Jim Henry
Jim Henry
Title: Robert J.H. Kiphuth Coach of Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving
Phone: 203-432-2447
Email: james.henry@yale.edu
Previous College: University of Texas, B.S. '90

Jim Henry is the Robert J.H. Kiphuth Head Coach of Swimming and Diving, directing both the men's and women's teams beginning with the 2017-2018 season.  

During his first five seasons with the Bulldogs, Henry coached the women's team from fourth place at the Ivy League Championships in 2013 to first place at the Championships in 2017.  In each of the last three seasons, the Bulldogs have had an undefeated Ivy Dual record.  During the 2016-2017 season, Henry coached the Bulldogs to an Ivy League Championship, top-25 NCAA Division I weekly ranking and the highest team GPA in recent years (3.60).   

In his first season at Yale, Henry, along with assistant coach Dani Korman and diving coach Chris Bergère, led the Bulldogs to a 5-2 record in Ivy League dual meet competition.  In addition, the Bulldogs took fourth place at the Ivy League Conference Championships and set three new Ivy League Records in the 100-yard butterfly (Forrester, 51.57), 200-yard butterfly (Forrester, 1:54.60) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (Fosburgh, Forrester, Tsay, Weaver, 3:18.44).  Seven team members earned All-Ivy First Team or Second Team honors.  Eva Fabian and Alex Forrester qualified for the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships and Henry coached Forrester to two All-American finishes in the butterfly events. 

In his second season at Yale, Henry led the Bulldogs to a 4-3 Ivy League record and a third-place finish at the 2014 Ivy League Championships.  Fabian earned Ivy League Swimmer of the Meet and Lilybet MacRae earned Ivy League Diver of the Meet honors.  Nine athletes earned All-Ivy honors.  Fabian and MacRae, qualified for and competed at the 2014 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships.

During his third season at Yale, Henry led the Bulldogs to a 5-2 Ivy League dual meet record, defeating Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn.  The team also finished in third place at the 2015 Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships after being locked in a three-way race for first from day one of competition.  They also scored nearly 200 more points than when they finished in third place the previous season.  Eleven athletes earned All-Ivy Honors.  Henry also led freshman Maddy Zimmerman to the 2015 NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships in the 100-yard butterfly. 

During his fourth season, the Bulldogs finished out their dual season with an undefeated 7-0 Ivy Record.  The team earned a hard-fought second-place finish at the 2016 Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships and three Bulldogs took home individual honors.  Freshman Isabella Hindley earned High Point Swimmer of the Meet, junior Lilybet MacRae earned High Point Diver of the Meet, and senior Eva Fabian earned the Career High Point Award.  Henry took three Bulldogs to the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships: Fabian, Hindley, and Cailley Silbert. 

During his fifth season, the Bulldogs were undefeated in Ivy and non-Ivy dual competition.  The team was victorious at the 2017 Ivy League Championships for the first time in nearly two decades.  Bella Hindley and Cailley Silbert shared the honor of Individual High Point Swimmer of the Meet, Kina Zhou earned the Career High Point Swimmer award, and Lilybet MacRae earned the double honor of the Rick Gilbert High Point Diver of the Meet and the Ron Keenhold Career High Point Diver.

Henry coached both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams in his sixth season. The men's team achieved a 7-2 winning season in Ivy League dual meet competition and a third place finish at the 2018 Ivy League Championships.  In addition, the Bulldogs set 11 school record at Ivies and six members recieved All-Ivy honors. Kei Hyogo '18 recieved the Harold S. Ulen Award as the Ivy League's career high point swimmer and competed with his teammates, Aaron Greenberg '18 and Adrian Lin '19, at the 2018 NCAA Division I Championships. The women's team were undefeated in dual meet compeition and finished runner-up at the 2018 Ivy League Championships, breaking two meet records and numerous school records. Cailley Silbert '18 received the Career High Point Swimmer award and Nikki Watters '21 was named the Rick Gilbert High Point Diver of the Meet. In addition, Heidi VanderWal '18 competed at the NCAA Division I Swimming Championship. 

During his tenure, the Bulldogs have climbed the ranks of academia as well, improving their team GPA steadily from 3.44 in fall 2012 to 3.60 in fall 2016.  The Bulldog women currently hold the highest team GPA among all Ivy League swimming and diving teams and at least one-third of the team holds CSCAA Scholar All-American status. 

Henry has been named as a United States National Team Coaching Member for the past four seasons, for Laura Sogar in the 2012-2013 season and for Fabian in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 and 2014-2016 seasons.  In 2013, Henry co-coached Fabian to a third place finish at U.S. Open Water National Championships in the 10-km open water race and a third place finish at the World Championships in the 25-km in Barcelona, Spain.  In 2014, Henry co-coached Fabian to a third place finish at U.S. Open Water National Championships in the 10 km open water race and a second place finish at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships in Maui, Hawaii.

 Henry has 24 years of coaching experience with 17 of those years at the collegiate level. He spent five years as assistant coach and one year as associate head coach for the University of Texas, three years at the University of Denver, and three years as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Southern Methodist University.  During that time, Henry coached his athletes to four top-10 NCAA Division I finishes, three Big 12 Conference Championships, nineteen new school records (University of Texas) and CSCAA Team Excellence Awards for the years 2006-2012.  Throughout his career, Henry has coached 44 All-Americans.  

Prior to getting into collegiate coaching, Henry spent 8 years coaching at the club and high school levels.  He was the aquatics director and head swim coach at The Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J. from 1995-98. Peddie finished fourth at the 1997 U.S. Nationals and was second at the U.S. Open that year. Henry led Peddie to the 1998 Junior National Team Championship and developed 31 high school All-Americans as well.

Henry competed at the collegiate level at the University of Texas where he was a national championship team member for three seasons (1987-1988, 1988-1989, 1989-1990).  He was also named team captain during his senior season (1989-1990) and earned All-American honors in 1990, as well as the Bob Cone Spirit Award in 1988, 1989, and 1990.  

Henry and his wife Heather have three sons, Aidan 12, Finn 10, Hugh 8 and reside in Guilford, Conn.