PERSONAL
Hometown: Coatesville, Pa.
Education: Bachelors of Science in Biology (Barry, 2019)
COACHING ACCOLADES
- 1st NAIA National Championship in School History (Men’s Swimming, 2024)
- 2025 NAIA Women’s Swimming & Diving National Runner-Up
- 2024 NAIA Women’s Swimming & Diving National Runner-Up
- 2023 NAIA National Men’s Swim Coach of the Year
- 2023 CSCAA Jean Freeman Scholar Recipient
- 2023 NAIA Men’s Swimming & Diving National Runner-Up
- 2022 Miami Herald Men’s High School Swim Coach of the Year
- 2021 Miami Herald Men’s High School Swim Coach of the Year
- 1st NAIA National Champion in School History – Inigo Marina, 200-yard Breastroke (March 2022)
- 1st Women NAIA National Champion in School History – Taylor Fitzgerald, 100-yard Backstroke (March 2023)
BY THE NUMBERS
- 22 NAIA National Champion Titles
- 61 Individual NAIA All-Americans
- 153 NAIA All-American Events
- 25 Sun Conference Champion Events
- 71 NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athletes
- 6x CSCAA Scholar American Teams
BIOGRAPHY
Caesar Asadi is headed into his fifth season as the Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving programs head coach this Fall 2025. Asadi is the second coach in program history and has quickly cemented the legacy of himself and the swimming & diving program at St. Thomas University. In just three seasons, he led the men’s swim team to the university’s first ever team national championship and coached STU’s first NAIA National Champions in Men and Women sports in the school’s 63-year history. He is also the first coach at STU to be named National Coach of the Year, earning the honor after leading the 22-23 Men’s swim team to 5 National Champion events, 2 new NAIA National Records, and a National Runner-Up finish.
Year 4 (24-25) “EXCELLENCE”
In the program’s fourth season, Women’s Swimming & Diving finished as National Runner-Up, bringing home 3 National Titles – including Mireya Bonilla winning the Women’s 3M Diving in its inaugural season. Stella Warborn lowered her own 200-yard breastroke National Record (2:12.25), while also repeating as the 24-25 Sun Conference Women’s Swimmer of the Year, sweeping all 3 of her individual events. Mireya Bonilla swept the 1 and 3M springboards, earning the program’s first Sun Conference Diver of the Year award. The women’s team also had a program record 3.63 team GPA with 20 women earning NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athlete honors.
Men’s Swimming finished in fifth place during the 2024 – 2025 campaign. The men had 5 individual NAIA All-Americans and 12 named NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athletes. Both teams earned CSCAA Scholar All-American status for the sixth straight semester.
Year 3 (23-24) “ADELANTE”
In the program’s third season, the men’s swim team won the 2024 NAIA Swimming & Diving National Championship. The program finished out the season with 17 NAIA Individual All-Americans and 12 National Champion events, breaking 4 National Records in the process. The program also posted the highest program GPAs in history (Women – 3.54, Men – 3.37) while also having 20 NAIA Daktronics Scholar-Athletes (3.5 cum GPA with minimum 60 credits) on the women’s side, the highest number out of any NAIA Women’s Swim program. Both teams earned CSCAA Scholar All-American honors.
The Bobcat men brought home 9 National Titles, 6 individual and 3 relays. The men’s 800-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays also broke the NAIA National Records, with times of 6:30.18 and 2:56.22 respectively.
Women’s Swimming finished as National Runner-Up, scoring 405 points with 3 National Titles and 2 National Records. Stella Warborn highlighted the season taking home the program’s first ever Sun Conference Swimmer of the Year honor. She won the NAIA National Championship and broke both NAIA National Records in the 100-yard and 200-yard breastroke, 1:01.41 and 2:14.18 respectively. The women’s team also won their first relay national title in the women’s 200-yard freestyle.
Year 2 (22-23) “AXIOS”
In just the programs second full season (22-23), the swim team made history both in and out of the pool. The program finished out the season with 19 NAIA Individual All-Americans and 6 National Champion events – including St. Thomas’ first ever women national champion in Taylor Fitzgerald from Williams Lake, Canada. The men’s team finished as the National Runner-Up, qualifying a full roster (18) and scoring 569 points (scoring 252 more points than Year I). 2 NAIA National Records were also broken, with Inigo Marina defending his National Title in the 200-yard Breastroke (1:56.54) – breaking the previous record set back in 2015. The Men’s 400-yard Medley Relay’s time of 3:12.72 broke the previous record, set in 2014. The women’s program also made massive strides year-to-year, finishing in 6th place with 245 points (15th place finish in 2022). In the classroom, the Bobcats earned CSCAA Academic All-American honors, posting a women’s cumulative GPA of 3.54 and the men with a 3.17 GPA.
Year 1 (21-22) “EXTREME OWNERSHIP”
In his first year (21-22), Asadi built the program from nine swimmers to 48 and boosted into the NAIA national rankings. He had 12 swimmers qualify for the NAIA National Championship, and with just 7 men, led the program to a fourth place finish (317 points). In just the first poll of the season, the men's team found themselves in the Top-10 and never left finishing fourth overall at the national meet. The women debuted in the third national poll of the season at ninth.
Before St. Thomas
Asadi was the Head Swim and Water Polo Coach of Mater Lakes Academy (Hialeah, Fla.). In the 20-21/21-22 seasons, he led the men’s team to a 3rd place overall finish at the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) 2A State Championship – the highest finish in the school’s history, and the highest placing Miami-Dade County team in any classification. Asadi also brought home the schools’ first individual state champion titles – with his Boys’ winning the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays. In his time at the school, both the men’s and women’s program have broken every single school record.
Due to these record-breaking seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, Coach Caesar was honored by the Miami Herald as the back-to-back Miami-Dade Male Swimming Coach of the Year for his program’s success against all odds. He also had multiple Miami-Dade swimmers of the year.
Background/Coaching Philosophy
Asadi was a swimmer for 12 years. He was primarily a sprinter and breastroker. At the age of 18, Asadi opted to not swim collegiately – and dedicate his time to coach and train for the US Navy SEALs. Two months before he was to be sent to basic, he was involved in a life-threatening accident, which ended his dreams of becoming a Special Forces operator. This experience taught him the philosophies and values with which he builds the programs he leads today. His mission: to “Build Better Humans.” Asadi has “three-core values” that he applies to the St. Thomas Bobcat Aquatics program: Respect, Trust, and Communication. From these three principles – everything else is built upon. Without respect, there can be no trust, and with no trust, there can be no clear, effective communication.
Through hardships and adversity, Coach Asadi has molded and built his own coaching style and approach to swimming. A huge advocate of the coach-athlete relationship, it has been integral to his success as both a coach and mentor for student-athletes from over 30 different countries around the world.
