Arizona men’s and women’s swimming and diving head coach Eric Hansen resigned Monday afternoon.

Hansen, who has been head coach for the past two-and-a-half seasons, took a leave of absence last October for “personal matters.”

“I have decided to resign my position as head swimming and diving coach at Arizona,” Hansen said in a press release Monday. “After taking a leave from the program in October, I came to the decision that it would be best for me to step down and pursue other interests. I want to thank athletics director Greg Byrne and the current athletic administration for the opportunity I was given.”

Hansen, who was also an assistant to the Arizona swimming and diving team in the late ’90s, was named the head coach for the 2011-12 season after former head coach Frank Busch took over as national team director for USA Swimming.

In his second full year (2012-13) as the Wildcats’ coach, Hansen led the women’s team to fifth place and the men’s team to a second-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

Associate head coach Rich DeMont served as head coach when Hansen took his leave of absence in late October. Since then the Arizona women’s team has gone 3-1 with victories over UNLV, UCLA and most recently Boise State, on Nov. 23. The men are 1-1 without Hansen, losing to USC most recently on Nov. 9.

Both the women’s and men’s teams will be back in action this Friday, as they travel to Stanford.

On Monday, Byrne announced that DeMont will continue as the interim head coach until a new head coach is named.

“We plan to open the position and conduct a national search,” Byrne said. “I’m confident we will find an excellent head coach to lead our swimming and diving program.”

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