Princeton Hires Franklin & Marshall Coach Joe Acquaviva as Assistant
Princeton University on Wednesday announced the hiring of Joe Acquaviva as an assistant coach for the women’s team, with Acquaviva stepping down as head coach at Franklin & Marshall.
Acquaviva spent the last three years as the head coach of the Diplomats’ men’s and women’s teams. He helped the program sends its first swimmers to NCAAs in 2023-24 after a combined 15-4 dual meet record in his first season at F&M. He was 35-24 overall, including 27-12 in the Centennial Conference. He coached 50 All-Centennial selections in addition to the men’s 200 free relay that was named an honorable mention All-American in 2024.
Acquaviva’s Diplomats finished no worse than fourth in his six combined Centennial Conference Championships. The men were second in 2023. The women matched a program-best third place in 2025.
“I am thrilled to welcome Joe to the Tiger family and can’t wait for him to get started with us,” Princeton women’s head coach Abby Brethauer said in a university statement. “Having had the privilege of working with him at Tufts, I know firsthand the passion, intelligence, and energy he brings to the pool deck and I am excited for our women to have the opportunity to work with him. Joe’s background as an elite swimmer at Johns Hopkins, combined with his experience as a head coach, makes him uniquely well-suited for this role, and I couldn’t be more excited for what lies ahead.”
Much of Acquaviva’s experience is in Division III. He swam there, a 2014 graduate of Johns Hopkins, where he was a 10-time All-American, a team captain, a CSCAA Scholar All-American and a member of the Blue Jays’ NCAA championship 800 free relay. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant while earning a master’s degree from Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He was an assistant coach at Tufts, eventually rising to become an associate head coach prior to the 2021-22 season. He led the Jumbos women’s team to its first NESCAC title in 2021-22, as part of the school’s Learfield Directors’ Cup win that year, and the Jumbos men’s squad to its first NESCAC title in 2017-18. Tufts finished seventh at NCAAs that year.
