Mann joins swimming and diving staff

FAYETTEVILLE – Todd Mann becomes the assistant swimming and diving coach at the University of Arkansas, Lady Razorback head coach Jeff Poppell announced today. “It’s going to be a pleasure and honor to work with Jeff again,” Mann said. “I hope that our work together in the past will carry over to Arkansas, and we can make this a very successful program.” Mann worked with Poppell as his senior assistant coach and assistant aquatics director at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., for the past four years, and brings a wealth of experience working with world-class athletes to the University. “I’m very excited to continue coaching with Todd,” Poppell said. “He’s an excellent coach who possesses a great deal of integrity and a high level of caring for all the athletes he coaches. He brings a tremendous amount of experience having worked with the highest level of athletes in our sport.” Throughout his 10 years of coaching experience, Mann has assisted with the development of athletes that competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials and various international competitions. Most recently, Mann was an assistant coach for the Cayman Islands swim team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. He also worked with the Cayman team at the CARIFTA Championships. “Todd had developed great relationships with many of the nation’s top high school and club coaches, and I think he will be a great recruiter for Arkansas,” Poppell said. In 2003, he served as the head coach for the Florida Zone Team, after two seasons as the zone squad’s assistant. Mann also served two terms as a member of the Florida Swimming Board of Directors. At The Bolles School, Mann handled dry land activity for the national group swimmers, as well as assisting Poppell with four men’s and women’s Florida high school state championship teams, and two women’s runner-up state championship squads. “We enjoyed great success at Bolles together, and he was a key in developing some of the top high school and club swimmers in the U.S. including several that appeared in the world rankings,” Poppell said. “He is a great organizer and administrator.” Before joining Bolles, Mann worked four seasons as the assistant aquatics coach and senior coach for Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Florida. He started his coaching career in 1994 as the head coach and assistant aquatics director of Swim Florida Bradenton in Bradenton, Fla. A 1994 graduate of Florida State, Mann and his wife Jaime have one son, Cade, and are expecting a daughter soon.