Notre Dame adds former Hornet to swimming staff
Jul. 23—SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Huntsville High School graduate Joshua Stanfield has now been tabbed to assist with the Notre Dame men's and women's swimming teams.
Stanfield has also seen stops at Duke, his alma mater Southwestern, Gardner Webb and even the Huntsville Lakers amateur swim team.
"Coaching at such a prestigious institution is such a thrill for me," Stanfield said. "The types of student-athletes that Notre Dame attracts to the school are a blast to work with. Additionally, the steep history that the university has is special to be a part of."
As Stanfield graduated in 2007, he became the first Hornet to swim at a collegiate level.
He would attend Southwestern and swim for the Pirate's swim team before becoming a volunteer assistant coach. While he was the first one to do it, he changed the way university swim programs looked at Huntsville.
After
"Absolutely, it means a tremendous amount to me to pursue my collegiate career," Stanfield said. "To an extent, it paved a way for others behind me to pursue even better opportunities than I had, as several others were highly recruited and were able to compete at the highest level of collegiate athletics at the Division 1 level. Leaving HHS in a better place was always something I wanted to do, and then was able to carry that to my Southwestern program as well.
During his time at Southwestern, Stanfield majored in Kinesiology and was able to assist in coaching at a college level. He also got his start with the Huntsville Lakers when he was still in high school.
He knew that he wanted to continue to coach and help people achieve their goals for his career.
"I had some great coaches through summer league, club, high school, and college — each experience with the coaches allowed me to see the passion they carried and it translated not only to my success as an athlete but ultimately why I wanted to move into coaching," Stanfield said. "I owe all of my success to the fundamentals that those coaches taught me. Coaching is about people and the relationships that you form. I love that about my job, I get to connect with people and help empower and elevate them."
With the Fighting Irish, Stanfield will work under Chris Lindauer.
Lindauer was named Notre Dame's Peterson Family Swimming and Diving coach in April of 2022. With the rich history of South Bend and the outlook Lindauer brought, Stanfield knew this was a strong fit for him.
"My head coach, Chris Lindauer, had a very specific vision for this program," Stanfield said. "It's a simple formula and culture. Connect with athletes, empower them, elevate them, and allow them to succeed at the highest level of the sport. Our foundation is relationships with our athletes, training second, and elite-level performances will come. The staff at ND is also elite and experienced so jumping into this group has been a lot of fun."
The swim season will begin around October, Stanfield is ready to help build a winning culture in South Bend.
"We are building a strong foundation here, based on the culture laid out above. Our vision is clear, build an elite program here at Notre Dame and produce great people when they have completed their careers. Couldn't be more excited about the process, and what we are building here in South Bend and Go Irish," Stanfield added.