By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
After a distinguished coaching career that includes serving on three Olympic team staffs and leading the USC Trojans for 14 seasons, Dave Salo is retiring after more than four decades on pool deck.
Salo, 67, is coming off a two-year stint as associate head coach at Arizona State University, having been hired by Sun Devil head coach Herbie Behm in May 2024, which marked a return to collegiate coaching after a four-year hiatus.
“Dave Salo is an incredible coach but an even better human being,” Behm said in a statement sent to SwimSwam. “We were so lucky to have him on deck at ASU for the past two years as a mentor and as a friend. He’s going to go down as one of the all-time greats of our sport.”
During his two years at Arizona State, Salo helped the Sun Devils to back-to-back conference title sweeps at the Big 12 Championships, and the men’s team is coming off a strong fourth-place showing at the 2026 NCAA Championships that included winning four relay titles.
“The impact he made on ASU was remarkable and the impact he made on the sport of swimming will be felt for generations,” Behm said. “He deserves a very happy retirement, and our staff is grateful that he will retire a Sun Devil.”
Salo is best known for his extended run as the head coach at USC, having taken over the program in 2006 before stepping down in 2020 to focus on coaching his swimmers with aspirations for the Tokyo Olympics. That marked a return to the program after spending five years as an assistant working under USC Hall of Fame coach Peter Daland from 1985 until 1990, before heading to Irvine Novaquatics.
Salo got his coaching start at Long Beach State, serving as an assistant in 1981 and 1982 while earning his B.A. and M.A. in exercise physiology.
During his time at Irvine Novaquatics, Salo served as an assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic team staff in 2000 and 2004, having coached the likes of Aaron Peirsol, Amanda Beard, Lenny Krayzelburg and Jason Lezak to Olympic gold medals.
After a 16-year run as head coach of Irvine Novaquatics, which also included winning multiple U.S. senior and junior national team titles and being named the 2002 U.S. Swimming Coach of the Year, Salo returned to USC as head coach in 2006.
During his 14-year tenure, Salo led the Trojan men and women to four top-six finishes apiece at the NCAA Championships, producing a total of 89 All-Americans on the women’s side and 76 for the men. Under his watch, the USC men won their first Pac-12 title since 1979 in 2015, and in 2016, he led the Women of Troy to their first-ever Pac-12 championship.
He also coached the Trojan Swim Club throughout his time at USC, notably leading Oussama Mellouli to Olympic gold in the men’s 1500 freestyle at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing while serving on the Tunisian staff. One of his USC pupils, American Rebecca Soni, also won an upset gold medal in the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2008.
In 2011, Salo was named to the U.S. coaching staff for the 2012 Olympics in London, marking his third time on the American staff at the Games.
An incredible 13 USC-trained swimmers competed at the 2012 Olympics, highlighted by Soni, who went on to defend her Olympic title in the 200 breast in London, and Mellouli, who was the gold medalist in the men’s 10km open water event while adding a bronze in the 1500 free. Americans Ricky Berens, Jessica Hardy, Eric Shanteau and Haley Anderson, France’s Clement Lefert and Russia’s Vladimir Morozov, also won medals in London after training under Salo.
Hungarian legend Katinka Hosszu also had a decorated four-year career training under Salo from 2008 until 2012, which included her winning the 2009 world title in the women’s 400 IM.
An inductee into the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Hall of Fame in 2010, Salo has also served as the head coach of the U.S. women’s team at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships, and of the men’s squad at the 2005 Worlds in Montreal.
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