After being hired as the first-ever Loyola University New Orleans Head Men's and Women's Swimming Coach in June 2015, Thomas Natal was promoted to the Director of Aquatics role in November 2024.
"I have enjoyed every season and day I have spent at Loyola over the past nine years, and I am excited to become even more ingrained in the day-to-day operations of the sports complex and the Wolf Pack Natatorium," Natal said. "I look forward to assisting our students, athletes, and members at the University Sports Complex."
Natal remains as the head coach of the two swim programs, completing Year 9 in 2025. He led the two teams back to the NAIA National Championship where the men placed 15th and women took 19th. Two women's swimmers also earned NAIA All-America honors, as Catherine Streeter and Emily Cooper gives the two teams a combined 36 different All-Americans.
Natal completed season No. 8 (2023-24) at Loyola by coaching 14 swimmers who qualified for the NAIA National Championship, where both teams placed 12th nationally. Natal had three relay teams capture NAIA All-America status (200Y Freestyle Relay, 400Y Freestyle Relay and 800Y Freestyle Relay), and while Eve Thomas earned All-Sun Conference honors with a second-place finish in the 100Y Backstroke. Loyola also had 16 school records broken between the men's and women's teams under Natal this season.
In his seventh season (2022-23) as the head coach of both the men's and women's swim teams, guiding the Wolf Pack women’s swimming team to a 16th-place finish at the NAIA National Championship, as six total student-athletes from both the men’s and women’s teams qualified for the national meet. Freshman Tate Bladon and junior Eve Thomas each earned All-America honors under Natal’s watch, and seven (six men, one woman) new school records were set during the 2022-23 season. The women’s team finished the season ranked No. 11 in the NAIA and the men finished 14th as well.
Natal captured his first Mid-South Conference Women’s Coach of the Year award for the 2021-22 season, and it was the third overall honor after two other men’s coach of the year awards for the sixth-year head coach. Natal guided the Wolf Pack women’s team to a third-place finish at the conference championships while the men took fifth, and a combined 10 school records 10 were set for both teams this year. The two teams had to practice at an outdoor facility all season, even through the winter months, due to the damage the University Sports Complex took during Hurricane Ida.
In Natal's fifth season as the head coach of the Loyola Wolf Pack men's and women's swimming programs. Facing a lot of challenges during the 2020-21 season the Wolf Pack participated in three virtual swim meets this season, competing against teams from Idaho, California, Nebraska and Kentucky. Neither program competed in the Mid-South Conference Championships and the NAIA National Championships were canceled, but the Wolf Pack earned eight total NAIA All-America honors after the season.
During his fourth season (2019-20), the men’s and women’s programs each qualified for the NAIA National Championships for the fourth consecutive season, as the men’s team placed sixth nationally while the women brought home eighth. The two teams combined for 37 NAIA All-American honors, too.
In his third season with the program, both men's and swim teams rose to fifth in the national rankings. At the 2019 NAIA National Championships, the men's team finished fifth overall, while the women's team finished sixth, with a combined 39 All-Americans coming from the two teams. Natal was named Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year for the second-straight season.
In 2018, Natal guided both Loyola swim programs to top-10 finishes at the NAIA National Tournament, with the women placing 6th and the men in 9th, while earning a combined 13 All-American Honors. At the 2018 Conference Championships, Natal was named the Mid-South Conference Men's Coach of the Year.
In Loyola's inaugural swimming season, Natal led the women to a 14th place finish, and the men to a 15th place finish at the 2017 NAIA National Championships.
Natal joined the Wolf Pack after previously serving as the assistant men's and women's coach at the University of Connecticut. He also worked with the swimming program at Tulane from 2010-2013.
During his time in Storrs, Conn., Natal served as the head men's and women's recruiting coordinator and also focused his efforts as the head sprint and middle distance coach, while developing a new dry land training regimen for the team. During the 2014 season, 18 swimmers earned American Athletic All-Conference honors and both the men's and women's teams recorded winning records. In his two seasons with the Huskies, Natal coached 27 All-Conference selections.
Natal began his tenure at Tulane in August of 2010 as a volunteer assistant and later moved to a full-time assistant/recruiting coordinator in May of 2011. He served as interim head swim and dive coach from August 2012 to July 2013. In addition to guiding and coordinating the daily aspects of a NCAA Division I swimming program, he was responsible for the recruitment of the entire 2013-14 class.
Natal also served as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of New Orleans (UNO) during the 2009 season, where he helped eight swimmers earn NCAA B cuts, coached two conference champions and had several top eight finishers at the Sun Belt Conference Championship Meet.
Prior to his time at UNO, Natal spent roughly five years as the program director and head swim coach at Elmwood Fitness Center in Harahan, La. There, he coached five high school All-Americans and helped four swimmers qualify for Junior Nationals. He also served as the varsity head coach at Archbishop Chapelle High School in 2007.
A graduate of Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, La., Natal was a four-time All-District selection and a three-time All-State selection. He won state titles in the 100m freestyle as a junior and both the 50m and 100m freestyle as a senior. Natal also swam for the Elmwood Sharks from 1992-99 where he posted six Junior National cuts and one Senior National cut.
Natal swam at Louisiana State University (LSU) from 2001-2003. He later earned his bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Our Lady of Holy Cross College in 2006
