Pitt swimming & diving added Justin Andrade, most recently the head coach of the successful Division II programs at Florida Tech, as a new assistant swimming coach, Pitt head coach John Hargis announced in May 2018.
"I'm tremendously honored to join Coach Hargis' staff at Pitt," Andrade said. "I'm thankful to John, the Pitt swimming & diving coaches and the entire athletic administration for this opportunity. I can't wait to get to work with our student-athletes to help them achieve their individual goals while building Pitt into one of the premier programs in the ACC and nationally."
Andrade came to Pitt after four seasons as the head men's and women's swimming coach at Florida Tech, one of the top programs at the NCAA's Division II level. During his time with the Panthers, Andrade coached 15 NCAA Championships qualifiers, six All-American relays and four All-American individuals. In 2017, Florida Tech's 200-yard freestyle relay squad won the national title and Andrade was named the Men's Swimming Coach of the Year in the Sunshine State Conference.
"With Justin spending the last four years as a head coach, we're excited about the wealth of experience he brings to our team," Hargis said of Andrade. "His development of student-athletes—both as swimmers and as scholars—was very impressive at Florida Tech, where he coached a national title-winning relay. We're thrilled to welcome him to our Pitt swimming & diving family and believe he will be a natural fit that can help take our program to the next level as well."
Prior to taking over the Florida Tech swimming programs, Andrade spent the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach with the Panthers. Since 2016, he has also served as the head coach of the Panther Aquatic Club in Melbourne, Fla.
As an athlete, Andrade swam the butterfly and freestyle events at Ashland University, not far from his hometown of Westerville, Ohio. A three-time All-Academic Team honoree in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), Andrade graduated from Ashland in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in exercise science.
He also notably completed a 2012 summer internship with the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) in Washington, D.C., where he evaluated and designed fitness programs for the Department of Defense.