As he heads into his third decade with the UNCW swimming and diving programs, Dave Allen continues to build on a legacy of athletic and academic success.

Since originating the program in 1977-78, Allen has coached the Seahawks to nine CAA championships (six men’s and three women’s) and two Eastern titles. Along the way, he has been named CAA Coach-of-the-Year nine times and mentored numerous student-athletes who have collected academic and athletic honors.

The men’s team has established a dynasty in the CAA waters, winning six consecutive conference titles. The 2006-07 team captured just three gold medals, but used a marvelous team performance to make it six in a row for the Seahawks.

The women’s team, meanwhile, finished a close second last season after winning the title in 2005-06, and is poised to regain the top spot in 2007-08.

Both of Allen’s teams in 2006-07 finished in CollegeSwimming.com’s Top 25 poll after maintaining UNC Wilmington’s dominance in the pool. Moreover, senior Melissa Milstead was named the CAA’s Women’s Swimming Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year for the second straight year and received the school’s Chancellor’s Cup Award for Academic Excellence.

In 2005-06, Allen was tabbed CAA Men’s and Women’s Coach-of-the-Year after guiding the Seahawks to a sweep of the league’s hardware. The men’s team, powered by 35 All-CAA performances, cruised to a 277-point victory over George Mason. The women, meanwhile, topped the Patriots by 155.50 points behind 21 All-CAA swimmers.

Individually, senior diver Dean Berman was named CAA Diver-of-the-Meet and Diver-of-the-Year, and became the first Seahawk to earn All-America honors at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Atlanta. Senior Michael Krayer was named the CAA’s Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year in Swimming for the second consecutive season and was honored as the top male scholar-athlete in the conference.

On the women’s side, Milstead was selected the CAA’s Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year after the team won its first championship since 1999. Overall, Allen has guided the Lady Seahawks to three titles, including back-to-back honors in 1998 and 1999. He also directed the women to the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) crown in 1998.

The women’s team captured the 1998-99 conference title in one of the most dominating performances in the history of the meet. The Lady Seahawks set four conference records, established 11 school records and won 11 of the 20 events in building an impressive 161-point win over James Madison.

A native of Rochester, N.Y., Allen started the swimming and diving program in the fall of 1977, amassing 379 dual meet victories at three different institutions. Allen’s ledger at UNCW stands at 346-232 (.599), bringing his total collegiate record in 37 years to 394-274 (.589).

Overall, Allen has been named CAA Women’s Coach-of-the-Year five times (1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 2002-03, 2005-06) and CAA Men’s Coach-of-the-Year four times (1994-95, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06).

Allen swam collegiately at Springfield (Mass.) College and began his coaching career at Allegheny College in 1970-71. He spent one year at Allegheny before moving on to Potsdam State (N.Y.), where he compiled a solid 44-26 record with the Bears.

At Potsdam, Allen’s squad captured the state championship in 1977 and was ranked No. 15 in the NCAA Division III poll. In his final two seasons in New York, Allen coached five All-Americans and was voted Coach-of-the-Year. He was inducted into Potsdam’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997.

The Seahawk program took off in 1977-78 with Allen at the helm. In 30 seasons at UNCW, Allen has coached 15 All-Americans, 90 conference champions and 19 Eastern titlists.

Allen was honored in 1987 when he was selected to represent the United States government in a five-week tour of the Mideast. He presented clinics and seminars in Turkey through the U.S. Information Service’s Sports America program.

One of the highlights of Allen’s career occurred in March of 1982 when butterfly specialist Sam O’Leary became the school’s first NCAA Division I All-American. O’Leary still holds two records at UNC Wilmington. Another Allen pupil, Burak Erdem, is one of only two swimmers in CAA history to repeat as conference champion four straight years in the 200 Backstroke.

Sprinter Dan Gallagher finished fourth at the 2002 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Athens, Ga., for his second All-American performer and Berman made it a trifecta in 2005-06 with his run in Atlanta.

Allen’s student-athletes have also enjoyed great success in the classroom. Seven swimmers - Steve Hewins (1990-91), Laura Doepp (1991-92), Deb Kresho (1993-94), Brendan Curl (1999-00), Tiago Barreira (2002-03), Michael Krayer (2005-06) and Melissa Milstead (2006-07) - have captured the Chancellor’s Cup, the school’s highest academic honor for athletes. Hewins also became the first UNC Wilmington athlete to earn a CAA Post-Graduate Scholarship, while Doepp was named to the GTE-CoSIDA District III Academic All-America team.

Krayer closed out his career as one of the most decorated swimmers in the program’s history. In addition to helping the Seahawks secure four CAA titles, he was named the CAA Male Scholar Athlete-of-the-Year in 2004-05 and 2005-06.