Dr. Richard Pein served as interim head women's and men's swimming & coach at UWL for the 2018-19 season, leading the women's squad to the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) title. The Eagles' men's team placed second at the 2019 league championships under Pein.
He returned to UWL after retiring as the Eagles' head coach at the conclusion of the 2011-12 season after 30 years of leading the program. The Richard L. Pein Natatorium was dedicated in his honor in 2014.
Pein, inducted into the UWL Wall of Fame in 2006, took over the men's program in 1979 and proceeded to guide the squad to a 10th-place finish at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championships that same year. On the men's side, UWL placed among the top-20 nationally in either the NAIA or the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III in 11 of Pein's 30 seasons. The Eagles finished 22nd at the 2010 national championships, their best showing since a 16th-place result in 1993.
He added the women's swimming program to his coaching duties prior to the 1985-86 season. Pein coached the women's program to four NCAA III top-12 finishes, including a school-best fifth-place showing in 2003-04. UWL also scored a school record 215.0 points at the 2004 NCAA III Championships. UWL was seventh at the 2010 national championships and eighth in 2009. Pein also led UWL to two NAIA top-20 finishes.
Leading UWL to its first WIAC women's title since 1978 with a championship in 1997-98, Pein guided the Eagles to seven conference titles in his last 10 seasons as head coach. The team won four consecutive conference crowns from 2002-05, marking the first time in school history UWL had won four straight WIAC women's swimming & diving titles. The Eagles became the first team since UW-Eau Claire (1995-97) to win three consecutive women's championships with their victory in 2003-04.
Pein was named WIAC Men's Coach of the Year six times and Women's Coach of the Year on 11 different occasions. In addition, he was named the NCAA Division III Women's Swimming National Coach of the Year in 2003-04 for the Eagles' fifth-place national finish. Pein was selected the NAIA District 14 Coach of the Year in 1990-91 after leading the men to an 11th-place finish at the NAIA championships and the women to a 13th-place finish.
He was inducted into the WIAC Hall of Fame in 2025.
He coached the men's program to a 135-79 (.631) won-loss record in dual meets and compiled a 123-36 (.774) dual mark in 25 seasons with the women's program. UWL finished 55-4 (.932) in women's duals in Pein's last 12 seasons as head coach.
Earning a bachelor's degree from Ohio University in 1971, Pein received his master's degree from Illinois State University in 1979. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee in 1990. Before coming to UWL, Pein served as assistant coach at Bowling Green University, Oakland University (Mich.) and Illinois State.
He taught in UWL's Exercise Sport Science Department for 30 years.
