TicketsUC Coaching Highlights
- Assistant Coach of USA Open Water National Select Camp
- AAC Men's Conference Champions - 2018, 2019
- AAC Men's Conference Runner-up - 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
- AAC Men's Coach of the Year - 2018, 2019
- AAC Women's Conference Runner-up - 2018, 2019
- 54 American Athletic Conference Champions
- 704 UC Top Ten Performances
- 121 School Records
- 16 AAC Records
- 13 NCAA Qualifiers
- 8 AAC Swimmers/Divers/Freshman of the Year
- 6 All-Americans and 3 Honorable Mention All-American
- 2 Big 12 Conference Champions
- 2 US Olympic Team Trial Semi-finalist
- 1 National Record (International)
Joey Ferreri is entering his 11th season as a coach with the Bearcats Swimming & Diving team after spending two seasons as a swimming and diving student-athlete for Cincinnati from 2013-15. He was previously the Recruiting Director from 2019 until being promoted to Associate Head Coach in the summer of 2021.
In 2025, Ferreri helped lead the Bearcats through a historic season. The women opened the Big 12 Conference Championship with a program-record and NCAA “A” Standard time in the 200 Medley Relay, marking the Bearcats’ first relay qualification for the NCAA Championships since 1976. Both the men’s and women’s teams went on to win their first Big 12 Conference titles in program history. Individually, Crye captured the 100 Breast title on the women’s side, while Hunter Gubeno claimed victory in the men’s 200 Backstroke. At the NCAA Championships, Joleigh Crye earned All-American honors with a 4th-place finish in the 100 Breaststroke. Crye went on to earn the 2025 UC Student-Athlete of the Year award. The women's program also set a record-setting 3.734 cumulative team GPA over the spring semester. Overall, the teams posted 19 First/Second Team All-Big 12 performances, 17 new school records and earned eight top-three finishes at the Big 12 Championships.
In 2024, Ferreri helped the Bearcats in Cincinnati’s inaugural season of the Big 12 Conference with 4th-place finishes for both the men’s and women’s programs. The women were able to defeat #22 Northwestern and conference rival West Virginia early in the season. Post conference, both programs had NCAA qualifiers for the first time since 2017. Senior, Hunter Gubeno, qualified in the 200 backstroke after breaking the school record with a time of 1:39.95 and Sophomore, Joleigh Crye made it back again in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 58.24, breaking her previous record. At NCAA, Crye was able to earn All-American Honors with a 13th-place finish. The team's success carried over to the 2024 US Olympic Team Trials, where both Gubeno and Crye had standout performances, qualifying them for the semi-finals.
In 2023, he helped Freshman, Joleigh Crye, qualify for NCAA in the 100 breast with a time off 59,07, making her the first Freshman NCAA qualifier since 2014 Jackie Keire. Hunter Gubeno led the men’s team by earning an AAC Men’s Swimmer of the Year, after winning both the 100-200 backstroke and taking second in the 200 IM. All together the Bearcats had seven conference champions and broke 12 school records. Earlier in the season, he also led the men to their second CSCAA Open Water National Championship title lead by Ido Gal and Alex Gonzalez and Kevin Leibold.
In 2021, Ferreri helped guide four Bearcats as they competed at the 2020 Olympic Swimming Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Blake Hanna qualified in the 100m and 200m backstroke, finished second in Wave 1 with a time of 2:00.11 to earn his way into Wave 2. Hunter Gubeno qualified in the 100m and 200m backstroke and the 200m individual medley. Kevin Leibold qualified for the 200m butterfly and Connor Funke qualified in the 200m breaststroke.
At the 2021 AAC Championships, the men's team finished second and the women's team third, highlighted with a record number of American Athletic Conference podium finishes with a total of 36, with eight of those being conference champions. The men swept the podium in the 500 Free for the third consecutive year, and Michael Balcerak won all three of his individual events (500 free, 100 butterfly, 200 butterfly) to earn American Athletic Conference Men’s Swimmer of the Year.
The 2020-21 season also had academic success, with the highest men's and women's GPA in program history. The men finished the year with a 3.459 GPA and the women with a 3.727 GPA. There were also three UC One Team Award winners, with Matea Sumajstorcic earning Newcomer of the Year, Camryn Streid, the Student Athlete Award Winner, and Zach Baecker earned the Nancy Hamant Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.
The Bearcats once again found success under the guidance of Ferreri in 2018-19. The men's team repeated as American Athletic Conference champions while the women finished runner-up for the second straight year. Distance swimmer Din Selmanovic was named the AAC's Most Outstanding Male Swimmer, the first Bearcats athlete in history to earn the honor. Outside of the pool, 29 women and 14 men were named to the AAC All-Academic Team. The women posted their highest GPA in program history it the spring, just barely missing out of the top-ten nationally. The men had the second-highest GPA in the conference during the spring competition season.
Ferreri helped UC to a record season in 2017-18 as the men won their first AAC championship in program history and the women finished runner-up. Ferrerri saw senior distance swimmers Chris Bready and Sara Wanasek break conference records in the 1650 freestyle to win the events, Bready for the fourth-straight year. His distance athletes swept the podium in the 1650 for the men and took the top two spots on the women's side. Three other Bearcats won individual titles while the men took their first championship relay win, the 800 freestyle relay. In the classroom, both the men and women posted their highest GPA's ever in the spring and both had more CSCAA academic honorees than any other program in the conference. The women's GPA for the academic year ranked 15th in the nation.
Additionally, Ferreri has an extensive open water background as both an athlete and a coach. He has worked at the USA Open Water National Select Camp as a Home Coach in 2016 and an assistant coach in 2018. At 2018 Open Water Nationals he had three athletes compete with the top finisher placing as the seventh American.
During his time as a student-athlete at Cincinnati, his career highlights consisted of an 8th-place finish in the 400 IM and a 4th-place finish in the 1650 freestyle during the American Athletic Conference championship in 2014. He ended his career with an 8th-place finish in the 200 butterfly at the league championship in 2015.
Academically, he was a member of the Dean’s List for five semesters and achieved recognition in 2014 & 2015 for the UC Athletic Department Bearcats Strong program. Ferreri also was awarded the team’s Newcomer of the Year award in 2014 and served as team captain during his senior season.
The Southern California native has an extensive distance background and grew up competing for the Mission Viejo Nadadores. While swimming for the Nadadores, Ferreri was coached by some of the nation’s top distance coaches, including Jim Montrella, Tyler Fenwick and Bill Rose, and trained alongside the nation’s most elite swimmers, including 2008 & 2012 Olympian Chloe Sutton. He was the sole recipient of the Award of Excellence in 2011.
He resides in Northern Kentucky with his wife, Sara and son, Vinny.