Matthew Gearing was added to the Little Rock swimming and diving staff in July 2020 as the assistant swimming coach.

Gearing joins Little Rock swimming and diving after spending the last year with the Indiana Hoosiers, a powerhouse program whose women finished third in the Big Ten conference this past season and were projected to finish within the top eight at the NCAA Championships before the meet’s cancellation. He began as a volunteer assistant coach in May 2019 and was promoted to a full-time assistant in February 2020.

At Indiana, Gearing played a role in the recruiting process as well as logistics within the team. Not only was he responsible for creating workouts for the mid-sprint group, but Gearing also tracked every training group’s volume and intensity throughout the season to analyze effectiveness and suggest future improvements. He also coordinated Indiana’s social media accounts, notably boosting their team Instagram page to become the most-followed collegiate swimming and diving team account at the time.

Gearing also directly assisted in the preparation of several professional athletes for the now-postponed 2020 Olympics, including well-known swimmers such as world record holder Lilly King, American record holder Zane Grothe, bronze medalist Cody Miller, and relay gold medalist Blake Pieroni.

Before joining the Hoosiers, Gearing studied at Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina, serving as an volunteer assistant coach for the Division II swimming and diving team all four years of his undergraduate experience before receiving his degree in exercise and sports science. He helped the Royals to eight DII National Championships between the men’s and women’s teams during his time there, assisting with operations and management.

Concurrently, Gearing also worked as a volunteer assistant coach with the club Team Elite Aquatics directly under David Marsh, the head coach of the 2016 United States women’s Olympic team. He organized training plans for various athletes at the National team level as well as handled communication administratively.