Pieter Ritz

Pieter Ritz

  • Title:
    Associate Head Coach
  • Phone:
    687-4812
  • Email:
    p.ritz@csuohio.edu
  • Experience:
    Fourth Season at CSU (Second as Associate Coach)

Pieter Ritz is entering his second season as the associate head coach and fourth year with the men’s and women’s swimming & diving teams.

In 2021-22, Ritz helped the men’s team to their fourth straight runner-up finish at the Horizon League Championship. At the conclusion of the championship, Timothy Kubacki was named the Horizon League Athlete of the Year. The Vikings brought in two individual championships; Timothy Kubacki in the 200-yard IM and Jackson Nester in the 400-yard IM, while also winning the 400-yard medley relay with Dominik Niedzialek, Griffin Manning, Bob Fick, and Paddy Johnston. On the women’s side, the Green and White placed fifth with Ana Sofia Sousa winning the lone championship in the 200-yard freestyle. Outside the pool, six athletes were named to the Horizon League All-Academic team. In addition, both teams were named the Horizon League Raise Your Sights Award winners.

During the shortened 2020-21 season, Ritz helped the men’s team to a runner-up finish at the Horizon League Championships. After the meet, Bob Fick was named Freshman of the Year. In addition, he aided in three induvial champions. On the women’s side, he assisted the team to a fifth-place finish.

Outside of the pool, Cleveland State had a Horizon League best seven swimming and diving athletes named to the HLSD All-Academic Teams.

Ritz helped the Vikings to numerous successes in his first season at the helm. He helped both the men’s and women’s programs to runner-up showings at the 2020 Horizon League Championships.

On the women’s side, Ritz helped the Vikings to the best showing by a CSU squad at the league meet in seven years, in terms of both placement and point total. The Vikings had tied for third in the preseason poll, but CSU not only surged ahead of the team it was tied with but also leapt past the preseason runner-up when it was all said and done.

The CSU men won six titles at the league championships with Ritz’s assistance, the program’s second-best mark over the past seven years. Timothy Kubacki and Dominic Poletta both won a pair of individual HL titles while the latter subsequently won two individual titles at the National Invitational Championship.

Ritz helped the Vikings as they broke school records in five swimming events, three men’s and two women’s, in his first season. Combining the men’s and women’s teams, CSU surpassed NCAA qualifying marks in five swimming events and posted 89 swims during the season that rewrote the all-time top-10 lists at CSU.

Ritz, who brought seven years of collegiate coaching experience back to CSU, returned to his alma mater as he swam for the Vikings from 2008-12.

Ritz's most recent coaching stint saw him spend four seasons as an assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator at the University of Cincinnati, playing a significant role in helping turn around the fortunes of both the men's and women's programs.

After placing last in the league in the season prior to Ritz's arrival, the men's program won their first two conference championships in program history as the Bearcats won the 2018 and 2019 American Athletic Conference titles. On the women's side, Cincinnati went from a fifth-place effort the season prior to Ritz's arrival before garnering back-to-back runner-up finishes in his final two seasons.

UC claimed seven individual men's swimming titles at the 2019 AAC Championships while a Bearcat also was named Men's Most Outstanding Swimmer for the first time in school history.

During the 2017-18 season, 25 Bearcats were named All-AAC while eight claimed individual conference titles as the UC men won a conference championship relay for the first time.

Outstanding individual efforts were not uncommon in Ritz's tenure at UC as Jacqueline Keire was a First Team All-American and won back-to-back AAC Most Outstanding Swimmer honors while Chris Bready became the first male Bearcat to qualify for the NCAA Championships in seven years in 2017.

Ritz served as the site director for the USA Central Zone Swimming Select Camp and also led the organization and planning of the Cincinnati Swim Camps.

Prior to Cincinnati, Ritz spent one season as the volunteer assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. During his time at FGCU, the Lady Eagles were crowned conference champions in 2015 and qualified seven women to the NCAA Championships. The Eagles' 200 medley relay team earned First Team All-America status with their finish at NCAA's.

Ritz began his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at Henderson State University where he oversaw recruiting and managed the scholarship budget. During his two seasons at Henderson State, the program sent a total of six student-athletes to the NCAA Division II Championships.

Ritz was a four-year letterwinner for the Vikings, where he earned the swimming program's Leadership Award in his senior season. He also served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Council for three years at CSU.

A native of Fort Myers, Fla., Ritz graduated from Cleveland State with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 2012. He proceeded to earn a Master of Science degree in sports administration from Henderson State in 2014.