Bio

Brenda Straker is in her eighth season as the head men's and women's swimming & diving coach at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) in 2021-22. She is also the aquatics director.

Straker carries two decades of coaching experience to the pool, coaching 48 All-Americans in her career. Prior to USJ, she was the interim head coach for men’s and women’s swimming at Trinity College for the 2013-2014 season. Before the Bantams, Straker was at the helm of the Cardinals, coaching the swimming & diving teams at Wesleyan University from 1992-99, where she was also the aquatics director. Straker was voted as the New England Men’s Division II/III Coach of the Year in 1998. 

Straker made history at the University of New Hampshire, becoming the first head swimming coach to command both programs simultaneously, and one of only three women in the nation to coach a Division I men's program. She did so from 1987-92, and was voted Division I Men’s New England Coach of the Year in 1990.

Prior to UNH, Straker was at Clarkson University from 1985-87, also coaching both swim teams and serving as aquatics director. She had swimmers qualify for the NCAA National Championships in 1986 and 1987.

Straker received her master’s in Sport Management at the University of Massachusetts in 1984. She also earned a BS in Public Relations/Communications from Boston University in 1983, where she was a four-year scholarship athlete as a swimmer for the Terriers.

Straker and her husband Garry reside in South Glastonbury, Conn., and have three kids: Liam, Danny and Caleigh. Liam and Caleigh have had swim careers at Providence College and Holy Cross respectively.