COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Former Union College swimming and diving head coach Susan Bassett HOF '06 was recently announced as part of the inaugural class of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association Division III Hall of Fame.
 
Bassett, who was named to the CSCAA's list of 100 great swimming & diving coaches from the last 100 years in 2022, had a record-setting eight-year tenure as head coach of the Union men's and women's swimming & diving programs from 1987-95. Her teams scored at 13 NCAA Division III Championships during her time in Schenectady, including five national top-10 finishes, and her student-athletes received nearly 200 individual All-American honors combined.
 
On the men's side, Union made six NCAA Championships in her last seven years and posted back-to-back top-six finishes in her final two seasons, including a fourth-place result in 1995. She coached the team to its first New York State Championship in 1995 and saw Kevin Makarowski '97 HOF '08 earn the program's first individual national title that year as well in the 200 individual medley. Union swimmers earned 17 first-team All-America honors and 57 All-American laurels overall over her eight years, including the first first-team honor in program history by Thomas Kim in 1989.
 
The Union women were represented at the NCAA Championships in all eight of her seasons and scored in each of the last seven, including three straight top-10 finishes from 1992-94. In 1993, she coached the only individual national champion in program history, Julie Benker '93 HOF '03, in the 100 backstroke, and also was named the CSCAA Division III National Co-Coach of the Year and the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year. The team won a pair of New York State Championships in 1990 and 1994 and she was twice named the New York State Swimming Coach of the Year. The women's team also earned 17 first-team All-America honors in eight seasons and in total produced 137 of the program's 169 All-America honorees during her tenure.
 
In addition to her work in the pool, Bassett also served as Assistant Director of Athletics and Senior Woman Administrator at Union from 1993-95.

Bassett started her coaching career at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where she coached both the men's and women's teams for six years, and left Union to return to William Smith as Director of Athletics in 1995. After 10 years with the Herons, Bassett held the same role at Carnegie Mellon University from 2005-13 before moving on to Ithaca College as Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation, where she has served since 2013.