Mickey Murad began his tenured position at Mesa College in the spring of 2022. Coach Mickey grew up in San Diego and attended University City High School. During his high school career he was 6-time League Champion as well as a 6-time CIF champion. During that time he swam for North Coast Aquatics and was a 3-time Junior National & State Champion, competing in all distance freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. He was invited to attend USA Swimming National Select Camp as one of the top ranked middle distance freestylers in the country. In 1998, he earned a full scholarship to Cal-Berkeley swimming under legendary coaches, Nort Thornton and Mike Bottom. During Mickey’s time at Cal, he became one of the premier middle-distance freestylers in the country and held world rankings in 400/800/1500 freestyle events. He was a 2-time Division I All American both individually and as a member of the Cal Bears relay team.

After his collegiate career, Mickey worked in the financial industry but soon realized his true passion was still in the swimming world. In 2009, he created First Wave Swim Academy with Cal teammate, former UCSB head coach and current UC Davis head coach, Matt Macedo. The Academy provided clinics, private lessons and training programs for all levels of triathletes and swimmers. While running First Wave, Coach Murad began working with age group swimmers both at Rancho San Dieguito and North Coast Aquatics in San Diego.

In 2012 Mickey was nominated and named San Diego Age Group Coach of the Year. He was a member of the Western Zone staff in 2012 and Head Coach for San Diego- Imperial All-Star team in 2013. In 2012, Mickey was selected as one of six coaches nationwide to join the American Swimming Coaches Association Fellows class, a program designed to mentor “up-and-coming” coaches across the country. He was selected as manager of the Zone Select Camp and National Select Camp in 2014, both held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. In 2015 Mickey managed the National Junior Team at the Olympic Training Center. He was also team manager of the 2016 U.S. Junior Pan Pacific Team in Maui, a team consisting of the nations top 18&U swimmers.

After working with the 18&U US Junior National Team Mickey was invited to coach the USA National Team in 2018 & 2019 for several weeks during the team’s annual training camp as they prepared for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Over the past 10 years Mickey has coached dozens of high school athletes to CIF titles and college scholarships across the country.