Brendon Bray
Camp Director
Reno native Brendon Brays enters his ninth season as the head coach of the women’s swimming and diving program. The 2024-25 campaign for the Wolf Pack marks his 20th overall season of NCAA coaching.
Bray has had much success as the head coach of the Wolf Pack. In his first six seasons at Nevada, the team has finished no lower than third place at the conference championships including a recent four-year run of Mountain West runner up after finishing second place from 2019 to 2022. During that period Bray’s squads have scored at the NCAA championships and finished as the 24th place team in the country in 2017, the 29th place team in 2018 and 36thplaced team in 2023. Each of those years Nevada was the highest placing team from the Mountain West at the NCAA championships. Every year Bray has been the coach at Nevada the team has been represented at the NCAA Championships with individual qualifiers. More recently at the NCAA Championships Nevada sent 3 individual qualifiers during the 2022-23 season which was tied for most in the Mountain West Conference. During the 2023-24 season Nevada also sent 3 individual qualifiers to the NCAA championships which led all Mountain West Conference institutions.
From his hire in July of 2016 Bray has produced many individual and relay conference champions. Bray teams have won multiple championships in the 800 free relay as well as the 400 Medley Relay and individual conference championships over 20 different times. Bray’s teams have set school records in the 100 Free, 100 and 200 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, one meter and three-meter platform, 200 Free relay, 200 Medley Relay and 400 Medley Relay, 1000 freestyle and 1650 freestyle.
Swimmers that Bray has coached have represented countries from all over the world and he has coached two recent national champions, Josien Wijkhuijs, who was the champion of the Netherlands in the 50 and 100 backstroke as well as the 100 IM and also Andressa Cholodovskis who was the national champion in Brazil in the 100 IM showing his support and encouragement for international athletes to compete in their home country qualifying events. Bray has also been very proud of local swimmers who have represented the team as Reno native and Bishop Manogue graduate Donna dePolo qualified for the NCAA championships in the 100 and 200 breaststroke in 2021 and 2022 and the 2021 Wave two Olympic trials as well as McQueen graduate Benedict Nagy qualifying for the 2023 NCAA championships in the 400 IM. Enkhkhüslen Batbayaryn who competed in the 2020 and 2024 Olympics for Mongolia is apart of the team for the 2024 season.
Bray has also cultivated a strong academic culture with Nevada achieving College Swim Coach Association team scholar All-American status every semester bray has been the coach. His teams have never achieved below a 3.4 GPA and has earned as high as a 3.68 from the fall of 2022.
Prior to joining the Pack, Bray was the head Coach at North Texas leading the Mean Green to one of its best seasons in recent program history, highlighting his building process as UNT transitioned into a new conference. North Texas posted a 7-4 dual record in 2015-16, finishing with the second-most dual wins and second-best winning percentage in school history. Bray also helped the team to a 4th place finish at the Conference USA championships which was the highest finish in C-USA history.
Bray arrived to North Texas from San Diego State, where he coached the Aztecs for six seasons from 2007-13 and helped turn the program into a national contender. Bray was an assistant coach at SDSU before being promoted to associate head coach.
Prior to Bray’s arrival at SDSU, the program had finished last at the conference meet for five straight seasons. After helping recruit the fourth-best recruiting class in the nation in 2009, Bray then led the Aztecs to its first Mountain West championship in program history in 2011 before repeating as league champions in 2013.
Bray elevated SDSU to a peak No. 9 national ranking in NCAA Division I according to CollegeSwimming.com and frequent top 25 CSCAA rankings. During Bray’s tenure, the Aztecs broke every single swimming and diving program record and posted a 77-14 overall dual record, becoming a conference and regional power. Bray coached three Mountain West Swimmers of the Year, six NCAA All-Americans and 13 individual NCAA Championship participants during his tenure. SDSU also posted a 26-1 dual record in three seasons following Bray’s promotion into the role of associate head coach.
Bray began his coaching career at his alma mater, Washington, where he served as an undergraduate assistant from 2004-05 before being promoted to a men’s and women’s assistant head coach from 2005-07. As the program’s recruiting coordinator, Bray oversaw all recruiting operations and helped bring the top-ranked recruit in the nation to Washington in 2007. Bray also coached multiple NCAA qualifiers and NCAA Championship scorers while at UW.
After graduating as a three-time state champion at Reno High School, Bray went on to become a four-year collegiate letter winner. He began his collegiate career at Utah, competing for one season before transferring to Washington. Bray was a three-year letter winner with the Huskies and won the team’s most improved award as a junior and most inspirational award as a senior. Bray was a senior national qualifier and Pac-12 championship participant while at UW. He has also been a participant at the USA Swimming National Championships.
Bray received a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington in 2005 before earning a master’s degree in intercollegiate athletic leadership at UW in 2007. Bray resides in Reno with his wife Beth, sons Calvin and Chase, and two English Bulldogs, Dwight and Daisy.