Josh Davis was hired on June 1, 2016, as the first coach of Oklahoma Christian’s swimming programs, charged with building men’s and women’s teams ready for competition that began with the 2017-18 season. It is Davis’ first collegiate coaching job.
In just five years, he's built the OC men's program into a national power, one that finished 11th and produced a national champion (J.T. Amrein in the 200-yard breaststroke) during the Eagles' first trip to the NCAA Division II Championship in 2022. Davis was named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's men's co-coach of the year in 2020.
The 49-year-old Davis is well-known in swimming circles, not just for the five Olympic medals he won, but also as one of the sport’s top teachers in the U.S., thanks to his Mutual of Omaha Breakout! Swim Clinics. Since 1996, he’s worked more than 1,000 such clinics, sharing teaching duties with more than 30 Olympic swimmers.
Davis, originally from San Antonio, didn’t begin swimming competitively until his mid-teens, but quickly developed into one of the fastest swimmers in the nation and soon began representing the U.S. in international events.
He was the U.S. flag bearer at the opening ceremony for the 1995 World University Games, then won three gold medals at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta as part of the U.S. 4x100-meter freestyle, 4x200-meter freestyle and 4x100 medley relay teams. He was the only man in any sport from any nation at the Atlanta Games to win three gold medals.
In the 2000 Games in Sydney, he served as the U.S. swim team captain and his youngest teammate on the U.S. squad was a precocious teenager named Michael Phelps. During those Olympics, Davis earned silver medals as part of the U.S. 4x100 freestyle and 4x200 freestyle relay teams and broke the U.S. record in his specialty event, the 200-meter freestyle.
He was a nine-time U.S. champion in the 200-meter freestyle (every year from 1996 to 2002), the 400-meter freestyle and the 200-meter backstroke. He remains competitive in his age group, winning the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle and finishing as the runner-up in four events in the 45-49 age group at the 2019 U.S. Masters Swimming Spring National Championships.
Davis currently holds a slew of age-group national records. For the 35-39 age-group, he has top marks in the 50 freestyle (20.14 seconds), 200 freestyle (1:36.56) and 200 backstroke (1:47.72), and in the 40-44 age group, he holds records in the 50 freestyle (20.67 seconds), 100 freestyle (45.15 seconds), 200 freestyle (1:38.23) and 500 freestyle (4:33.36). He also holds the 45-and-over record in the 50 freestyle (20.99 seconds).
Through his numerous clinics, Davis has remained close to the swimming world since retiring from competition. He also works as a motivational speaker and has spent time as a television commentator.
Davis has been inducted into the University of Texas Hall of Honor, the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame and the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame (2011). The natatorium at the North East Independent School District’s Virgil T. Blossom Athletic Center in San Antonio is named in his honor.
Davis and his wife, Shantel, moved to Oklahoma in 2012, and they live in Edmond with their six children.
