Frank Comfort

Early life and swimming Comfort was born on December 20, 1945, to Robert and Francis Meck Comfort, an educator, and Syracuse University graduate, and grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His father taught business administration as a professor at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. His mother served as the chief librarian at Harrisburg Area Community College. Comfort also swam for Colonial Crest Swim Club of Harrisburg during his High School years and in July 1963 broke pool records in the 100 freestyle and butterfly events. In July 1964 in the summer after his High School Senior year, swimming for West Shore Swim Club, he won two events, the 100-meter backstroke, and the 100-meter butterfly in a time of 53.1 at a Tri-County Swim League Meet.

College era swimming and coaching He graduated Syracuse University with a Bachelor's in History in 1968, where he was a three-year letterman in swimming from 1964 to 1967. In competition he excelled in middle-distance events and occasionally swam the 500 freestyle. As a Syracuse college upperclassman in 1967, he also coached the Syracuse Jewish Community Center swim team, which had a wide range of age group swimmers. He received his master's degree in physical education from Carolina in 1968, and coached their freshman swimming team to a perfect 7–0 record as well as assisting with the Varsity team as a Student Coach.

Coaching Johns Hopkins Before assuming the position as head coach at Carolina, between 1968 and 1977 Comfort served as the head swimming and diving coach at NCAA Division III Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. In nine seasons, the team achieved a record of 82–36 in dual meets. Upon leaving Hopkins in 1977, Comfort was replaced by Assistant Coach Tim Welsh. Comfort had also coached the Homewood AAU Aquatic club during his tenure at Hopkins, and had mentored nationally rated swimmers with the Homewood Aquatic team, Teresa Hecht, Nancy Thompson, 1976 Olympic medalist Wendy Weinberg, and Ellen Mangels.

Coaching University of North Carolina In the 30 years between May 1977 and July 2007, where he replaced Jim Wood as Head Coach, Comfort had an exceptional winning career at North Carolina. He led the university to 26 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships, consisting of 10 men's teams championships, and 16 women's team's championships. Comfort remarked in 2003, that "Getting the 500th is a great tribute to a lot of great swimmers and divers who've competed for me at Johns Hopkins and Carolina over the past 35 years".

Comfort always noted that he stressed education first and swimming second. He required a minimum of three morning and six afternoon practices, rather than many programs that required five or six morning practices. He also established an Alumni Club for his swimmers to help build team loyalty and improve recruiting by creating a network of graduates who could look for top talent in their communities.

The swimmers and divers under Comfort's management won both at North Carolina and previously at Johns Hopkins University with a frequency and consistency unparalleled by any former swimming coach. Of his 565 career wins, 303 came while coaching men and 262 while coaching women. He also had great success with his athletes in classroom academics while away from the pool, and his swimmers were active in numerous leadership roles in their college communities.

International coaching Comfort coached several American and foreign Olympians and NCAA, AIAW and U.S. swimming national champions. He served eight times as head coach or an assistant on international trips for the U.S. National Team and 10 times for U.S. teams on domestic trips. He was Head Coach of the U.S. National Team at the World Junior Championships and Goodwill Games, and served as the Sport Coordinator for the 1987 Swimming at U.S. Olympic Festival in North Carolina. In his time away from collegiate coaching, he volunteered as an assistant basketball coach, and held a strength training program for both the boys' and girls' basketball teams at Pennsylvania's Sullivan County High School, and since 1967 held a position as an officer with the Sullivan County Scholarship Association. Since 1998, he was a member and was on the board of the Eagles Mere Community Church. Both his children, a son, and a daughter were University of North Carolina graduates. Sullivan County is a highly rural, and lightly populated area where Comfort retired. In 2022, Comfort was still helping with Sullivan County's basketball team, and would make a 35-mile one-way drive to swim at a YMCA in a neighboring county.

Honors Befitting a coach with over 40 years of experience, and an unparallelled number of winning meets, Comfort was widely recognized in the swimming community. He was chosen as the ACC Coach of the Year for the University of North Carolina's Women's team 10 times (1982, 1984, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001 and 2002) and as Coach of the Year for the Men's team four times (1991, 1993, 1996 and 1997).