As head coach of the Highlanders since 2010, Michael Lawson has continued to raise the status of the Highlander program and help his student athletes achieve milestones within their swimming and diving careers.
In his tenure at NJIT, Coach Lawson has implemented a student-focused philosophy of helping student athletes accomplish their academic and athletic goals through a balanced holistic approach to training.
Coach Lawson prides himself on his ability to see a swimmer not just as a student-athlete but as a maturing individual that with guidance can accomplish anything they put their mind and heart into.
With Lawson at the helm, NJIT men’s swimming & diving has built upon the programs past successes. In 2013-14 the Highlanders were invited to join the exclusively Division I Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association (CCSA). The CCSA brings together five East Coast Division I conferences that do not sponsor swimming and diving, making it one of the fastest conferences in the nation. In their inaugural CCSA championship, the Highlanders finished 5th overall, beating Howard University and Virginia Military Institute. At the championship, then sophomore freestyle sprinter Brian Capozzola finished third in the 50 Freestyle with a time of 20.52, only three tenths off a NCAA ‘B’ standard. Â
2016-17 marked another winning year for Lawson and the Highlanders. The team posted a 6-6 record, and won the ECAC Winter Championships for the second consecutive year. Lawson and his standout junior Scott Quirie both earned post-championship honors, with Quirie winning his second Swimmer of the Meet award and Lawson winning his second Coach of the Meet award.
The strength of schedule in 2015-16 was brought up a notch, with Lawson scheduling meets against teams like Binghamton, Army, Drexel and Colgate. The Highlanders went 5-6 winning the ECAC Winter Championships for the first time in program history. Lawson and Scott Quirie were honored with Coach of the Meet and Swimmer of the Meet for the Highlanders performances.
NJIT finished with their best record as a Division I program (8-4) and completed an unbeaten home season (4-0) in 2015. The Highlanders were ranked nationally in the Division I Top 50 Mid-Major category for the first time in school history (45th) and placed 3rd in the ECAC Winter Championships, another first. NJIT earned 2014 College Swimming Coaches Association of American Scholar All-American team honors (one of 65 teams honored nationally) and placed 4th at the CCSA championships, breaking 16 school-records. The season was capped by Brian Capozzola’s second-place finish in the 50-free and fourth in the 100-free at the CCSA Championships, the highest placement by any Highlander in school history at a Division I conference meet.
The 2013-14 season concluded with 14 out of 25 school records broken, the team being named CSCAA All-Academic Team by having a team GPA above 3.0, and 8 Highlanders achieving CCSA All-Academic Conference awards by having a GPA above 3.5. The 2013-14 season also marked the inaugural year of the programs diving team. Lawson initiated the addition of diving to make the overall program more competitive.
During the 2012-13 season Lawson led the team to break 19 of 23 schools records and qualified six swimmers, a school high, to the ECAC Open Championship. The Highlanders placed 12th out of 29 teams at the ECAC meet, as well as finishing 9th out of 19 teams at the Metropolitan Swimming Conference Championships. Both meets saw a record amount of NJIT swimmers finish in Top 8 and Top 16, with multiple athletes garnering 2nd, 3rd, and 5th place finishes.
Before being named head coach at NJIT in 2010, Coach Lawson was an assistant coach for the Highlanders during the 2009-10 season. From 2005 to 2007 he was head swim coach at the Kellogg Club in Morristown, NJ. Through the guidance of his former coaches and his numerous friendships amongst the swimming coach’s community, coach Lawson has developed a coaching style rooted in proper stroke technique and strength training.
In 2010, Coach Lawson graduated Magna cum Laude from New Jersey Institute of Technology Albert Dorman Honors College with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and in 2011 with a Master of Science in Management, specializing in Organization Management. He graduated in 2013 with his Master of City & Regional Planning, specializing in Urban Design and Transportation from the Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Lawson is an accredited AICP professional urban planner and an Architectural/ Urban Designer at Marchetto, Higgins & Stieve in Hoboken, NJ.
During his tenure as an undergraduate student at NJIT, Lawson was team captain for two years, competing as the primary swimmer in the Individual Medley and Breaststroke. In 2007 he was a finals qualifier in Breaststroke at the Metropolitan Swimming Conference Championships. He held the 800 Freestyle Relay record and was named to the Metropolitan Conference All-Academic Team in 2009.
Â
