Peter Richardson has been the head swimming coach at Fresno Pacific University since the program's inception in 2007. In just five years as a program, Richardson has turned the men's and women's swimming teams into perennial NAIA powers as they head into NCAA Division II.
The men’s swimming program won back to back NAIA National Championships in 2010 and 2011, the youngest program ever to accomplish that feat, then finished as the national runner-up in 2012. The women’s team won the 2012 national championship and finished as runner-up in 2011. The Fresno Pacific men’s swim team has now finished 6th, 2nd, 1st, 1st and 2nd in the five years as a program. The women’s team has improved each season, finishing 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and 1st.
Under Richardson, FPU swimmers have won 31 individual national championships and 18 championship relays; while setting 24 NAIA national records. Richardson was named the NAIA National Coach of the Year in each of the past four seasons (2009 Men’s, 2010 Women’s, 2011 Men’s, 2012 Women’s).
Richardson believes that to be a great program, FPU swimmers need to swim times that compare them with the best teams in the country – regardless of division. In the last two seasons alone, Fresno Pacific had more than 25 NCAA Division 1 "B" cuts.
Richardson’s success at FPU includes developing 2010 and 2012 NAIA National Swimmer of the Year, Cheyenne Coffman. Coffman came to Fresno Pacific as a 24.4 50 freestyler and 1:01 backstroker. In 2010, she qualified for the Olympic trials and was ranked 17th in the country in 50 LCM freestyle (25.74). She swam the 50 yard freestyle in 22.29 and the 100 backstroke in 52.41 by the end of her FPU career.
In the summer of 2010, Richardson helped four Sunbird swimmers qualify for USA Nationals in Irvine. In 2011, Richardson took not only individual qualifiers, but also relays to USA Nationals at Stanford University. In 2009, FPU swimmers Cheynne Coffman, Carl Weigley, Seamus Alger, and Jared Gilbert swam under Richardson at the US Open in Federal Way, Washington. At the US Open meet, Richardson also coached Cal-Berkeley’s NCAA Champion Josh Daniels and USC NCAA qualifier Jeff Daniels to lifetime bests in the 50M and 100M LC freestyles while representing Clovis Swim Club.
Peter Richardson started his swimming career at Buchanan High School and continued with Clovis Swim Club where he helped the Clovis Swim Club men’s team win Summer Junior Nationals in 1999.
After high school, Richardson attended University of the Pacific where he earned his Bachelor's degree and teaching credential. While at Pacific, he was the team captain his junior and senior seasons. During those two years, UOP won back-to-back Big West Conference Championships. The UOP team broke a 23-year Big West Conference win streak when they defeated UC Santa Barbara in 2002 and repeated in 2003. In his senior season, Richardson received the Pacific Leadership Award for all athletics.
After college, Richardson was the assistant National Team Coach with Clovis Swim Club and the head men’s & women’s swim coach at Sanger High School where they won four league championships in three years. Richardson earned his Master's degree in 2007 from Fresno State. His degree is in teaching with an emphasis on multicultural education in the classroom.
Coach Richardson has been married to his wife, Jonelle, for eight years. They have two daughters, Gabrielle (4) and Brooklyn (1).
