Nathan Freeman started his college coaching career at Columbia in 2021.
After serving as a volunteer assistant coach for two seasons, Freeman was named the assistant coach for men’s swimming in June 2023. He currently coaches the sprint group and was part of the Lions’ staff that coached Columbia to four new school records in the 200 F.R., 200 M.R., 400 F.R. and 100 breast during the 2024-25 season.
Freeman's passion for swimming and coaching predates his time at Columbia. For a decade, while working at prestigious law firms in New York City, he actively engaged with Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics. He served as a part-time assistant coach for Masters and club swimming and also provided private swim instruction, which he continues to present.
Freeman, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, is a graduate of Seattle University, earning his bachelor’s in political science in 2009 and his master’s of science in sports business from New York University in 2022 graduating magna cum laude and summa cum laude respectively.
Freeman has swum for two different Olympic Coaches during his career, was a USA Swimming Open Water National Junior Team member in 2002, a member of Brophy College Preparatory’s national championship team during the 2004-05 season, a four-time top scholarship recipient and letterwinner at S.U. and two-time NCAA Division II Academic All-American. Upon graduating he held the school record in the 800 F.R.
Freeman remains an active athlete and philanthropist. In 2024 he raised money to support athletes aiming to represent Team USA and funding swim programs in New York and New Jersey through the Stand By Me Foundation by participating in a 28.5 mile relay swim around Manhattan. In October 2024, he ran the Hamptons Marathon and got a personal best time of 3:12:01.
Freeman lives in Manhattan with his wife, Alicia, a dentist and director at a medical company along with their cat, Tiburón.
