Southwest Baptist University Athletics

Gavin is the first ever SBU men's & women's swimming head coach working on recruiting for the program during the 2024-25 school year. He and his team will begin competition in their first ever season of 2025-26. 

"We are thrilled to welcome Gavin Hagar to SBU. Gavin has great experience as a collegiate swimmer and coach, and he is passionate about using his coaching platform for the Lord! It's a great day to be a Bearcat!" -Sheehy said.

Coach Hagar joins the Bearcats after two years of being the assistant coach at William Jewell College, fellow GLVC member of SBU. While there he built season-long training regimen for 40-50 collegiate student-athletes. He also worked with those athletes to establish long-term perspective for athletic, academic, and professional goals.

"In today's collegiate landscape, it is rare to find a university like Southwest Baptist that prioritizes the development of the community's faith and Christ-centered culture." Hagar said, "what's most exciting is the alignment we have found here at SBU. The unashamedly Christian vision and purpose set forth by the President is clearly carried out in the athletic department, the specific teams and in the classrooms." 

During his time at William Jewell, he also spent time being the assistant swim coach with the "Cool Swim Team." There he developed trust, assisted in goal setting, and inspired commitment to up and coming junior swimmers. Before that coach Hagar was the assistant swim & dive coach at St. Louis University. In addition to his guidance with training and academics, coach Hagar also spent time as a recruiting specialist making him an experience recruiter at both the D1 & D2 levels.

"My family and I are excited about the opportunity to build a collegiate swim team at the division two level. I will take time to build the foundation with intention allowing for our student athletes to find balance in their lives, understand their own process of progress and develop or expose our swimmers to a relationship with Christ." 

Hagar graduated from St. Louis University in May of 2015 with his Bachelor of Science in business management. A few years later he finished his Master of Business Administration, also from SLU. He was a member of the SLU Division I swim team from 2011 to 2015.

If you or someone else is interested in joining the program, you can email coach Hagar at gavin.hagar@sbuniv.edu.