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Daren Brubaker Chosen to Head Brophy Swim Program; Succeeds Pat O'Neill

3/21/2018

PHOENIX – March 21, 2018 – Daren Brubaker, who has been an assistant swim coach at Brophy for the past four years, will take over for Coach Pat O’Neill next fall. Coach O’Neill is returning to the Mesa School District where he taught and coached before coming to Brophy. Brubaker will also continue as a member of the Fine Arts Department where he has been teaching since January 2018.

Brubaker was part of the 2011 NCAA Division II National Champion swim team, a 2012 Olympic Trial Qualifier and was 2015 Arizona Assistant Swim Coach of the Year. Additionally, as an artist he was the 2017 Kodd Magazine featured artist, and his art features prominently in service projects he has created, including a project called “Dreaming of a Well” that seeks to bring clean water to communities in Mesoamerica.

A fourth-generation Phoenician who grew up in a family of teachers, Brubaker commented on his goals as both a swim coach and an art instructor, “Having worked under Coach O’Neill, I understand and will continue much of the teaching and traditions he implemented, and look forward to providing what each swimmer needs in terms of coaching and positive communication. As a teacher, my goal is to teach a strong curriculum in mixed media that encourages my students to use art for real world experiences.”

In announcing the appointment, Principal Bob Ryan says, “With the strong and very positive feedback I received from students and families who have already benefited from Daren’s coaching and leadership, I feel certain that Daren will continue to be an effective coach, dedicated teacher, and generous leader in the pool and the classroom. Furthermore, as a man for others who has used his art as a means of providing for marginalized communities, I am confident of his commitment to Brophy’s Jesuit mission.”

The Brophy swim program is the most successful high school athletic program in Arizona, having won the Arizona Division I championship for the past 30 consecutive years, and 40 state titles in its history.