Jon Howell, a former assistant coach at Clemson University and 11-time NCAA national champion, was named head coach of the men's and women's swimming and diving programs at Emory University in the summer of 1998.

In 14 seasons at Emory, he has guided the Eagles to 27 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Division III men's and women's national championships and 28 conference team titles. In 2012, he led the Emory University women to their third-straight NCAA Division III Championship and fifth total under his tutelage, while the men finished third in the Nation.  It marked the 13th-consecutive campaign that the men's program had finished fourth or better, while the women, in addition to their back-to-back national crowns in 2005 and 2006, now have a 12-year streak of finishing fourth or better at the National Championship.

Howell was honored as the national women's swimming Coach of the Year in 2002, 2005, 2009 and 2011. He and his assistants have been honored seven times as conference Coaching Staff of the Year, most recently in 2012.  In addition, he coached Liz Horvat to the Division III Swimmer of the Year honors in 2009.

Since his arrival at Emory, the Eagles have recorded 23 individual and 12 relay national champions and an incredible 763 All-America certificates awarded to their swimmers. He has overseen 12 conference swimmers of the year, six conference divers of the year, 11 conference rookies of the year and had led both the men's and women's team to a UAA title in each of his 14 seasons with the team.

Howell was an assistant at Clemson, an NCAA Division I school, for two seasons in which the school claimed an Atlantic Coast Conference women's championship and attained 14 school record-setting performances.

Previously, Howell was the interim head coach at Kenyon College (Ohio) during the 1995-96 season in which his teams won the NCAA Division III national men's and women's championships. That season Kenyon won 14 national championships in individual or relay events, produced a Division III national record, established four new school records and swept the men's and women's conference titles.

Howell is a 1990 graduate of Kenyon, where he was 21-time All-American, primarily as a sprint freestyler. Among his 11 individual national championships are three consecutive in the 50-yard freestyle (1988-90), unmatched in NCAA Division III history in that event, and one in the 100-yard freestyle event (1990). Howell helped Kenyon to four national team championships and was twice voted the team's Most Valuable Performer. At the completion of his senior season, Howell was voted the school's Athlete of the Year.

His additional head coaching experience includes U.S. Swimming teams in Ohio and North Carolina. In the summer of 1995 Howell served as the United States' coach at the Hapoel Games in Israel.