Assistant Coaches Mia Nonnenberg & Austin Pillado

MIA NONNENBERG

ASSISTANT COACH FIRST SEASON ALABAMA, ‘18

Mia Nonnenberg joined the Penn State Swimming & Diving Staff in September 2021. Nonnenberg comes to Happy Valley after spending the 2021 season as an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University.

During her time at Eastern Michigan, Nonnenberg helped to develop training plans, helped with recruiting and coordinated all team travel.

From 2019-21, she served as a graduate assistant at the University of West Florida, helping the women’s team to back-to-back New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference titles in 2020 and 2021.

During 2020-21, Nonnenberg also was a team manager of the Toronto Titans of the International Swim League (ISL), where she assisted with team operations for an organization that included professional and Olympic athletes from over 20 countries.

Nonnenberg is a graduate of the University of Alabama where she was a team captain. She was an NCAA All-American, four-time SEC Academic Honor Roll student, and 2016 Olympic Trial qualifier and top-20 finisher in 400 IM and 200 Butterfly. She graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology.

After graduation, Nonnenberg was a volunteer assistant coach for Alabama.

Nonnenberg earned a Master of Science in Physical Education and Human Performance from West Florida.

AUSTIN PILLADO

ASSISTANT COACH FIRST SEASON DAVIS & ELKINS, ‘17

Pillado joined the Penn State Swimming & Diving Coaching Staff in September 2021.

Pillado comes to Happy Valley after spending time as an assistant coach at Saginaw Valley State from 2020-21. Pillado ran daily training sessions, spearheaded the recruiting process and monitored academic progress. SVSU had seven school records broken at the GLIAC Championships.

Prior to Saginaw Valley State, Pillado was a volunteer assistant coach for the women’s team at Texas A&M, from 2017-2020, where he helped to run practices and daily workouts. For the Aggies, Pillado helped run daily training sessions and coached the post-grad/professional group in his final two years in College Station. Pillado helped guide the Aggies to back-to-back SEC Championships in 2018 and 2019 and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2018. During his time at Texas A&M, eight school records were broken and the Aggies captured 11 individual conference championships, including two relay teams. Pillado helped coach 33 All-Americans and aided four swimmers to finish in the top-eight in the 200 breaststroke at the 2018 NCAA Championships.

Pillado coached five Olympians and multiple national team swimmers, from various countries, during the 2017-2020 tenure.

Pillado attended Davis & Elkins College and was a member of the swimming & diving team from 2013-17. He held nine different program records at one point. His 400 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle relay records still stand. Pillado was the first and only swimmer in school history to achieve all-conference honors at the Bluegrass Mountain Championships in 2016 for his performance in the 1,000-yard freestyle. He was named the Male Athlete of the Year in 2016 and was an Academic All-American every semester as a student-athlete. Pillado competed in track & field for the Senators in 2017 as well and still holds the school record in the javelin, an event where he was a GMAC finalist.

Pillado, a native of Coral Springs, Florida, earned his bachelor’s degree in sport management from Davis & Elkins in 2017. He earned his master’s degree in sport management from Texas A&M in 2020.