Bio
Head coach Brad Flood came to UB in the Fall 2003 semester to
begin the job of developing the University of Bridgeport’s
newest athletic program, assuming the responsibility of recruiting
student-athletes, setting a schedule and preparing for the
team’s inaugural season in 2004 – 05. In those
three seasons he has built a program that has been incredibly
successful athletically and academically at the dual meet,
conference and NCAA level.
In just the third season for the program, with Flood at the
helm, it’s no surprise the 2006 – 07 UB Purple Knights
Women’s Swimming Team continued reaching historical heights
in both the pool and classroom. The Lady Knights, who had just
won the program’s first dual meet the prior season, finished
with an impressive 8 – 1 dual meet record. The lone loss
came at the hands of a strong, NCAA Division I, University of
Vermont team. That success carried through to the 2007
Metropolitan Collegiate Swimming & Diving Conference
Championships, as the UB team broke into the Top 5 in the Team race
for the first time, placing 5th among 21
teams. Three different Purple Knights combined to win five
Individual events, led by junior Victoria Molnar’s
(Nagyvenyim, Hungary) three event sweep in the 50, 100 & 200
Freestyles. Classmates Aleksandra Byczynska (Warsaw, Poland)
and Raluca Duma (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) contributed wins in the 200
IM & 100 Butterfly respectively. The 400 Freestyle Relay
Team of Duma, Byczynska, Freshman Doris Matosic (Split, Croatia)
and Molnar garnered UB’s first METRO Championships Relay
victory. Additionally, Duma brought home 2007 METRO
Women’s Swimmer-of-the-Meet Award, another program first for
the Purple Knights. At the conclusion of the METRO
Championships Molnar, Duma and Byczynska combined to qualify for 12
Individual events at the 2007 NCAA Championships along with three
Purple Knight Relays.
New program history continued to be made at the 2007 NCAA
Championships in Buffalo, NY. Molnar (200 Freestyle) &
Duma (100 Butterfly) earned UB’s first NCAA All-America
honors on the second night, both finishing 6th in their
respective events. Molnar followed up with a 6th
place in the 100 Free as well. Byczynska (200 IM & 100
Back) & Molnar (50 Freestyle) also earned Individual Honorable
Mention All-America honors for the Purple Knights. The UB
relays were equally successful with Molnar, Duma & Byczynska
combining with 3 separate Purple Knights on the 200 (Anna Zahova,
Velingrad, Bulgaria) & 400 (Alena Gorlanova, Omsk, Russia)
Medley Relays and the 800 (Matosic) Free Relay that earned Relay
Honorable Mention All-America honors. As a team the Purple
Knights finished 14th, improving 20 places on the
team’s 2006 placing.
The UB Purple Knights’ 2006 – 07 academic achievements
were equally impressive individually and as a team, As five
Lady Knights (Byczynska – 4.00gpa, Duma – 4.00gpa,
Gorlanova – 3.75gpa, Matosic – 3.69gpa and Zahova
– 3.83gpa) earned College Swimming Coaches Association of
America Individual Academic All-America honors. As a team UB
placed second and third on the CSCAA Team Academic All-America
lists for the Fall ’06 (2nd) and Spring ’07
(3rd) semesters, extending their string of consecutive
appearances on the list to six semesters (every semester since the
program began).
It didn’t take long for Flood to put the Purple Knights
program sight’s on stellar athletic accomplishments and
academic excellence. In the 2004 – 05 inaugural season
UB Freshman Raluca Duma qualified for the 2005 NCAA Division II
NCAA Swimming Championships (200 & 400 IM, 200 Free & Fly),
making UB only the second NCAA institution to do so in their first
season. Duma was also the 2005 Metropolitan Collegiate
Swimming & Diving Conference Champion in the 200 Individual
Medley while leading UB to a 12th place team finish (out
of 21) in the inaugural season. Academically the program
achieved the CSCAA Team Academic All-America Award in both the Fall
’04 and Spring ’05 semesters and Freshman Nevena
Vatachka (Bucharest, Romania) was recognized as UB’s 2004 -
05 "Outstanding Freshman Student".
