In his 13th season as head coach, Craig Mallery continues to guide the Seattle University men's and women's swim teams to new heights with each new season. From coaching the Redhawks to an NAIA national title to watching SeattleU progress to one of the premier programs in NCAA Division II to continuing the transition to Division I status, Mallery has truly built a powerhouse in 12 seasons with the school. This coming season will continue Mallery's progress as the women's program has joined the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
In 2010, Mallery was named the Pacific Collegiate Swim Conference Coach of the Year on both the men’s and women’s side, following the team’s best-ever finish at the conference championships. The 2009-10 season was capped with 13 conference titles, ending with a second-place finish for the men and a third-place finish for the women. There were 21 new school records set between the men’s and women’s programs.
Mallery has coached three individual national champions: Elliott Kolbe winning the NAIA title in the 200 meter breaststroke in 2002, Chris Coley earning the NCAA Division II national title in the 100 yard butterfly in 2006, and Jakub Jiracek completing an extraordinary career with a victory in the 200 yard breaststroke at the 2008 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships.
The men's swim team reached new heights in 2007 and 2008, finishing in ninth place at the 2007 Division II Championships and in eighth place during the 2008 national meet. Meanwhile, the women's team continued to send representatives to the national championships, as Anna Vanha qualified in 2007 and Francesca Reale earned a spot in the 2008 meet, swimming her way to an All-American performance thanks to a school-record swim in the 100 backstroke.
The progression of the program has been impressive in Mallery's career in Seattle. In his first season with the program, he guided the men's team to a seventh-place finish at the 1998 NAIA Championships, then followed with a third place men's team finish in 1999 which earned him national Coach of the Year honors.
In 2000, the women's program joined the national spotlight as both teams placed third at the NAIA Championships and Mallery was honored with his second national Coach of the Year honor, this time for his work with the women's program. He followed that performance with an NAIA title for the men's team in 2002 while the women were runners-up. The national title for the men was just the second in any sport at Seattle University.
As an NAIA program under Mallery, the men placed in the top seven all five of his seasons at the program including four straight top-three finishes, while the women cracked the top seven for four consecutive years with three straight top-three results.
After moving to the NCAA Division II level, Mallery continued to watch his team move up the standings. The team topped out in 2004 when the women placed 13th and the men placed 17th and both the men's and women's teams repeated with another pair of top 20 finishes in 2005 (women - 18th; men - 19th). In 2006, the women finished in 15th place while the men earned a 16th place finish.
Mallery was a four-year letterwinner at Boston University where he set school records in the 50 and 100 freestyle events. After graduating from Boston University in 1986, Mallery stayed on as an assistant coach for two seasons before making his way to SeattleU as the facilities and aquatics coordinator. Along with his coaching duties, Mallery is still in charge of the aquatics programs at Seattle University.