Cleveland State University Director of Athletics Scott Garrett announced the hiring of Hannah Burandt, a Cleveland-area native, as head men's and women's swimming & diving coach June 3, 2019.
Burandt led the Vikings to numerous successes in her first season at the helm. She helped both the men’s and women’s programs to runner-up showings at the 2020 Horizon League Championships.
On the women’s side, Burandt led 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 under Burandt’s guidance, 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.
Burandt led the Vikings as they broke school records in six events, three men’s and three women’s, in her first season. Combining the men’s and women’s teams, CSU surpassed NCAA qualifying marks in nine distinct events and posted 89 swims during the season that rewrote the all-time top-10 lists at CSU.
Burandt also led Cleveland State to successes away from the pool. During her first semester at CSU, the women’s program posted a 3.55 grade point average, tied for highest in the league. Meanwhile, the men’s team had the most selections to the Horizon League Academic Honor Roll among all league men’s swimming teams in fall 2019.
Prior to CSU, Burandt had spent the past six years as a Division I assistant. She returned to Cleveland after spending the past four seasons as the assistant swimming and diving coach at Houston, playing a significant role in the revitalization of the program.
Burandt played a large role in Houston going from worst-to-first in just two years in the American Athletic Conference. In her first season on staff, the Cougars leapt from last place to third place as the program produced six individual conference champions. In the 2016-17 season, Houston won its first conference title in program history, winning the meet by over 100 points.
The Cougars continued to excel after that first championship, winning AAC titles in each of the next two years, as they increased their conference championship point total in each of Burandt's four seasons. Houston sent three individuals to the NCAA Championships in 2018, the most from any school outside a Power-Five conference. Houston scored its most points (916) at a conference meet in 40 years in 2018-19 and posted 15 NCAA 'B' times while sending another student-athlete to the NCAA Championships.
Burandt also helped improve the team academic culture upon her arrival at Houston. The team grade point average increased in each of her four years, culminating with a 3.50 mark in 2018-19, the best in program history.
Prior to Houston, Burandt spent time on staff at both Georgetown and Louisville. She helped the Hoyas to Big East runner-up men's and women's finishes in 2015 and a combined 23 all-conference honors. While at Louisville, Burandt helped the Cardinals to men's and women's AAC Championships in 2014 along with a pair of top-15 NCAA Championship finishes. The women posted their highest NCAA finish to date that season while the men's team won two individual national titles.
Burandt began her collegiate coaching career at nearby Oberlin College where she also aided the Associate Athletic Director with facilities management and scheduling responsibilities.
Burandt was a four-time Mid-American Conference champion at Eastern Michigan University and achieved NCAA 'B' cuts in the 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 800 freestyle relay. She was a Mid-Major All-America Honorable Mention selection and helped set school records in all three freestyle relays. She also played a role in helping the Eagles claim their first two MAC titles in program history in 2006 and 2007.
A native of Parma, Ohio, and a graduate of Parma High School, Burandt graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from Eastern Michigan in 2009. She proceeded to earn a Master of Science degree in sport administration from Louisville in 2018.