Flood’s second season team used the successes of the
’04 – ’05 team as a springboard to even loftier
heights. The Purple Knights achieved another milestone by
winning the program’s first dual meet with a 109 – 76
victory over fellow METRO Conference member NJIT, on January 28,
2006. At the 2006 METRO Championships Duma defended her
200-yard Individual Medley title, shattering the conference record
by nearly 2 seconds. Sophomore teammate Aleksandra Byczynska was
crowned the 100 & 200 Backstroke champion, tying the conference
record in the 200. As a team the UB Women moved up to
6th place in the team race and Byczynska was named 2006
METRO Conference "Rookie of the Year". Duma and Byczynska
represented Bridgeport at the 2006 NCAA Division II Swimming
Championships respectively finishing 16th in the 200
Butterfly and 15th & 16th in the 100
& 200 Backstroke scoring enough points to place the UB
Women’s Swimming Team 34th at the NCAA
Championships in just the second season. The pursuits of
excellence were not limited to the pool as both Duma &
Byczynska garnered CSCAA Academic All-America Honors and the team
extended the string of CSCAA Team Academic All-America Awards,
again achieving the prestigious honor in the Fall ’05 and
Spring ’06 semesters.
Guiding teams and individuals to historical athletic
accomplishments and academic excellence is familiar territory for
Flood, who came to Bridgeport from Central Connecticut State
University, where he was Head Coach of the Men's & Women's
Swimming & Diving Teams from 1996-2002.
In his first head coaching position, Flood developed the small New
England, NCAA Division I program into perennial ECAC Championship
Top-Five Men’s and Women’s Teams. The
Women’s Team was also Northeast Conference Team Champions in
2000. Flood was honored as ECAC Men’s Swimming Coach of the
Year in 1999 & 2000 and NEC Women’s Swimming & Diving
Coach of the Year in 2000. CCSU swimmers were voted ECAC
Men’s Swimmer of the Year in 1998, 99 and 2000 and ECAC &
NEC Women’s Swimmer of the Year in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.
In Flood’s tenure all but one CCSU School Record was
broken and his swimmers set numerous ECAC and NEC Conference and
Pool records as well.
CCSU finished 36th & 24th at the
Men’s NCAA Division I Championships in 1999 & 2000
respectively. Flood also guided Enfield, CT native Tammie
Repass to CCSU’s first Women’s NCAA Division I
Championship qualifier in 2002, competing in the 200 Butterfly and
200 & 500 Freestyles. Marcin Kaczmarek became
CCSU’s first NCAA Division I performance All-America, in any
sport, by placing 8th in the 200 Butterfly at the 2000
NCAA Championships. Additionally, Kaczmarek was CCSU’s
first student-athlete in school history to compete in an Olympic
Games, representing Poland at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Academically the CCSU teams excelled at an equal level or
excellence. Both Men’s and Women’s Teams garnered
CSCAA Team Academic All-America Awards consistently (21 of the 24
semesters) under Flood’s guidance. Dominik Matuzewicz
earned NCAA Division I Academic All-America recognition in 1999,
becoming CCSU’s first student-athlete to achieve this highest
individual award for combined athletic and academic excellence, in
any sport. Additionally, four of Flood’s swimmers (2
women and 2 men) were finalists for the prestigious NCAA
Post-Graduate Scholarship, the only CCSU student-athletes to
achieve this honor.
Prior to taking the helm at CCSU, Flood worked as Head Assistant
Coach & Recruiting Coordinator at Clemson University (1993-96)
and as an Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator at Texas A&M
University (1992-93) and University of Iowa (1988-92). While
at Iowa, Flood coached Polish Olympian Artur Wojdat to nine NCAA
Division I individual championships, including an NCAA and US Open
Record in the 500 Freestyle (4:12.24) in 1989. Wojdat’s
nine victories rank him third in individual wins in NCAA history,
and he remains the only men’s swimmer to win the 500
Freestyle four straight years.
Flood also has experience on the international scene having worked
with the Polish National Swimming Team from 1989-2005. He was
the Head Coach of the 1992 Polish Olympic Swimming Team at the
Barcelona Summer Olympics, where he trained Rafal Szukala, the
Silver Medalist in the 100-meter Butterfly. Additionally he
has coached Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists at the World
Championships, World University Games and European
Championships.
Flood earned a M.A. in Exercise Science from University of
Iowa (1991) and a B.S. in Physical Education from Slippery Rock
State College (1979), where he was a 1976 NCAA Division III
Championship qualifier and held the school record in the 200
Backstroke all four years.
Flood is the father of two sons, Ian (1989) and Ryder (1992) and
resides in Trumbull, CT.