Pieter Ritz – University of Nevada Las Vegas (USA)

Pieter Ritz was hired to the UNLV swimming and diving coaching staff as an assistant swimming coach in July of 2022. Ritz comes to the Rebel program after a three-year stint (2019-22) at Cleveland State, serving the first two years as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator and this past season as associate head coach. He brings to Las Vegas a decade of collegiate coaching experience, which also includes stops at Cincinnati (2015-19), Florida Gulf Coast (2014-15) and Henderson State (2012-14).

During his time at Cleveland State, Ritz helped produce one Horizon League Athlete of the Year, 12 HL individual champions, four men’s team runner-up finishes and one women’s team second-place finish at conference championships. The program’s success with his assistance also stretched into the classroom, as the Vikings had 13 student-athletes make the HL All-Academic teams.

Prior to joining the Vikings, Ritz spent four seasons making an impact as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for a Cincinnati program that reached new heights during his tenure. After his arrival, the Bearcats captured their first-ever conference championships on the men’s side with back-to-back American Athletic Conference (AAC) titles in 2018 and 2019. Additionally, UC earned 25 AAC individual and relay titles, an AAC Men’s Most Outstanding Swimmer award, two AAC Women’s Most Outstanding Swimmer honors, a pair of First Team All-American accolades on the women’s side by Jacqueline Keire and its first male NCAA Championships individual qualifier.

A native of Fort Myers, Fla., Ritz was a volunteer assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast for one season before heading to Cincinnati. In his year at FGCU, the Lady Eagles claimed the conference championship in 2015 and had seven NCAA Championship qualifiers, while the Eagles’ men’s 200 medley relay unit achieved First Team All-America status that same year.

Ritz started his coaching career in 2012 at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., as a graduate assistant, overseeing recruiting and managing the scholarship budget for two years. During that span, the Reddies saw six student-athletes qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships.

A former student-athlete himself, Ritz was a four-year letterwinner for Cleveland State’s swimming program, where he garnered the team’s Leadership Award as a senior and served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council for three years. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in communication in 2012 and then went on to earn his master’s degree in sports administration from Henderson State in 2014.