Jonas Persson enters his fourth season as the Rockets’ head coach and looks to continue the resurgence of the University of Toledo women’s swimming and diving program.
In his second season, Persson coached the Rockets into a breakout year. Toledo’s individual swimmers appeared on the conference top-10 list 11 times, and Toledo’s relay teams finished in the top-four on four occasions. Toledo finished sixth at the MAC Championships with 254 points, a 14-point improvement over the previous year and the program’s best finish in five years. Led by a core of freshmen and sophomores, 91 percent of Toledo’s points at the tournament came from underclassmen. The Rockets also celebrated sophomore Izzy Jones’ second-team All-MAC selection, recorded eight new entries into the program’s all-time top-10 list, and set nine personal records at the MAC championship meet.
Following the MAC championship meet, seven of Persson’s student-athletes were invited to the 2018 CSCAA National Invitational, where senior Allison Dicke set two personal bests and freshman Alida Ramden earned one. Persson oversaw Toledo swimmers earn eight NCAA B-Cuts, 71 new personal-best times, and 25 new entries into the program’s all-time top-10 list as a whole during the 2017-18 season. Toledo was also named to the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team for its third consecutive semester after posting 3.49 (Fall ‘17), 3.38 (Spring ‘17) and 3.34 (Fall ‘16) GPAs. Seven Rockets were named to the Academic All-MAC team as well.
In his first season with the Rockets in 2016, Persson ushered in a new era, helping Jessica Avery and Izzy Jones earn All-MAC honors. At the Mid-American Conference Championships, 42 of the 56 Rockets’ swims were season-bests and 17 were career-best times.
Persson came to Toledo after serving as the head sprint coach at Utah. In five years there he helped student-athletes break every men’s team record and 17 women’s team records, as well as helping them set 55 top-10 all-time performances. He coached seven swimmers who made NCAA Championship appearances and 11 swimmers who ranked in the top-50 nationally.
Persson was influential in helping Nick Soedel become the first Ute ever to medal at the Pac-12 Championships (bronze in 2013) and earn Utah’s second individual championship with his first-place finish in the 100 free (2014) where her garnered All-American honors. Soedel also placed fifth in the 100 freestyle and 14th in the 50 freestyle at the 2015 NCAA Championships, earning him honorable mention All-American honors.
Persson coached All-American Traycie Swartz to an 11th-place finish in the 100 freestyle at the 2014 NCAA Championships in the 100 freestyle. Swartz was a three-time PAC-12 championship finalist and held records in the women’s 50 and 100 freestyle, and the 100 backstroke. Persson also had a hand in helping Utah earn its first-ever Pac-12 Champion by recruiting Bence Kiraly, who won the 1,650 freestyle in 2014.
A native of Sweden, Persson has competed at the highest levels of international swimming, including the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where he was a member of his native country’s fifth-place 4x100 free relay team, finished 11th in the 4x100 medley relay, and 13th in the 100 freestyle. Persson was a part of the European champion 4x100 free relay in 2008 and the bronze medalist squad in 2010. He also was a finalist at the 2005 World Championships in the 4x100 free relay. He remains a Swedish record-holder and the No. 2 sprint freestyler in the history of Sweden. He won 16 Swedish national championships.
During his collegiate career, Persson set seven school records at the University of Tennessee, where he was a 13-time All-American and team captain for the Volunteers.
In the classroom, Persson obtained a Master of Business Administration, Master of Science in Sports Studies and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Tennessee. He served as a graduate assistant under Head Coach John Trembley, the 2011 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year. Persson was an Academic All-American and SEC Academic Honor Roll selection in 2007 and 2008. Persson helped expand Tennessee’s international recruiting network by communicating with student-athletes, coaches and parents in 16 different countries.
Persson grew up in Malmo, Sweden where he attended St. Petri High School. He and his wife, Darby, were married in the summer of 2015 and welcomed their first child, Novali Mae, to the family in June 2018.
