The College of New Jersey Athletics

Year of Service: 26th
Hometown: Indiana, PA
Education: BS, Education;
MS, Sports Science ’91

Brian is an associate director of athletics at TCNJ and also the men's swimming and diving coach.

Bishop enters the 2014-15 season after enjoying an incredible journey last year. The Lions placed sixth at the 2014 Division III Swimming and Diving National Championships, matching their best finish in program history. A pair of relay teams (200- and 400-freestyle relay events) won national titles and TCNJ claimed 25 All-American citations overall.

As a result, Bishop was named NCAA Division III National Swimming Coach of the Year.

During the 2013-14 season, the Lions also captured their sixth straight New Jersey Athletic Conference championship and eighth consecutive Metropolitan Conference title.

Bishop has successfully guided swimmers to the NCAA Championships in each of the last 25 seasons producing two NCAA Division III National Champions, (Matt Stoll in 1994 and Steve Swenson in 2006) and pair of national champions in relay events (Joseph Dunn, Philip Hawley, Brett Pedersen and Stephen Gibson in the 200-free relay and Dunn, Stephen Tarnowski, Pedersen and Gibson in the 400-free relay) in 2014. A total of 64 different student-athletes have earned 219 All-America awards during Bishop's tenure. TCNJ’s men’s swimmers have placed in the top-20, 20 times at the NCAA’s, including 15 times in the top 15. In 2014, the Lions matched the 2010 squad in earning its highest finish at the NCAA’s by finishing in sixth place.

The Lions have had equal success in the classroom as well, earning nine CSCAA All-Academic Team Honors, 19 individual CSCAA All-Academic Honors and one CoSIDA Academic All-American (Andrew Girman in 2000).

TCNJ’s men have also dominated the METRO Conference Championships by winning 16 of the last 21 titles including nine in a row from 1994-2002 and seven in a row from 2006-07 through 2012-13, earning 16 titles overall.

The Lions have also had tremendous success in dual meets posting a 208-46 record, including three undefeated seasons (1993-1994, 1994-1995, and 1996-1997).

Bishop has produced one Olympic Swimmer (Davy Bisslik in 2004), who competed in the 100 fly in Athens, Greece. In addition, Bishop served as the coach for Aruba in a 2004 World Cup meet in Stockholm, Sweden and has served as an advisor to the Aruba Olympic Committee. Bishop also served as the president of the METRO Swimming Conference for six years.

Coach Bishop has been honored with several coaching and service awards, including the 1994 and 2010 Roy Van Ness Award. This award is given annually to a TCNJ Coach for outstanding success and leadership as voted by TCNJ’s Athletic Department. He was also named the NJAC Coach of the Year in 1990, 1994, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 as well as the METRO Coach of the year in 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. In 1989 he received a service award from AAHPERD, and in 2001 he received a service award from the NJSIAA.

In addition to a BS in Education, Bishop earned an MS in Sport Science from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Susan, currently reside in Langhorne, PA with their sons, Connor (20) and Bryce (16).


Bishop’s Year-by-Year Record