Nate Harding

Nate Harding took over the reigns of the Biola men's and women's swimming and diving programs in the summer of August 2021. The 2024-25 school year will be his fourth year as the Eagles' head coach. Throughout Harding's career as the Biola swimming and diving head coach, he has coached five CSCAA Scholar All-Americans, 10 CSCAA Scholar All-America Teams, 15 PCSC Athlete's of the Week, and three NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships qualifiers. The teams have also broken a total of 22 school records since he took over the program in 2021. Harding earned his own hardware in 2023 and 2024 with back-to-back PCSC Men's Swimming and Diving Coach of the Year awards.

The 2023-24 season saw continued success for the Eagles. The men's squad earned its second-consecutive conference crown with a convincing performance at the PCSC Championships. The team pulled in eight individual championships, while also tallying seven silver and four bronze medals. The women's squad moved into second place at the conference championships, finishing just barely out of the top spot. The Eagles matched the lead team with six golds, including a brilliant performance from Allison Yancey with two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals.

The BU men cashed in for their first conference championship under Harding's leadership at the culmination of the 2022-23 season. The team littered the podium throughout with eight individual championships. Caleb Pook shined for the Eagles, breaking multiple diving records and being the first Biola men's swim and dive athlete to advance to NCAA DII Nationals competition.

In the 2021-22 year, the men's and women's swimming and diving programs saw success under Harding's new leadership. The men's swim team closed off the 2021-22 season with their third-consecutive top-three team finish at the PCSC Championships. BU totaled 16 podium finishes at the PCSC Championships, bringing home one gold, five silver, and 10 bronze medals.

Individually, the Eagles had five swimmers finish in the top-25. Jacob Haaksma and Gabe Weber led the charge with fifth and seventh place finishes. Haaksma also broke a school record in one of the preliminary rounds of the conference championships with a speedy 57.05 finish in the 100 Yard Breaststroke.

Meanwhile, the women's squad took off in the pool for an impressive 2021-22 season. BU pushed forward into fourth place at the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships. The team pulled together five podium finishes in Utah, including one gold, three silver and one bronze.

Grace Kling and Liza Parahnevich paced the Eagles at the conference championships, tallying 83 and 81 points, respectively. Kling picked up the lone event win for Biola by storming past the field for the 200 breaststroke crown. The Brea, California native carried on to compete in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships at the end of the season. The second-year swimmer battled it out in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, taking 31st and 21st, respectively.

Prior to returning to Biola in the summer of 2021, Harding spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach with the the University of Redlands' Bulldogs in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). While at the University of Redlands, Harding coached the Bulldogs to five new school records, an individual SCIAC champion, and two NCAA qualifiers.

Before working at the University of Redlands, Harding was an assistant coach to Biola's former head Swim & Dive coach Ryan Kauth during the 2018-19 season. During his time at Biola in 2018-19, Harding's leadership helped the Eagles to break eight school records. Harding also served as an assistant coach at nationally-ranked Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in 2016-18, where he helped produce 16 NCAA DIII qualifiers and an NCAA champion.

Harding is no stranger to success at the collegiate or high school level. Prior to his collegiate coaching experience, Harding was a successful coach at Claremont High School as well as Carter High School in Rialto, California. Harding has also served as an assistant swim coach with Mt. Baldy Aquatics in Claremont, California.

Harding completed his Master of Science in Kinesiology with a concentration in sports performance at Louisiana Tech University in 2011. He earned his bachelor's degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in sports management from Grambling State University.

Off the pool deck, Nate resides in Buena Park with his wife, Joneese, daughter, Ezriela, and dog, MidKnight.