Hofstra University is adding men's and women's swimming and diving to its NCAA Division I athletics program, the school announced Monday. The two teams bring Hofstra's roster of varsity sports to 23, and they are the university's first new intercollegiate programs since men's and women's indoor and outdoor track arrived in 2019.

The teams will begin competing in the 2027-2028 academic year. A national search for coaches starts immediately, the university said, and so does recruiting.

The pool is already there

Both teams will train and compete at the Hofstra University Swim Center on the Hempstead campus, a facility with an Olympic-size pool and four diving boards. The building has long hosted club programs, lessons and meets for swimmers across Nassau County; now it gets college teams of its own in residence.

University president Susan Poser said the new programs create opportunities for student-athletes to compete at the highest level while studying in Hofstra's business, communication, engineering, nursing, healthcare and liberal arts programs. Rick Cole Jr., Hofstra's vice president and director of athletics, called the addition a step forward for the athletics department and said the school looks forward to building the programs and welcoming the new coaches and athletes into its ranks.

What it means for Long Island swimmers

For high school and club swimmers on Long Island, the announcement adds a Division I option close to home. There are 137 men's swimming and diving programs competing at the Division I level nationwide, 50 of them in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. On the women's side there are 201 programs, 56 of them in the region. Until now, none of them trained on Long Island.

Both Hofstra teams will compete in the Coastal Athletic Association, the conference Hofstra's other sports already call home. Their arrival brings the CAA's sponsorship of the sports to six men's programs and nine women's programs.

A growing athletics department

Hofstra currently fields about 375 student-athletes across its varsity programs. The university has been adding rather than cutting in recent years: the 2019 track and field addition brought four programs at once, and Monday's announcement adds two more.

Swimmers and divers interested in the new programs can watch the athletics site at gohofstra.com as the coaching searches and recruiting get under way. The first meets are two years off; the first roster spots are being filled now.

Sources