Iowa State Hires Matt Leach Away from Washington State as Head Coach

Iowa State on Wednesday announced the hiring of Matt Leach, formerly the head coach of Washington State, to the same position.

Leach is the fifth head coach in Cyclones history, replacing Duane Sorenson, who announced his retirement in March after 27 years in charge.

“I am honored to be the next Head Swimming and Diving Coach at Iowa State University,” Leach said in a university statement. “Coach Sorenson has been an absolute pillar of this program and I am thrilled to be named his successor. I want to sincerely wish him well in his retirement and hope to see him on the pool deck. I would like to thank President Wendy Wintersteen, Jamie Pollard and Calli Sanders for allowing me to lead the next generation of Cyclones,” he added. “I am humbled and extremely excited to get to work and help lead, grow, and inspire these student-athletes into the next chapter of success. Go Cyclones!”

Leach spent six seasons in Pullman. His teams produced NCAA qualifiers all five times that the meet was held during his tenure after a decade-long drought. That included a point scorer in 2024 in Emily Lundgren, just the sixth time in program history a Cougar has scored at NCAAs. His most recent team set school records, 21 top-10 times, two Pac-12 medals and scored 498.5 points, the team’s second-highest in the Pac-10/12 era.

“We are thrilled to welcome Matt, Katie, and their children, Eloise and Arlo, back to the Midwest and to our Cyclone family,” senior association director of athletics Dr. Calli Sanders said.  “We believe Matt embodies the perfect blend of characteristics and experiences that we were looking for in our next head coach, bringing Power 5 head coaching experience, a commitment to the whole student-athlete, and boundless energy, to our program. His enthusiasm for joining our community and leading our swimming and diving program was undeniable throughout the entire interview process, and he has a clear vision for the future of the Cyclone Swimming & Diving program.”

Leach spent three seasons as the founding head coach of Indiana State’s women’s team, where he was the Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year in 2017-18. He worked for six seasons at the University of Wyoming, including four as the associate head coach. The native of Portland, Ore., was a four-time All-American swimmer at the Indiana University, graduating in 2004. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at LSU, then two seasons as a volunteer assistant in Baton Rouge.