Episcopal swimming coaches
Benji DeMotte
Head Coach
Among Head Coach Benjamin “Benji” DeMotte's greatest accomplishments was coaching one of his swimmers to compete in the 2004 Olympics in the 50-freestyle, and recruiting Binghamton University’s first Olympic medalist in the process. His swimmers hold the Austrian 200-backstroke and Hungarian 50-freestyle records and he has coached seven All-Americans in Divisions I, II and III. Additionally, he has coached six Conference Athletes of the Year and earned the Conference Coach of the Year on six separate occasions. His coaching career holds 11 conference records, 92 Binghamton team records, six University of Arkansas team records and he has coached four Binghamton Athletes of the Year.
Most recently, he was the head age group coach for the Northwest Arkansas Aquatics in Bentonville, Arkansas. Before that, he held the positions of assistant coach for women’s swimming and diving at the University of Arkansas, associate and then head coach for men’s and women’s swimming and diving at Binghamton and president of the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Swimming Conference in Binghamton, New York.
He earned his Bachelors of Science in exercise physiology from Syracuse University in 1994 and his Masters in Business Administration from Binghamton University in 2002.
Cell: (904) 735.7417
Pool: (904) 396.5751, 1643
Gail Connery
Assistant Coach
Coach Gail Connery has been an assistant swim coach at Episcopal since 2002. Prior to joining Episcopal, she was the swim coach at St. Benedict at Auburndale in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1998-2001, the girls swim coach at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham, Maine, from 1978-1980, and the swim coach at Melbourne Central Catholic High School in Melbourne, Florida, from 1977-1978.
(904) 396.5751, ext. 1905
George Garcia
Assistant Coach
Coach Garcia joined the Episcopal swimming staff in 2007. A Bolles graduate and former member of the Bolles swimming team, he has extensive experience in the local swimming community. After high school he attended the University of Florida where he was a team manager for the Gator swimming and diving teams. Coach Garcia was the head coach for the Ponte Vedra Country Club swim team and is currently an assistant swimming coach with the Episcopal AmberJax year round swim team.
(904) 396.5751
Doug Schuster
Assistant Coach
Before joining the Episcopal coaching staff, Coach Schuster most recently was an assistant coach for the Savannah swim team and served as the head high school coach in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. He has also been an age group coach with The Bolles School and the Coast Guard Swim Team in Mobile, Alabama. Coach Schuster is a graduate of Western Kentucky University and currently serves in the United States Coast Guard stationed here in Jacksonville.
(904) 564.7629