Bill Henderson begins his sixth year at the helm of the UW-River Falls men's and women's swimming and diving teams.

The 2007-08 season marks the first time the Falcons will host a mid-season invitational. It will be held at the University of Minnesota pool on Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Henderson is very excited about this event and has been working to bring an invite to a first class facility for years. Now that this event is a reality he hopes to make it a annual opportunity for the teams in the Twin Cities area.

Henderson is anticipating one of the largest, if not the largest,   men's team in school history. "When I got here the men's team was down to five members. This year we are expecting anywhere from 15-18 on the men's team and a large squad of 20-24 women."

Henderson's coaching experience covers just about every level of swimming competition from summer recreation to elite, Olympic trial qualifiers and from high school junior varsity to NCAA Div. I competition. His swimmers have garnered over 50 national Top 16 rankings in club swimming, over 20 high school All-American rankings, and more than a dozen junior college All-American rankings. He also coached junior college water polo in California for 12 seasons.

Henderson was the driving force enabling UWRF to host the 2005-06 WIAC Championships. He organized and gave a presentation that was approved by WIAC swimming coaches and athletic directors. He acquired meet site information and ultimately the state-of-the-art University of Minnesota Aquatic Center was chosen as the meet's site. The Center hosted the 2007 NCAA Div. I men's and women's championships. He also has organized a volunteer group which helped in performing the many duties associated with the WIAC Meet operations.

Before coming to UWRF, Henderson served as a volunteer assistant at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo where he worked with old friend, Richard Firman. During this time he also served as head age group coach for the San Luis Obispo Seahawks. He was the head coach of men's and women's swimming and diving at Foothill College as well as the head coach of women's water polo team. Before that he was the head coach of men's and women's swimming and diving teams at Solano Community College and head coach of the men's water polo team. He also served as head coach of the Sierra Marlins swim team, a year round swim club, from 1984-1995. During this time he coached the Sierra College men's water polo team from 1985-93.

As a competitor, Henderson was an age group national champion and top five finisher more than 20 times. He garnered high school All-American honors at Rio Americano High School in Sacramento, Calif., and junior college All-American honors at American River College. He was captain of the Cal State University of Sacramento swim team his senior year. In 1997 he was Pacific Masters champion in the 1650-yard freestyle and finished second in the nation in the master's rankings that year.

Henderson earned his M.S. degree in physical education in 1995 and his B.A. degree in journalism in 1985, both at Cal. State Sacramento.

Aside from his duties with the UWRF teams he served as a coach for the U.S. Paralympic swim team and traveled to Athens in September of 2004 for the Paralympic Games.

He also serves as equipment manager for the UWRF Athletic Department.

Bill Henderson