Jill Cook begins her 23rd year as Head Swimming & Diving Coach. The first 19 years, she mentored the women's program before WestConn sponsored men's swimming and diving as a varsity sport in 2018.
In her first 22 seasons, numerous University records have been set. WestConn has had nearly a dozen individual Little East Conference Champions, nearly 50 All-LEC Honors, double digit New England Intercollegiate Swimming & Diving Association (NEISDA) Champions, nearly 100 All-NEISDA Honors and Cook was awarded the 2009 NEISDA Coach of the Year.
On several occasions, the team has earned the College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Academic Team All-American honors by earning an overall GPA of nearly 3.0 or higher. During Cook's tenure, over 100 swimmers have made the Dean's List and three members have been awarded the coveted WCSU Student Athlete Advisory Committee Scholar Athlete Award and one ECAC Award of Valor honoree.
Cook is a 2006 graduate of the NCAA Women's Coaching Academy and a 2008 NACWAA/HERS graduate. In 2007 she was named the Senior Women Administrator.
Cook came to WestConn following two years as the Assistant Men’s & Women’s Swimming Coach at Central Connecticut State University where she earned a Master's of Science degree in Exercise Science in May of 1999. While at CCSU, she trained a 1999 NCAA Division I Qualifier, an All-American in the 200 freestyle and ECAC Swimmer of the Meet. Prior to her appointment at WCSU, Cook was an Assistant Head Counselor for the Wolverine Swim Camp in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Cook earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Sports Management from Springfield College in 1996. She was a three-time All-Conference swimmer for The Pride from 1992 to 1995. In 1998, she was a USMS Long-Distance All-American, won the Outstanding Coach Award for Bristol Sprinters, and published two articles in The Bulletin: Connecticut Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
