Entering his 20th season as head coach of both the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs in 2019-20, Paul E. Phillips also serves as Assistant Athletic Director at the University, working closely in the areas of diversity and inclusion, and faculty outreach.
As head coach, he has overseen the proud tradition of the program by developing record-breaking student-athletes, who have earned honors on both the conference and at the national level. In recent years, the program has developed several NCAA qualifiers, 3 NCAA participants, 2 NCAA All-Americans, 2 NEWMAC champions, the NEWMAC Men’s Swimmer of the year and Women’s diver of the year.
The 2011 New England Women's And Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) men's swimming and diving coach of the year, Phillips has seen the record books rewritten during his tenure with 24 of the 27 men's records and 24 of the 27 women's records having been established under his watch.
Prior to Clark, Phillips was an accomplished high school and club team coach in his native state of Rhode Island. At Lincoln High, where he was coach from 1998-2003, he led the school to its first-ever co-ed state title (1999-2000), directed Lincoln’s girls’ team to three consecutive Rhode Island state championships and the boys’ team to three division championships.
On the club level, he built a roster of 165 swimmers in just two years at the Boys & Girls Club of Cumberland-Lincoln and led the Penguins to four straight Rhode Island/Massachusetts League championships. Phillips also developed several Rhode Island state champions and was named 2002 Rhode Island/Massachusetts League Coach of the Year.
An outstanding swimmer in his own right, Phillips is the only swimmer to earn All-State honors from North Providence High, where he was a two-year captain and 1991 Rhode Island swimmer of the year nominee. On the collegiate level, Phillips was a school-record holder and team captain at Brandeis University, where he earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1995.
Phillips has been inducted into to the Rhode Island Aquatic Hall of Fame, the North Providence Sports Hall of Fame, and was honored by Brandeis University with the Charlie Napoli Distinguished Alumni Award.
Individual awards aside, Phillips has guided the Cougar women's squad to their highest ever finish in the NEWMAC Championships, and under Phillips’ tutelage, the men own nearly every single individual record and all six relay records have come under his watch.
In addition to his role as head coach, he designed and supervised the extensive Kneller Center Pool renovation project which was completed in the fall of 2004.
