Jake Lichter

Jake Lichter was named the Head Coach of Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving at Fairfield University in June, 2024. He brings with him extensive collegiate coaching experience across all levels.

Lichter comes to Fairfield University after spending the last six seasons at Cornell University in various capacities. He joined the Big Red program as an assistant men's swimming coach for the 2018-19 season, a role he held for four seasons. He was elevated to the Assistant Head Coach of men's swimming in the spring of 2022 and served in that role until his arrival at Fairfield University.

During his time with the Big Red, Lichter helped two individuals capture Ivy League titles in addition to seeing student-athletes set 10 school records and post over 100 top-ten performances. His team also earned high academic honors achieving a 3.6 average GPA during the 2023-2024 academic year.

He started his coaching career at Ithaca College where he accepted the assistant coaching position for men's swimming during the 2013-14 season. During his tenure with Ithaca College, the program qualified 10 athletes for the Division III NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. After one season, he became the assistant women’s swimming coach and assistant aquatics director at Wellesley College, beginning with the 2014-15 campaign.

Lichter remained at Wellesley until he moved back to Ithaca for a position as the head coach of Swim Ithaca which he founded in 2012. Lichter supervised a coaching staff of five and 60 swimmers including national-level athletes from the summer of 2016 to the fall of 2018.

He returned to Ithaca College for the 2017-18 season as an assistant coach where he helped the team secure a third-place finish in the Liberty League Championships and coached four Liberty League champions.

Following his stint at Ithaca College, he moved crosstown to Cornell University as the assistant coach.

Lichter earned his bachelor of science degree in Sports Management from Ithaca College in May, 2013.