Bio

The 2020-21 season marks Tom Caccia's eighth as the head swimming and diving coach at Simpson. 

The Storm have reached new heights under Caccia, setting a combined 130 school records in 36 different events. Caccia helped Kyle McKim win back-to-back Iowa Conference titles in the 100 breaststroke (2014-15) and saw McKim and Christina Amburgy land on the 2014 All-Liberal Arts Championship team and Danny Turner in 2020. 

Caccia led the Storm into a new era when he took over as head coach in 2013, helping start the school's first diving program while settling into its new home at the Indianola YMCA.

Caccia was voted into the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2019. This is the highest award presented by NISCA for leadership in interscholastic aquatics. Caccia became the 35th coach in NISCA history to be presented the top three awards of the Outstanding Service on a National Level, the Collegiate/Scholastic Award for National Contributions to the sport, and the Hall of Fame for success as a coach.

In addition to the strides made in the pool, Caccia's teams have also excelled in the classroom. The women tallied their 15th-straight College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Scholar All-America Team honor this past winter. 

Prior to taking over Simpson's swimming and diving program, Caccia spent more than 30 years establishing himself as one of the premier high school coaches in the state of Wisconsin.

Caccia was a four-time Wisconsin High School State Swimming Coach of the Year while at Platteville, earning the award on the girls’ side in1999 and on the boys’ side 2001, 2005 and 2006. In 2006 he was recognized as the Midwest Region Coach of the Year by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) and was a finalist for the national coach of the year award. He led Platteville to more than 370 dual meet victories throughout his career and coached 20 all-state athletes and 80 Academic All-Americans.

In addition to his accomplishments as a coach, Caccia was also a decorated student-athlete at Wisconsin-Platteville. He transferred to Platteville after spending the 1973-74 season at Division I Northern Illinois, leaving his mark on the Pioneer program. In three years he set 25 school records, led the team in scoring each season and was twice named the team’s most valuable swimmer. He was a two-time national qualifier in the 400-yard individual medley and earned All-Conference Scholastic Athlete honors as a senior in 77.

Caccia began his teaching career at Argyle High School in 1977, where he spent two years before going to Fennimore for a year in 1979. His first opportunity to coach swimming came at Platteville in 1980, where he also served as a high school and middle school technology education instructor and was an assistant track coach for 16 years.

UW-Platteville honored Caccia’s career as a student-athlete and a coach by inducting him into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2011. In 2003, Caccia was selected by Aquatic International Magazine as one of the top 100 Most Influential People in Aquatics in the United States, an honor that includes all of aquatics, not just coaching.

Tom has been married to his wife, Theresa, for 42 years. The couple has a daughter, Ashley, who is married to her husband, Paul. Tom and Theresa also have two grandchildren, Sean and Jillian.