Two new coaches join Loyola to lead the programs that will become official varsity sports in the 2016 academic school year.

Dante Tennant has been hired as the head dance and cheerleading coach and Thomas Natal has been selected as the coach for the new swimming program.

Brett Simpson, Athletic Director, stated that there was an extensive search for the filling of these two positions, and his staff in the athletic department did its due diligence in making sure they found the right people for the two coaching openings.

“We did a national search. We achieved this by advertising on the NCAA, NAIA, and respective national coaching association websites,” Simpson said.

Natal, head swimming coach, is a New Orleans native and previously coached at the University of Connecticut but cited his longing to return home as a big part of why he accepted the job here at Loyola.

“I loved working at UCONN, but I always missed my home,” Natal said.

Natal is also excited to bring the sport of swimming to Loyola, joining LSU and Tulane as the only universities in Louisiana to offer swimming as a varsity sport.

“There are only two colleges that offer swimming in the state, LSU and

Tulane. Tulane is only women, so that means there is only one college for a male

swimming to look at in the state,” Natal said.

Tennant, head dance and cheerleading coach, is excited about the chance to build his own program here at Loyola and leave a mark at the university.

“Being able to build my program from Ground Zero was very enticing, NAIA is leading the way with the cheerleading and dance emerging as in intercollegiate sport, and it is very exciting that Loyola saw the need to add a cheer and dance to their list of intercollegiate sports,” Tennant said.

Tennant’s background in coaching All-Star cheerleading gives him the confidence that he can build a competitive program here at Loyola.

“I come from a very competitive background of coaching, so I’m extremely confident that I’m going to be able to get athletes in here to make the ideal competitive program,” Tennant said.

Natal also believes that he can construct a strong swimming program at Loyola but also knows that patience is key and it will be a process.

“I am very confident that we will have a very talented and dynamic team next year, but a team is made over four very talented and dynamic classes,” Natal said.

“This means that over the next four to five years each class we bring in will be equally as important.”