Joe Tristan took over as the head coach of the Coe College Swimming & Diving program in the summer of 2023 after 20 years of collegiate coaching and teaching experience. Since starting the head role, Tristan has helped jump start the program with a 2024 diving national qualifier in Megan Norris and an NCAA B-Cut qualifying mark from Kamen Rangelov in 2025.
Tristan's first season was highlighted by success in the pool and on the diving board, seeing numerous school records broken during the year. Megan Norris made headlines for the women's program, qualifying for the NCAA DIII National Championship in the 1 Meter and 3 Meter Diving competitions. The A-R-C Female Diver of the Meet went on to finish 21st in the 1-meter and 24th in the 3-meter to cap off her season. In total, seven different athletes took home all-conference honors including multi-honorees Hollye Gutierrez, Natalie Pirozek, Lynice Perkins, Margaret Rhodes and Norris. 2025 netted five female all-conference honorees and four male all-conference selections while Rangelov was named the A-R-C Male Rookie of the Year.
Joe is a native of Southern California and played water polo and swam at Earl Warren High School. He later competed and finished 22nd in the United States Olympic swimming trials in the 200-meter freestyle. Tristan began his coaching tenure as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. His coaching and teaching experience continued at Penn State Behrend in 2003, taking over as the head men's and women's water polo coach while serving as an assistant for the men's and women's swimming and diving teams. Coach Tristan also spent time in the classroom at Behrend, serving as a Kinesiology lecturer where he was a two-time nominee for the Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows Excellence in Teaching Award.
Tristan's swimming and diving experience also includes his impressive feats in the pool which include top 100 World Rankings in the 200 Meter Freestyle, a second-place finish in the 800 Free Relay at the US National Championships as well as being a six-time United States Masters Swimming American Record Holder. As a coach, Tristan helped the Behrend swimming and diving programs to a combined 24 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) titles while mentoring over 150 individual champions, 16 school and conference record holders and multiple NCAA qualifiers, one of which was a four-time All-American. As the coach of the water polo teams, Tristan piled up 142 total wins while coaching 37 all-Americans, 54 all-conference and all-tournament players and three rookies of the year. In addition, nearly 400 student-athletes were named to the all-academic team during his 20 years.
