May 26, 2026

Pope promotes Bauer to head swim coach

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman Vice President for Athletics Matt Pope has announced the promotion of assistant swim coach Aaron Bauer to be the swim program's fourth head coach.

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman Vice President for Athletics Matt Pope has announced the promotion of assistant swim coach Aaron Bauer to be the swim program's fourth head coach. The announcement came during a press conference Tuesday morning in the Eagle Club Room at Burke-Tarr Stadium.

Bauer takes over for Ben Young, who announced his resignation earlier this week to enter the private sector.

"When Coach Young advised me of his decision to step away from coaching our swim programs, I was left with a feeling of oh boy; what's next and we must continue our good trajectory forward," Pope said. "Coach Young led both men and women's programs well, and we are very thankful for his care and servant-leadership of our swimming programs. As always, our desire is to seek a candidate with character, integrity, competency; someone who is a high achiever and knows how to win, someone who is a teacher, an effective communicator, someone who recruits well, but most importantly, someone who is a great fit at Carson-Newman University. And we believe that Mr. Aaron Bauer satisfies all our requirements.

"Before I even had a chance to start a search, I received emails from current student-athletes, that could not have been more supportive of Coach Bauer. They were sharing about how his Christian character defines his leadership, his recruiting prowess, and his ability to develop the student-athlete in the pool."

Bauer has had hand in coaching a pair of individual national championships, 12 first-team All-Americans, two SAC Swimmers of the Year, a SAC Scholar Athlete of the Year, an Elite 90 award winner, nine Academic All-Americans and a SAC President's Award winner.

Bauer also watched the Eagles place second in the first-ever South Atlantic Conference Swimming Championships, their highest finish ever at a league championship meet.

Bauer becomes the second straight Carson-Newman swim alum to lead the program. He swam with the Eagles as a graduate student during the 2021-2022 season before working as a graduate assistant the following season. Originally from Painesville Township, Ohio, Bauer was homeschooled throughout his high school years. He attended Pensacola Christian College and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business with a Sport Management Concentration. Bauer continued his education at Mossy Creek, obtaining a Master of Business Administration while swimming and working with the Eagles.

During his time swimming at C-N, Bauer competed in individual and relay events. Individually, he swam 19 personal-best times and earned six top-5 finishes on the season. Bauer placed first in the 100-yard backstroke in 53.33 against Milligan and placed fifth in the event against the University of Tennessee (53.05). He contributed to the men's first-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay against Lees-McRae (3:32.10) at home.