Billy Bafia enters his sixth season as an interim head swimming & diving coach for the men’s and women’s programs in 2022-23.

Bafia competed at Division III Illinois Institute of Technology. A four-year member of the team, he was a top-three finisher in the 100 and 200 Breaststrokes at the Liberal Arts Conference Championship and named Illinois Tech athlete of the year in 2015. In 2013, Bafia qualified for the NAIA championships for the 50 Free, 100 Breast, and 200 Breast. He served as a team captain in his third and fourth years.

Currently, Bafia works as a software engineer at United Airlines building applications for internal finance systems. Outside of work, he spends time playing volleyball, globe-trotting, and hiking. His most notable trip this past summer was visiting his cousin in Funchal on the Portuguese island Madeira and trying out the food at his new restaurant.

Bafia earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from Illinois Tech in 2015.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail – Ralph Waldo Emerson