The University of Wisconsin – River Falls, which competes in men’s and women’s swimming in Division III, is in danger of losing out on their 2013-2014 season if they don’t find a new head coach.

In a memo sent to the team on Friday, Director of Athletics Roger Ternes emailed the team to notify them of a meeting on Monday, September 9th. In his memo, Ternes noted that since losing Ryan Hawke to the Hamline program, the team has spent 6 weeks searching for a new candidate. There were 2 potential candidates (unnamed, but one from Milwaukee and one from Apple Valley, Minnesota) who withdrew their names from consideration.

This comes after the team was notified on August 12th that if the team could not find a head coach prior to the beginning of the academic year, that the program could be suspended for the “foreseeable future.”

“We are aggressively searching for a qualified coach that will be a suitable match for UWRF.,” Ternes’ email said. “However, if we fail to secure a new coach prior to the beginning of the academic year, we may be forced to suspend the program for the foreseeable future.”

At the meeting on Monday, the team was reminded of this possibility. According to Isaac Mikey, who exhausted his eligibility after the 2012-2013 season, the team was told in this meeting that the Athletics Department would have to meet with the Board of Directors before any final decisions are made.

Hawke’s departure for Hamline came after UWRF crushed them head-to-head to close the regular season in 2013 by a margin of 184-106.

UW-RF would go on to place 6th out of 6 teams at the WIAC Championships on the women’s side, and 5th out of 6 teams on the men’s side.

Interested candidates can contact Roger Ternes via email at [email protected] of via phone at 715-425-3246.