Former Daily World sports editor Rob Burns has been appointed Aberdeen High School’s head boys swimming coach.

Burns succeeds Angie Durr, who was forced to resign due to health reasons. His appointment was confirmed at Tuesday night’s Aberdeen School Board meeting.

A former high school and college swimmer, Burns has been a Bobcat swim assistant for the past six years — aiding Durr, Keith Lile and Rebecca Rowe. Lile has agreed to assist with the program one day per week this season.

“This is certainly an opportunity that came available a lot sooner than I expected, but I’m ready for the challenge,” Burns said. “This is a very good group of returning swimmers and they are ready to get going. I have big shoes to fill and my task is to get this season’s team to swim to their highest potential. They are capable of doing great things and I’m looking forward to helping them achieve their goals and records.”

Burns resigned his Daily World position last summer to begin a second career in education. In the process of obtaining his teaching certificate, he has been working as a substitute teacher and continuing as a free-lance writer.

A native of Northern California, Burns swam collegiately as a butterfly-backstroke specialist at Sacramento State University. He previously swam and played water polo at Solano Community College and continued in Masters swimming competition until moving to Washington to join the The Daily World in 1998.

Accepting the AHS head coaching position on short notice, Burns was non-committal on the length of his tenure.

“I am going to coach the team as if I’m going to be here for a long time,” he said. “However, what the future will hold after this season will be up to the school. Coach Durr has been a tremendous help getting me up to speed. Once she is feeling better, she’s welcome to return to the pool deck. Keith, Angie and Rebecca have all been good coaches to work for and I learned a lot from each of them.”