Matthew Jabs

Biography

Matthew Jabs returned to East Carolina as the women’s swimming and diving head coach in February 2021 after previously serving as the head coach for the Pirates’ men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs from 2017-20. Both programs were discontinued at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season, but the women’s program was reinstated in January 2021. Under his guidance, the men’s program captured its fourth American Athletic Conference championship in 2020 and he was recognized as Coach-of-the-Year along with his staff. During his seven seasons as ECU’s Head Coach, his teams compiled a combined dual meet record of 69-31 (M 16-9 in four seasons, W 53-22 in seven seasons). The Pirates set 76 school records and won 29 American Athletic Conference championship events with 50 all-conference athletes accumulating 85 all-conference performances. ECU set multiple championship records and registered numerous NCAA “B” qualifying standards, with five athletes receiving an invitation to the NCAA Championships. More than 100 ECU all-time top 10 performances have been recorded during his tenure as head coach. Jabs was a member of ECU Hall of Famer Rick Kobe’s coaching staff for 17 seasons before taking over the reins of the program. He began his collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant at ECU before becoming a graduate assistant in 2001. After completing his master's degree in 2003, he was promoted to assistant coach and spent the next eight seasons as the program's lead assistan