Marshall’s head swimming and diving coach, Bill Tramel resigned from his position Monday.

“I want to thank everyone in the Marshall University Athletics family for their friendship and support during my time in Huntington,” Tramel said in a press release. “I will always cheer for the Thundering Herd and that is part of what makes this the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make but it’s clear that my priorities need to be with my family right now. We are very proud of what we accomplished over the past six years.”

During his time at Marshall, his team was an NCAA Championship participant during the 2016-2017 season for the first time in since. In the last three years, Marshall has finished third in the Conference USA tournament.

Academically, the program earned Scholar All-America team honors for 12 consecutive semesters and, last May, was recognized by the NCAA for having an outstanding Academic Progress Rate (APR) that ranked in the top 10 percent nationally. The program, which consistently ranked in the top 25 nationally for team GPA which included a fourth-place ranking in 2015-16 (3.68), stood alone among the league’s aquatic programs and was one of just 34 nationally to reach the standard.

Catherine Bendziewcz and Jordyn O’Dell were named College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America’s (CSCAA) Scholar All-America Team following the 2017-2018 season.

“While the timing is unfortunate for our student-athletes, we respect and support the decision Bill has made to take care of his family,” Athletic Director Mike Hamrick said in a press release. “Our swimming and diving program has been successful in recent years and we appreciate Bill’s leadership. We will work quickly to identify a new head coach who shares the same commitment to excellence.”

The Herd opens its season at home Friday at the West Virginia Games.

Sydney Shelton can be contacted at [email protected].