The Auburn Athletic Department and Head Swimming Coach David Marsh announced the hiring of Ralph Crocker as assistant swimming coach. Crocker, a Pensacola, Fla. native, returned to Auburn in 1998 and coached the Auburn Aquatics club team and served as a volunteer coach for the Auburn University swim program.

"Ralph brings an enormous amount of experience from the high school and club level which will be effective in recruiting and coaching," said Marsh. "He has an outstanding reputation in the full spectrum of racing and is well known in the swimming community."

Crocker will replace former assistant coach Jimi Flowers, who left in April to take the position of Director of Aquatics Center at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Prior to Auburn, Crocker was the head swimming coach at Pine Crest School in Pensacola for seven years before becoming the head coach for the Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club for two and a half years.

In 1977, Crocker earned a B.S. in Psychology at Auburn. Crocker and his wife of 23 years, Margaret, have an 11-year old daughter named Cameron.