Howard Hunte was named the head coach of the Valparaiso University swimming and diving program in April, 2008 and took over the program in July, 2008.

Since his arrival at the helm of the Crusaders, Hunte’s team has set school records in 21 events.  Two of the records which were set in his first season were re-broken in 2010.  He also had seven men and five women voted to the Horizon League All-Academic Team over the past three years.  In addition, 14 of Hunte’s men and 13 of his women were named to the league’s Academic Honor Roll during his tenure with the Brown and Gold.

A four-year letterwinner for Fairmont State University from 2002-2006, Hunte served as team captain for three seasons.  He mainly swam the backstroke and butterfly, and was part of setting a pool record in the 200 medley relay for the Fighting Falcons.  He earned All-West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference accolades while at Fairmont State.

Growing up in Venezuela, Hunte was ranked among the top-five backstrokers in the country as a teenager.  He then moved to the United States in 2000 and competed for the Fort Lauderdale Aquatics club.

Hunte arrived at Valpo with a wide array of coaching experience as well.  He was the head swim coach for the Fairmont Area swim team in 2006-2007.  With Fairmont, he was responsible for workouts for swimmers ages 13-17.  He also handled all of the meet entries for the club, supervised the assistant coaches for various age groups, and was the representative for all parent board meetings.  Hunte took over the head coaching position after serving a an assistant coach for the swim team from 2003-2006.

Hunte also was an assistant swim coach for the West Virginia Southern Zone Team in 2005 and 2006 that competed in Houston, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia.

While working on his master’s degree, Hunte interned in strength and conditioning at West Virginia University during the 2007-2008 season.

Hunte graduated from Fairmont State in 2006 with a bachelor of science degree in physical education, with a minor in health.  He went on to earn his masters of science in athletic coaching education at West Virginia in 2008.