Mark Fino enters his fourth season as head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving at Sewanee for the 2026-27 academic year.
Over the last two seasons the Tigers have posted 23 school records with five conference champions, 23 all-conference performers and more than 90 Top 10 program performances.
Sewanee recorded 13 school records with SAA individual championships in the women’s 1650 free and men’s 100 free along with eight all-league performances in 2025-26. Jonah Kearns qualified for the NCAA Diving Championships while the program posted more than 50 Top 10 performances along with two NCAA provisional marks this past season as well.
In 2024-25 the Tigers set 10 school records with conference champions in the men’s 100 and 200 free and 400 free relay with 15 all-conference performers and more than 40 Top 10 performances.
Fino brings a wealth of experience and a trophy case full of conference championships, swimmer and diver of the year awards and coach of the year honors from previous coaching stints.
He spent the 2022-23 year working at the Chattahoochee Gold Swim Team in Cumming, Ga., with team members winning high school state championships, made US Open cuts and reached the finals at Winter Juniors and USA Swimming Futures meets. He also coached and organized a local recreation swim team, Dunmoor Swim Team, in Alpharetta, Ga.
Fino worked seven years (2013-14 to 2019-20 academic years) as head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving at John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, collecting eight Coach of the Year honors. Student-athletes garnered six Diver of the Year awards and five Swimmer of the Year accolades while the Blue Streaks won eight conference championships during his tenure.
He coached NCAA All-Americans and Honorable Mention All-Americans in each of the last four years at JCU and his teams earned Academic All-America honors from the College Swim Coaches Association of America during all seven seasons. Fino also increased the size of the teams from 28 to 60 during his tenure.
He previously coached at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, first serving as an assistant coach for the men’s and women’s programs for two years (2002-03 to 2003-04) become becoming the women’s head coach for two seasons. (2004-05 to 2005-06). He then served as head coach for both teams from 2006-07 to 2012-13, overseeing NCAA All-Americans and Honorable Mention All-Americans in 2012 and working with athletes who posted NCAA provisional qualifying performances during four campaigns.
Fino earned his bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Sociology from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2002 and completed all coursework towards a master's in Exercise Science from Cleveland State in 2015. He was a member of four conference championship teams at Kalamazoo.
He lives in Sewanee with his wife, Veronica, and their twin boys, Jon and Nick.
Updated 6/4/2026
