[2][3] Prior to triathlon, Potts was a swimmer where he won the bronze medal in the men's 400m individual medley at the 1995 Summer Universiade[4] and earned a spot on the USA Swimming national team where he would place fourth at the 1996 Olympic Trials in the 400 IM.

Potts was a six-time NCAA All-American swimmer while at Michigan and a two-time Big 10 individual champion.

[9] Potts began competing as a professional triathlete in 2003 and was named USA Triathlon Rookie of the Year.

[27][28] In 2012, Andy Potts won the Ironman 70.3 California triathlon in Oceanside, CA for the fourth time.

Potts is considered the winningest male ever to compete in the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, after having won the event for the 5th time in June 2012.

In 2012, he accomplished his best performance to date at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii with a 7th-place finish as the first American.

[29][30] Potts, in 2013, won the Ironman 70.3 California triathlon in Oceanside, CA for the fifth time, edging out Jesse Thomas by 10 seconds.

The next year Potts won the Ironman Coeur d'Alene 140.6 On June 29, with a time of 8:25:44, edging Viktor Zyemtsev by less than three minutes.

Potts began the 2015 season at the inaugural Challenge Dubai with a 12th-place finish, which was a result of a penalty that occurred during the bike leg.