Bio

Evan Sholudko was named the head coach of UB's newly restored men's and women's swimming and diving programs on July 16, 2024. He led the Purple Knights during the 2025-26 season, the program's first varsity campaign since 2019.

Sholudko's maiden season at the helm of UB’s men's and women's swimming programs was nothing short of outstanding. In the Purple Knights' inaugural season as members of the Northeast 10 Conference, he guided the men's team to the 2026 NE10 Championship.

The title was secured in dominant fashion, as a roster comprised almost entirely of freshmen amassed 11 conference championships and 24 total medals while defeating runner-up Adelphi by an impressive 183.5 points.

On the women's side, UB also excelled at its first-ever NE10 Championship meet, placing fifth overall. Freshman Ceyda Genç captured the program's first NE10 individual gold medal in the 100-fly and also helped the Purple Knights claim a conference title in the 200-medley relay.

UB's success extended to the national stage as well, with Jurica Dragun and Christian Toussi qualifying for the 2026 NCAA Championships in Evansville, Indiana. The duo combined for three All-America honors, highlighted by Dragun's sixth-place finish in the 100-breast and 11th-place showing in the 200-breast, while Toussi earned All-America recognition with a 10th-place finish in the 100-back.

Sholudko comes to UB after an extremely successful stint as the head coach of Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill. In three seasons coaching the Flyers, Sholudko coached 42 men and 39 women to All-GLVC honors. Additionally, both programs finished fourth at the 2024 GLVC Championships to match their highest finishes in team history.

The Lewis men and women also achieved CSCAA Scholar All-America team honors following each of the six semesters under Sholudko's leadership. Along with 19 CSCAA Scholar All-American recipients, Sholudko was named the GLVC Coach of the Year at the 2023-2024 championships.

Additional distinctions for Coach Sholudko at Lewis include coaching 23 All-Americans, who combined for 59 All-American honors, along with a combined 51 school records for the team and 84 NCAA consideration times (B Cuts). The Flyers had four individuals qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships in 2021-2022, seven individuals in 2022-2023, and, most recently, 15 this past spring (most in school history). Collectively, the men had their highest finish in history, coming in ninth overall at the 2024 NCAA Championships, while the women came in 26th.

Sholudko swam collegiately for four years on the varsity team at the University of Massachusetts. He placed fourth in the 400-IM and seventh in the 1650-free at the 2013 Atlantic-10 Conference Championships. He then began his NCAA coaching career in 2016 as an assistant coach at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he helped lead the program to an Empire 8 Conference Championship in 2017.

Following Stevens, Sholudko moved on to Assumption University, where he was named head men's swim coach in 2018-19 and the assistant head women's coach in 2017-2019, before serving two years as the head coach of the men's and women's swimming programs at Eastern Illinois University (EIU). At the time of hire, he was the youngest head coach in Division I collegiate swimming (25).