Hall of Fame
On May 21, 2012, Bellarmine University announced John Brucato as its first-ever men’s and women’s swim coach, bringing with him a wealth of coaching experience both on the collegiate and club level. Brucato coached the Knights through the 2022-23 season, helping guide seven student-athletes to All-American status at the Division II level before piloting the Knights into the Division I era. Brucato became the first representative from the swimming program to be inducted into the Bellarmine Athletics Hall of Fame in 2025, shortly before passing away after a four-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
During the 2022-23 season, Brucato guided the Knights to three team wins and, in the CCSA Championships, coached Sam Jones to bronze in the 1650 freestyle and Jacob Dray to silver in the 100 butterfly.
The 2021-22 season was highlighted by Bellarmine's first team wins in the Division I era for the men's and women's squads, while multiple program records were broken by both teams. The men's side featured three individual records broken (50 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 200 IM), and two relay records were bested (200 freestyle, 800 freestyle) - all at the CCSA championships. The women's team had its individual 50 freestyle program record snapped as well at the season's final meet. Between the men's and women's teams, the Knights held 10 top-10 finishes at the CCSA Championships.
The 2020-21 season marked Bellarmine's first in Division I. The inaugural campaign was highlighted by Matthew Sims' gold medal-winning performance in the 200 butterfly at the CCSA Championship.
Prior to its arrival in DI, a combined seven different swimmers under Brucato earned DII All-America accolades over the women's and men's programs final three seasons in DII. In the last two seasons before making the transition, Sims became the first conference champion for either program, repeating in the 200 butterfly in 2019 and 2020 at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships.
In the 2019-20 campaign, Sims repeated as a DII All-American in the 200 butterfly. Sophia Noren, Rachel Walker, Maya Sorensen and Grace Roegner earned All-America accolades in the 200 and 400 medley relays. Noren added another All-America plaudit in the 100 breaststroke, as did Walker in the 500 freestyle.
In 2018-19, Sims became the swimming program's first-ever first-team All-American after he finished fourth in the 200 butterfly at the NCAA II Championships. Noren landed the program another All-America honor after she secured second-team plaudits with an 10th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. Between the women's and men's teams, the Knights earned berths in a program-record 11 events at the NCAA II Championships. Sims had another unprecedented feat at the GLVC Championships, winning the 200 butterfly to become the program's first conference champion. Sims (200 butterfly), Noren (100 breaststroke), Walker (1650 freestyle) and the women's 200 and 400 medley relay teams garnered All-GLVC status, the first such distinctions in program history.
The 2017-18 campaign was a historic one for Bellarmine swimming. Noren became the first individual in program history to qualify for the NCAA II Championships and receive All-America recognition, earning a berth in the 100 breaststroke and following with a 13th-place finish that landed her second-team All-America plaudits. Another unprecedented feat occurred when the 200 medley relay team of Noren, Kathryn Vulich, Kandis Arlinghaus and Emily Zawadzki became the first Knights relay squad to compete in the NCAA II Championships.
In 2015-16, Bellarmine's women were ranked inside the top 30 of CollegeSwimming.com's Division II rankings. In addition, freshman Marc McCormick secured three national B cut times to become the first swimmer in program history to earn the marks.
In 2014-15, the Knights had 11 different swimmers accumulate points in the GLVC Championships. Under Brucato's leadership, the BU women improved by 75 points from the previous year's meet. Bellarmine had multiple athletes earn GLVC Swimmer of the Week honors.
Before coming to Bellarmine, Brucato spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky while also serving as the head coach of the Wildcat Aquatics club team since 1990. He is a former Kentucky Swimming Coach of the Year, in addition to being a Select Camp coach and an Olympic Festival coach.
During his time at the helm of Wildcat Aquatics, Brucato produced numerous top-16 qualifiers, Junior National qualifiers, Junior National champions, Senior National qualifiers and an Olympic gold medalist, Megan Kleine, in 1992. While at Wildcat Aquatic, Brucato also played a major role in the development of Elaine Breeden, who swam the 100- and 200-meter butterfly in the 2008 Olympics and was a two-time NCAA champion at Stanford University.
Brucato, a native of Covington, Kentucky, was a 1985 graduate of Northern Kentucky University where he received a degree in psychology.
Brucato was survived by his wife Jan; daughter Katie (Pat) Kelly, a Bellarmine graduate; grandchildren Olivia and Brooks Kelly; and siblings Mike (Lori) Brucato and Tom (Cyndi) Brucato.
