About Coach Bruce

Hey y’all! Thanks for checking out my team. I’m a lifelong resident of Durham, and have been a part of the local aquatics community since I joined the Parkwood Piranhas at six years old. Their head coach- Gretchen Van De Carr- instilled in me a love of swimming that has never gone away. Soon after that first summer, I joined a year round team lead by Rusty Kretz and was practicing at Campus Hills all the time.

As I grew up in the community, I developed another passion- teaching others to love the water! I started spending my summers volunteer coaching, and driving all around Durham teaching neighborhood swim lessons.

At 17, I got my first coaching gig with Blue Dolphins Aquatics started by Stephanie Iraggi (now owner of the Sea Dragons!). I was so excited to be Coach Bruce! And now more than a decade later, I still have the honor of being Coach Bruce to hundreds of people of all ages (once my swimmer, always my swimmer).

After my freshman year of college, I got my first head coaching job- me and Robbie Mohney (now head coach of Jordan High School) took over for Gretchen at Parkwood, and got to work with our longtime Coach and mentor Greg Zoltners. I was a head coach at Parkwood for 10 years until I stepped back to focus on my team and family.

In 2021, I started my own business- Bull City Swimming. I went back to driving around Durham teaching lessons, teaching neighborhood to neighborhood, and sometimes even bringing students to an old friends backyard pool. In 2022, Bull City Swimming’s team practices started, and I was back at Campus Hills, this time with my own team.

If I’m not at the pool, I’m probably exploring Durham with my favorite people- my wife Mikaila (an incredible nurse in a Neonatal ICU) and my son and daughter (exceptionally kind and caring 1st and 4th graders, respectively). Otherwise, I’m at home reading, listening to music, playing video games, and hanging out with my cats- Ches, Sister, Red, Reece, Rue, and Oscar (yes…there are six of them).