Oakland University Athletics

2016 Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Induction Interview

The 2020-21 season marked the 43rd consecutive year for Pete Hovland as a mentor of the Oakland University men's and women's swimming and diving teams, the last 41 as head coach. His tenure as a head coach for the Golden Grizzlies is tied for the second-longest among current NCAA Division I head coaches. During Hovland's storied career, the Golden Grizzlies have captured national championships, multiple conference crowns and seemingly countless individual accolades and titles.

During a shortened 2020-21 campaign due to COVID-19, Hovland coached Golden Grizzlies’ standout, Susan LaGrand to earn NCAA Honorable Mention All-American honors, becoming the fifth woman under Hovland’s leadership to become an NCAA qualifier. The Grand Rapids, Mich. native represented Oakland on the national stage swimming in the 200 IM, 100 back and 200 back. The (then) junior swam to a school record in the 200 back in 1:53.48, second-best time in her heat. LaGrand's time was good for 15th overall in the preliminary rounds moving her to the consolation finals Saturday where shefinished 16th overall with a time of 1:54.13. In the 100 back and 200 IM, LaGrand finished first in her heat during preliminary competition. 
 
As head coach, Hovland has amassed a 41-year record of 265-110 (.707) with the men's team, which collectively includes 43 consecutive conference championships, four NCAA Division II National Championships, 54 individual national champions and 38 relay national champions.

As the women's mentor for 22 seasons, including the last 20 consecutively, the Golden Grizzlies have posted a 152-76-3 (.658) record and 27 straight conference titles.

For his efforts, Hovland has been named a conference coach of the year 29 times, his most recent in 2020-21 winning the Horizon League Women's Swimming Coach of the Year.

Hovland arrived on campus in 1979 and spent his first two years as the women's head coach and the men's assistant coach. In 1981, he relinquished his women's duties to become the men's head coach. Then, in 2001, Hovland re-added the head coaching duties for the Oakland women's program.

After joining the Horizon League in 2013-14, the Golden Grizzlies carried over their storied winning tradition, and haven't looked back since, winning the conference title every year. Oakland's men's and women's title that year marked the first Horizon League championships for Oakland University. Oakland's swimming sweep in 2015 also aided the Golden Grizzlies in capturing the coveted McCafferty Trophy, the Horizon League's all-sport championship.

The 2013-14 campaign also marked a first for the Horizon League thanks to Oakland, when diver Tricia Grant became the first league diver - men's or women's - to advance to the NCAA Championships.

Prior to Oakland's move to the Horizon League, the Golden Grizzlies had sole ownership of the Summit League's swimming and diving titles. Over a 14-year span, the Golden Grizzlies captured every team title - both men's and women's - for each season the teams were eligible for the championship.

Fourteen times since Oakland's move to Division I, Hovland has seen swimmers and divers qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships, nine for the men and five for the women. Of those, Susan LaGrand 2021, 200 back), Devon Nowicki (2016; 100 breast) Anders Jensen (2009, 200 back), Marcin Unold (2008, 100 & 200 back; 2007, 100 back), Chris Sullivan (2006, freestyle) and Tanya Korniyenko (2004, butterfly) went on to score at the national meet and earn All-America honors.

Diver Joe Smith placed 18th at the 2018 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in 1-meter diving. Smith was the first male diver in Oakland history to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships.

The Golden Grizzlies have done it all under Hovland, winning numerous national and conference championships. In Oakland's Division II days, his men's team finished in the top-three at the national championships in 15 of 16 appearances, including winning four consecutive NCAA titles before making the move to Division I status.
 
In 1997, Oakland captured its fourth consecutive Division II National Championship in San Antonio, Texas. In the 1990s alone, Hovland and his team claimed four national championships, three NCAA runner-up finishes and one third-place mark. In his 18 years, Oakland has finished in the top three in the country 15 times, with eight second-place finishes, including five in a row from 1987-91. The success has become habitual for the man who has been selected NCAA Division II Coach of the Year six times. 
 
Hovland has had the honor of coaching the NCAA Division II Swimmer of the Year in seven of the 18 seasons he coached. Chris Zoltak was the last to win the honor, being named Division II's top swimmer in 1994. Prior to that, former assistant coach Doug Allen captured the honor in 1991. Tracy Huth, Oakland's former women's swimming coach, won the honor three times, while Mark Vander Mey won it in 1988 and Hilton Woods won it in 1989. 
 
All four of Oakland Olympians have competed for Hovland. Hilton Woods, who won a bronze in the 50-meter freestyle at the 1987 Pan-American Games, swam for the Netherlands Antilles at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was joined by Hovland who served as his coach.Also competing at the games were Scott Dickens (Canada - 2004), Dario DiFazio (Venezuela - 1992, 1996) and Haitham Hassan (Egypt - 2000).
 
While the success in the pool has been astounding, it has been matched by success in the classroom. The Golden Grizzlies are consistently named as an All-Academic Team by the National Swimming Coaches Association of America, and a number of Oakland individuals, including 1997 graduate Jay Judson, have been honored by being named to the NSCAAAll-Academic Team. With his 3.74 GPA in English Literature and his many athletic accolades, Judson was awarded a prestigious NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship in 1997, becoming the seventh Oakland male swimmer to do so.
 
Prior to being handed the head coaching reins, Hovland served as an assistant to Oakland head coach and Oakland Hall of Honor member Ernie Maglischo for two seasons, one of which was Oakland's NCAA Championship year.
 
The pair first connected at Chico State, where Maglischo coached Hovland.as a swimmer, Hovland won five individual national titles and was part of eight national championship relay squads as he was a 23-time NCAA Division II All-America. He swam on four NCAA Championship teams. In 1976, he was selected as the Far Western Conference (FWC) Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the Chico State Hall Of Honor in 1998 and the City of Chico Hall of Fame in 2009.
 
On Sept. 9, 2016, Hovland was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. Other members of the class included: Tom Gage (Detroit News baseball writer), John Long (University of Detroit / Detroit Pistons), Robert Mann (Detroit Lions), Kathy McGee (Flint Powers High School / Central Michigan), Chris Osgood (Detroit Red Wings), Brendan Shanahan (Detroit Red Wings) and Ben Wallace (Detroit Pistons).
 
In 2020 Hovland was inducted into the Summit League Hall of Fame, where Oakland competed from 1999-2013. A 15-time Mid-Continent/Summit League Coach of the Year, Hovland coached 28 league championship teams, leading every men’s and women’s team he coached as a league member from 1999 to 2013 to a conference title. 
 
Hovland earned his bachelor's degree in physical education Chico State in 1976, and received his master's degree from the Northern Iowa in 1979. Following his swimming career, Hovland was an assistant coach at Chico State and Northern Iowa.