Matthew Charest joined MIT as Assistant Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Coach in 2025. In addition to his role with the Engineers Swimming & Diving program, Charest also works as an Athletics Communications Assistant.
Charest helped lead the programs to NEWMAC Championship victories, as the women's team won every event during the four-day meet. The Engineers earned the NEWMAC Women's Swim Staff of the Year as the team swept the major awards (Rookie, Swimmer and Diver of the Year). At the NCAA Championships, the women's team erased a 20-point deficit on the final day to capture the program's first NCAA Championship.
Charest came to MIT after spending three seasons as an Assistant Coach at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, where he directed recruiting operations for the Continentals. His efforts helped the women's team to its highest NESCAC finish in 12 years and the men's programs best finish in seven years in 2023, earning NESCAC Women's Coaching Staff of the Year honors. During Charest's time on the Hamilton coaching staff, the Continentals set 47 school records and had over 200 program top ten performances, while recording 18 NCAA provisional times and earning 11 All-American honors. In 2024, Nathaniel Taft became the first Hamilton swimmer to earn NESCAC Rookie of the Year honors.
A 2020 graduate of Bates College, Charest received his degree in Psychology while earning NESCAC All-Sportsmanship Awards in both 2018-19 and 2019-20, as well as the 2019-20 Coaches Award and the 2019 Men's Varsity Swimming Most Valuable Player Award. A four-year swimmer for the Bobcats, Charest was a team captain and earned All-NESCAC honors in 2019 after finishing third in the 50-yard breaststroke. He remains ranked in the top ten all-time at Bates in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.
