In July 2016, Ben Hewitt became the second head coach in Nova Southeastern men's and women's swimming program history, returning to the Sharks after serving as the assistant coach from 2010-13.
Hewitt led the Sharks Women's Swimming team to the program's first NCAA Division II National Championship in 2023, where the Sharks won 10 national championships.
Since his return, he has coached four NCAA national champions (five individual victories) and led the men to their highest program finish (third) in 2017 and the women to their highest finish in 2018 (third).
Hewitt was named the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Decade on Oct. 28, after guiding the Sharks to three Sunshine State Conference Championships and three NCAA Top-4 finishes from 2016-20. Hewitt coached 25 All-SSC selections, three Swimmers of the Year and 28 All-Americans. Additionally, Hewitt earned three SSC Coach of the Year Honors, taking the award in 2017, 2018, and 2020.
Hewitt earned back-to-back titles as the SSC Women's Coach of the Year, while also leading the both the Sharks men's and women's teams to back-to-back Sunshine State Conference Championship victories in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, he was named SSC Men's Coach of the Year, spearheading the men's team to its third-consecutive conference championship. In 2020, Hewitt earned his third SSC Women's Coach of the Year honor after leading the women's team to their fifth SSC crown. He has helped mentor 71 All-Americans in his four years, as well as 50 All-SSC honorees.
Out of the pool, both the men's and women's swim teams have posted a GPA higher than a 3.0 for nine consecutive semesters under Hewitt's tutelage. 136 NSU swimmers have found their names on the Spring SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll, while 64 have earned CSCAA Scholar All-America distinction.
A former assistant coach with the program, Hewitt returned to NSU after serving three years as the women's head coach at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. During his time with the Tigers, he led the squad to three consecutive NCAA Division III Championship appearances as well as third-place finishes each year at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships.
Serving as the assistant for both the men's and women's teams, under Hollie Bonewit-Cron from 2010-13, Hewitt helped mentor 24 All-Americans and was part of three Sunshine State Conference Championship-winning teams. NSU also had two top-10 team marks and three individual champions at the NCAA DII National Championship during his tenure.
Hewitt also helped Bonewit-Cron start the NSU swim programs in 2010 and played an integral part in the teams' first-year successes. During that first year of NCAA competition, Hewitt helped guide the men's program to the first-ever Sunshine State Conference title award and helped mentor eight swimmers that advanced to the 2011 NCAA Championships in their first year of competition.
Prior to coming to NSU, Hewitt was an assistant on two different staffs, at Wabash College and Kenyon College. In two stints at Wabash, he dealt with recruiting and developing training groups. In 2010, the team had two NCAA qualifiers and four school records. At Kenyon in 2007, the team won both the men's and women's DIII National Championships, and 16 event titles at the national meet.
As an alumnus of Wabash, Hewitt was a four-year member of the swim team that included All-Conference honors, the team's captaincy his senior season, and their MVP award as a junior. He received his bachelor's degree from the school in Spanish.
Hewitt is a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and College Swimming Coaches Association of America, and is Level IV certified by ASCA as well. He was honored by the ASCA in 2015 with the Coach of Excellence Award, and, while at NSU, received the Jean Freeman Memorial Scholarship in 2013.
