Dave Durden begins his fifth season with the Auburn swimming program, but his first with the title of Assistant Men[apos]s Head Coach.

As an assistant coach for the past four years Durden helps in all aspects of the program, though his biggest contributions can be seen on the recruiting trail as he is the recruiting coordinator for the National Champion AU men[apos]s team.

On the coaching deck, Durden guides the world-class sprint program along with the butterflyers, a group otherwise known as [quote]Fly Club.[quote]

This past summer, Durden acted as the head coach for Panama[apos]s Olympic team in Athens, Greece, which featured former Auburn standout Eileen Coparropa.

[quote]Dave[apos]s had a tremendous impact on the program. His energy, enthusiasm and confidence have been one of the key factors in our program[apos]s success,[quote] head coach David Marsh said. [quote]After leaving the profession as an engineer to take up swimming again, it is evident that he has a true passion for the sport and for Auburn swimming.[quote]

Through his formal education as an engineer, Durden has been well schooled in the fundamentals of movement. From this knowledge, he has been known to [quote]Durdenize[quote] sets, which to Auburn swimmers means an applied, specific workout with drills, sculling and underwater work.

Before coming to Auburn, Durden served as an assistant for Irvine Novaquatics and Dr. Dave Salo, where he assisted in general coaching with the Olympic Trial group and administrative work.

Durden is a 1998 graduate of the University of California-Irvine and earned a degree in electrical engineering.