, until Cornell appointed head coaches for each of the men’s and women’s teams in the spring of 1996 in an effort to strengthen both programs. In 1998, when the men’s position was endowed by former Cornell swimmer Phil Bartels ‘73, Lucia became the first Philip H. Bartels Head Coach of Swimming.
During his time with the Big Red, Lucia has continually had his men in the top half of the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League standings. The Big Red men have enjoyed a consistent winning program in the very competitive EISL, which was ranked as the fifth-best conference in the nation last year (out of 29 swimming and diving Division I conferences).
The 2006-07 season was the highlight of a three-year run which saw the team compile a 20-4 dual meet record. On the way to winning the EISL regular season championship, the Big Red went undefeated in the dual meet season with a perfect 10-0 record. At the EISLs, Cornell had five individual Eastern champions and also won four of five relay events and qualified three swimmers for the NCAA championships. Along the way, the squad managed to break 10 school and 10 Teagle Pool records, and had an additional 22 swims that made Cornell’s all-time top 10 list.
A 1973 graduate of Cortland State, Lucia came to Cornell after serving as the head swimming coach of Union-Endicott (N.Y.) High School and the Union Aquatic Club for 11 years. Having taught in the public school system for 14 years, in addition to coaching at all developmental levels of a United States swimming club, Lucia has a strong grassroots background to effectively communicate and work with collegiate student-athletes.
Lucia has improved the caliber of Big Red swimming and has been rewarded for his efforts by being named Coach of the Year at the women’s Easterns in 1992 and in 1994.
During his tenure at Cornell, Lucia has coached eight different individuals to a combined 19 individual Eastern championships along with the only relay championships in Cornell history (six men’s relays and two women’s relays). Individual swimming champions that have won titles under Lucia are: Dave Hager (1), Brad Shaw (1), Sherwood Yuen (2), Mike Smit (7), Dave McKechnie (5), Wes Newman (1) and women’s champions Kim Milligan (1) and Trina Young (1).
Place of birth: Lansing, Mich.
Family:
Wife: Janene
Children: Ed, Jay, Brandon, Corey, Vicki (daugher-in-law)
Grandchildren: Hali, Alexa
Education
SUNY Cortland,
B.S., Physical Education, 1973
M.S., Physical Education, 1978
Athletic experience
1969-73, SUNY Cortland (football, golf, lacrosse)
1971-73, SUNY Cortland (student director of athletics)
Coaching experience
1978-87, Union-Endicott HS (coach)
1984-87, Union Aquatic Club (coach/executive director)
1987-95, Cornell (coach, women)
1987-present, Cornell (coach, men)
Awards
1992, EWSL Coach of the Year
1994, EWSL Coach of the Year
At Cornell (men)
Year W L T
1987-88 3 8 0
1988-89 5 6 0
1989-90 6 4 1
1990-91 6 5 0
1991-92 6 4 0
1992-93 4 6 0
1993-94 5 6 0
1994-95 6 5 0
1995-96 7 5 0
1996-97 5 5 0
1997-98 5 5 0
1998-99 4 6 0
1999-2000 5 6 0
2000-01 4 7 0
2001-02 7 4 0
2002-03 7 4 0
2003-04 7 4 0
2004-05 8 2 0
2005-06 8 2 0
2006-07 10 0 0
Totals 118 94 1
At Cornell (women) Year W L T 1987-88 5 5 0 1988-89 6 4 0 1989-90 3 7 0 1990-91 6 4 0 1991-92 7 3 0 1992-93 6 4 0 1993-94 6 5 0 1994-95 7 4 0 1995-96 7 5 0 1987-95 53 41 0
The Lucia File
