Men's Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- Rob.Clayton@afacademy.af.edu
- Phone:
- 719-333-4726
Head coach Rob Clayton enters his 27th season as the Academy’s head men’s swimming coach in 2024-25.
Clayton has led the Falcons to a 214-116-2 overall dual record in his 26 seasons. He owns five Conference Coach of the Year awards (MWC 2007, 2010 & WAC 2015, 2016, 2020) and has won three WAC Championships (2015, 2016, 2020).
At USAFA, Clayton has coached men to 39 individual conference championships and eight relay conference championships. He has had four conference Swimmers of the Year, as well as two conference Newcomers of the Year. He has also had four swimmers achieve All-American status in Chris Knaute in 2006 (400 IM & 500 free), Michael Barnosky in 2016 (3rd in the 100 breast) and Zach Nelson (100 breast) and Wen Zhang (200 free) in 2020.
10 of his swimmers have competed in the Olympic Trials, including in 2008 when eight former Falcons participated in the Trials. In addition to the team’s success in the pool, Clayton’s swimmers have earned more than 180 academic all-conference honors and 27 MWC Scholar-Athlete selections, while 20 ahtletes have been designated Scholar All-Americans by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
At the 2020 WAC Championships, Clayton led the Falcons to an all-time dominant performance for the school's third WAC title in five years. The Falcons finished with a new modern WAC record 864 points and finished 172 points ahead of the second place team. Overall on the weekend, the Falcons won 12 of the 21 events. Air Force also set nine school records, while also putting 30 new times in the all-time Academy top-10. To cap it off, Clayton won WAC Coach of the Year, while Zach Nelson was named the WAC Swimmer of the Year and Wen Zhang the WAC Newcomer of the Year.
In 2016-17, Clayton saw the Falcons earn two individual conference champions, two relay conference champion teams, four individual and four relay program records to highlight 28 swims that ranked in the top-10 all-time at Air Force. At the WAC Championships, 15 individuals were named to at least one All-WAC team and five were named to the All-WAC Academic Team.
In 2015-16, Clayton coached Michael Barnosky to All-American honors and the highest finish ever at the NCAA Championships by an AFA Swimmer. Barnosky placed third in the 100 breaststroke with an Air Force, Service Academy and WAC record time of 51.89. He became the Falcons first All-American since Chris Knaute earned honorable mention honors in 2006 in the 400 IM and 500 free.
In addition to the three conference titles, Clayton has led the program to runner-up conference finishes in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2015, as well as third place finishes in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2014.
Clayton is a 1991 graduate of Wyoming where he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. While at Wyoming, Clayton was one of the premier swimmers in the Western Athletic Conference, competing at the NCAA Championships in the 200 freestyle, 200 IM and 400 IM. In 1991, he won the 200 and 400 individual medleys at WAC Championships, becoming only the second Cowboy to ever win an IM conference title. His time in the 400 IM set a conference championship record and still stands as the pool record at the University of Hawaii.
Clayton excelled outside the pool as well. His 3.75 grade point average in chemical engineering helped earn him Academic All-American honors. He received the WAC’s Stan Bates Award in 1991, as the league’s most outstanding student-athlete. The Bates Award is the most prestigious award an athlete in the conference can win.
Following college, Clayton served as an age group coach for the Fort Collins Area Swim Team (FAST) before becoming the men’s assistant coach at Brigham Young University. During his six years in Provo, he was instrumental in building one of the most successful swimming programs in the region. The Cougars won the 1996 WAC title, their first since 1979. Clayton helped coach 11 individual WAC champions and several WAC champion relay teams at BYU. He was very active in USA Swimming, serving as a senior coach with Hilltop Aquatic Swim Team in American Fork, Utah. Additionally, he coached an NCAA finalist and an athlete to a spot on the U.S. National team in the summer of 1997.
Clayton came to the Academy in 1997 and made an immediate impact on the program. He worked with women’s coach Casey Converse to coach the Academy’s first woman to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships at the conclusion of the 1997-98 season. Clayton then took over the reins of the men’s program for the 1998-99 season.
In addition to his coaching duties, Clayton also instructs cadets in swimming and water survival classes. He was recognized for his teaching accomplishments by being named the 2003-04 Department of Athletics Civilian Instructor of the Year.
Originally from Fort Collins, Colo., Clayton was a standout swimmer at Rocky Mountain High School where he was a four-year letterman. Clayton is married to the former Kelly Costigan, a 1992 graduate of the Academy who competed for the women’s tennis team. They have three sons, Robert, Daniel and Joshua, and three daughters, Noel, Anna and Faith. The Claytons are very active in their church, International Anglican Church, and live just outside the Northgate in Colorado Springs.
