Todd DeSorbo has been the head coach of the Virginia Cavaliers Swim team at the University of Virginia, since assuming the position in 2017. He served as an Assistant Coach for the 2021 US Tokyo Summer Olympics Women's Swim Team, and in September 2023 was named to be the Head Coach for the U.S. Women's Swim team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Early swimming and education
DeSorbo was a native of Salisbury, North Carolina, born around 1977, he was swimming competitively by the age of ten. During his High School years, he was a standout swimmer for Salisbury High School, and Salisbury's Rowan Aquatic Club, where he was particularly proficient in backstroke, freestyle, and medley events. On August 11, 1990, swimming for the North Carolina Aquatic Club during the summer, at around twelve he swam with a 200 freestyle relay team that broke the National age group record with a 1:50.35 at the Southern Zone Championships in Orlando, Florida.
Swimming for Salisbury High at the State Championship meet at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill's Koury Nadatorium on March 8, 1995, he won the 200-meter Individual Medley, one of his signature events, in 1:57.98 seconds, and the 100-meter freestyle in 48.33.2 seconds, helping Salisbury to come from behind and win the State Swimming Championships.
College swimming 95-98
Beginning around the fall of 1995, he swam for University of Kentucky under Head Coach Gary Conelly where he continued to show stroke diversity placing second in a 400 Medley IM, and winning a 200 Butterfly event in a meet against Southern Illinois in October of 1997. After around three years swimming for University of Kentucky, he transferred to the University of North Carolina Wilmington for the 1998-1999 season, where he continued to swim in his Senior Year. In 1999, he was named Coastal Athletic Association's (CAA) Championship Swimmer of the Meet as a UNC Wilmington Senior after winning titles in the 200 backstroke, and in the 200 and 400 individual medley. He would set UNCW school records in the 200 and 400 individual medleys as well. His UNCW degrees are in Accounting, earning his Bachelor's in 1999, and his Master's in 2000.
Early swim coach career, 2005-2011
Early in his career, DeSorbo took his first swim coaching position for the Cape Fear Aquatics Club in Wilmington, North Carolina from 2005-2007, currently a year-round program associated with USA swimming. He then served as an Assistant Swim Coach at his alma mater, UNC Wilmington, from around 2007-2011.
NC State Head coach, 2011-2017
DeSorbo held the high-profile position of North Carolina State's Associate Head Swimming Coach from 2011-2017. He held responsibilities for daily operations, as well as recruiting and training. As a former collegiate swimmer and Medley champion, he worked with sprinters, and in the development of skills, strategy, and goal setting. In his last year of coaching the team in 2017, the North Carolina Women won the ACC title.
In the 2016 Olympics in Rio, three of DeSorbo's swimmers, Soeren Dahl, Simonas Bilis, and sprinter Ryan Held competed or qualified. Most notably, Ryan Held helped lead the U.S. Men's team to a 4x100 relay Gold medal. Bilis was also a three-time top three finisher in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle at the 2016 NCAA championships. Another top male swimmer he coached at NC State included USA National Champion Justin Ress and 2017 ACC Female Freshman of the Year, and 2016 Olympic Trial Qualifier Ky-lee Perry. As a Freshman in 2016-17, Ky-lee was a member of a 200-meter Medley relay and an ACC title winning 200 Freestyle Relay team that broke the NC State and conference records.
U. Virginia Head Swim Coach, 2017
After DeSorbo took the reigns as Head Coach in 2017, the University of Virginia Women's Swim Team won three straight NCAA Championships from 2021-2023. In DeSorbo's first year, the Women's team were Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champions.
Virginia has gained national recognition with DeSorbo at the helm, and has become the first Women's team in the ACC, a regional conference, to ever win a National NCAA title. Virginia’s women have won repeated NCAA Championships (2021, 2022 & 2023) and in three consecutive years the men's team have improved to top 10 finishes. During the first four years of Desorbo's tenure, Virginia swimmers set 16 women’s swimming school records, and 14 men’s swimming school records.