Dale Huggins, Head Coach

Coach Dale Huggins swam for Westwood High School from 1988-1991 where he was a team captain and earned the admirable Warrior Award, as well as being a regional qualifier. He was a USS swimmer representing Longhorn Aquatics from 1991-1995, where he achieved TAGS and Senior Circuit time standards. At Austin College from 1991-95 his honors included two-time team captain and admirable Hannah Award, four All-American Honorable Mention, and 11 school records. Since 1995 he has been swimming as a USMS Masters swimmer for Texas Longhorn Aquatics and now for Aquatics of Georgetown Masters and has accumulated 21 National Top 10 Times, 1 South Central Zone Record, and 3 Longcourse National Championship titles. Coach Huggins has attended Gold Medal Swimming Clinics and in 1998 he was in Lausanne, Switzerland for the 90th FINA Anniversary honoring the world-class water athletes, including Russia's Alexander Popov, Australia's Micheal Klim and USA's highly decorated Jenny Thompson and Tobie Smith. Coach Huggins was head coach for Pflugerville High School in 1999-2000 where, during his tenure, 16 school records were broken and his men's team earned 3rd place at districts, their highest place they had ever achieved. Coach Dale founded the Aquatics of Georgetown in 2001 for age group swimmers. He began offering practices for adult swimmers in 2006, and the Aquatics of Georgetown Masters has been attending several competitions including several National meets. The program evolves every year, and in early 2008, became a Texas Gold satellite team, joining coach Aubrey Knapper's Texas Gold North team. To quote Coach Dale, “There is nothing more satisfying to me than to spread my passion for the sport of swimming”. Dale is presently the Director of Operations for Action Pawn, a position he has held since 1999.
 

Carla Sterner, Assistant Coach

Coaching History: Carla has coached 4 years for the Aquadillos. She also served as Assistant Coach for The Aquatics of Georgetown as well as for Southwestern University for the 2003-2004 season. She has 6 years experience with group and private lessons and served as assistant novice team coach for the Alamo Area Aquatics for one year.

Swimming History: Carla is currently competing as a Master's swimmer and holds a National Top Ten time in the 50m breast. She competed as a member of the Southwestern University Swimming and Diving Team for four years and as a team captain for two years. Carla was an age group swimmer for Alamo Area Aquatics in San Antonio for 6 years and was a TAAPS state finalist for Incarnate Word High School in San Antonio! where she swam for 4 years

Education: Southwestern University 2003 Graduate with a BA in Psychology and minor in English.

David Houck, Assistant Coach

David began swimming at age 6. He started swimming in summer league
in San Antonio for the Braun Station Seagulls, and then moved up to
age group swimming at Alamo Area Aquatics. After moving to
Georgetown, David joined Aquadillos in 1994. He swam four years at
Georgetown High School, and also swam for Georgetown Area Swimming.
While attending Trinity University, he was a diver on the swimming
and diving team. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in Computer
Science. David first coached the Aquadillos in 2000, and has also
coached for the Aquatics of Georgetown in the winter. David also was
a competitive gymnast for many years. He currently does websites,
computer tutoring, and basic computer repair for individuals, non-
profits, and small businesses.

A large quilt hangs on a wall in Tim Pukys' home. The quilt, handmade by his former swimming and diving team at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, symbolizes the impact Pukys made on their lives.

"That's why I coach," says Pukys, "I want to have a positive affect on them and hope that they'll remember me."

At Loras, Pukys (pronounced POO-kish) transformed a last place team into the top swimming program in the school's conference in just three years. For the past two years at Southwestern, Coach Pukys has worked to transform a former club team into an NCAA swimming and diving conference contender. Tim headed the SU men's and women's swimming and diving program for 7 years.

Pukys attended Ohio's Hiram College, where he was captain of the swim team. He got his start coaching as a volunteer there. "I was a middle-of-the-road swimmer in college," he admits. "It was something that came to me late in life."

With no plans to go into coaching, Pukys, a biology graduate, went to work as a lab technician in Philadelphia, Penn. He quickly realized he had gone the wrong direction. He returned to school and ultimately earned a masters degree in sports administration at Kent State University. Soon after, he began coaching and teaching at Loras.

While a coach now, Pukys has remained athletically competitive. He has completed eight triathlons, including a tenth place finish in his age group at the 1992 National Championships. He says, "It's been a while since I've competed, but I'm trying to resume my triathlon training this year with some of my students."

His spouse is Suzy Pukys, a former collegiate swimmer he met while attending Hiram and a former Aquadillo coach. They have two children: Nat and Corinne.

Tim headed the Developmental Team for the Georgetown Aquadillos in summer '05, and now coaches the AG Advanced and Senior Teams several days a week. Tim is certainly an asset to our program and we are fortunate to have him on board!

Dr. Scott McLean , Assistant Coach

I call Conroe, TX my hometown although I was born in New Jersey. I swam for Conroe High School and then attended the College of Wooster in Ohio. I competed for Wooster as a middle-distance and sprint freestyler. I was a 4-year letter winner, team captain during my junior and senior years, school record holder in the 50 free and national qualifier for Division III in the 50 freestyle and as a member of the 400 medley relay as a senior. After graduating for Wooster in 1987, I coached at Wooster for two years before entering the doctoral program in Exercise Science at Arizona State University. While in Arizona I coached a master team for 5 years. I graduated from ASU in 1995 with my Ph.D. and began teaching at Iowa State University. I continued to work with swimming by volunteering with the Iowa State men's program and continued to participate as a masters swimmer. In 2001 I returned to Texas to Southwestern University here in Georgetown where I teach biomechanics, anatomy and motor control in the Kienesiology Department. I am a volunteer assistant coach for the SU swim team and still occasionally compete in Masters meets. I live in Georgetown with my wife Jamie and our two sons, Andrew and Jack (who both swim with the Aquadillos and AG.)

Coach Suzy "Pukys"

Coach Nicole Kaupp

Nicole Kaupp is entering her fourth season at Southwestern University, after joining the Pirate Swimming & Diving Family in August of 2006 as well as her fourth season at the Aquatics of Georgetown. A four-year letterwoman for Division III Lewis & Clark, Kaupp brings a wealth of knowledge to the team. In addition to her collegiate swimming experience, she served as a recruiting assistant for her alma mater for two years. She also served as Co-Chair of the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was a part of the Lewis & Clark Balancing Act First-Year Student-Athlete Mentoring Program. This past summer, Coach Kaupp spent five weeks working at the University of Michigan Swim Camps, as well as assisting with Club Wolverine's Elite Training Group. In addition, she worked at Speedo as the Sports Promotions Coordinator, where she was responsible for working with contracted teams and coaches in preparation for junior nationals, long course nationals and the Japan Grand Prix meet. Coach Kaupp graduated from Lewis & Clark in 2006 with a BA in History. She is currently pursuing a Master's in Sports Leadership at Northeastern University. She resides in Georgetown.