Matt Ense is in his second year as head women’s swimming and diving coach at DePauw University following a successful stint as assistant swimming and diving coach at Denison University, Ense is just the second head coach in DePauw's program history.
In his first season with the Tigers, Ense directed DePauw to a third-place showing at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships. The Tigers also tied for 27th at the NCAA Division III Championships and were represented by five student-athletes.
During his four years as an assistant under Denison's Greg Parini, Ense helped the Big Red men's and women's programs to four North Coast Athletic Conference titles apiece. Each team finished in the top three at all four NCAA Division III Championships with the men winning the Division III title in both 2011 and 2012.
In those four years, the women’s team broke 32 school records, 25 conference marks and six national records while achieving 178 all-America performances. The men’s team established 35 school records, 15 conference marks and 10 on the NCAA level, while totaling 180 all-America performances.
Ense was named the 2012 CollegeSwimming.com Rising Assistant Coach of the Year and Parini referred to him as “his best assistant coach in his 25 years.”
Prior to his stint at Denison, Ense worked alongside current University of Michigan head coach Mike Bottom for three months at The Race Club in Key Largo, Fla. During that time, he helped prepare 13 Olympians for the 2008 Olympic Games. The highlight of the training came when Nathan Adrian won a gold medal as part of the world-record 400 free relay.
Ense served as an assistant coach at Division III Union College (N.Y.) for one year and led the men's and women's teams to over 100 best times with nine school records including five NCAA Championships qualifiers.
A 2002 graduate of Eastern Michigan University, Ense majored in business administration and was a five-time Mid-American Conference champion. The MAC Scholar Athlete also competed at the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials where he finished ninth in the 5K swim.
