Roman Willets is in his first season as a volunteer assistant coach for the California men's swimming and diving program in 2020-21. He was officially announced as a member of the staff in early August 2020.
Prior to arriving at Cal, Willets was already involved in the Bay Area aquatics scene for four-plus years. Willets most recently coached at the Ladera Oaks Swim and Tennis Club (Portola Valley, Calif.), focusing on strength & conditioning and team operations while developing the senior and age group program. From 2015-18, Willets was the Director of Competitive Swimming for the Bay Club Company, where he led the development of a six-site, 400-plus swimmer age group program throughout the Bay Area.
During the 2019-20 academic year, Willets additionally served as a triathlon volunteer assistant coach at the University of San Francisco, where he helped Dons head coach Gina Kehr build up the program’s dryland and in-water training program.
Before moving to the Bay Area, Willets spent two years (2014-15) working with Bob Bowman and Erik Posegay at North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC), where he helped train the High Performance Group and Olympians Michael Phelps and Alison Schmitt. Willets also had the opportunity to work with and learn from Keenan Robinson, the U.S. National Team Director of Sports Medicine and Science, while with NBAC, helping Robinson implement an age group and high school strength & conditioning program.
A four-year letter winner (2010-13) in swimming for the University of Michigan, Willets served as team captain of the Wolverines' 2013 Big Ten and NCAA Championship squad. He collected a NCAA All-American Honorable Mention in 2010 and All-Big Ten Second Team honors in 2012, both for the 400 freestyle relay. Willets’ collegiate coach at Michigan was Mike Bottom, former Cal men’s co-head coach (1997-08).
Willets graduated from Michigan in 2014 with a B.A. in Secondary Education and is expected to complete his M.S. in Kinesiology at Cal Baptist University in fall 2021. He’s a native of Whitehouse, Ohio.
