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STANFORD, California, May 16. ONE of the most respected coaches inthe world of swimming, Stanford's Goldman Family Director of Men'sSwimming, Skip Kenney, 69, announced his retirement today following33 years at the helm of the Cardinal program. Kenney will coach the Cardinal through the U.S. Trials, ending July2. "Who would have ever have thought it? I grew up in California andin Fresno, went to Long Beach State and Stanford was always the bigname." said Kenney. "We exceeded all levels of expectation. Thekind of people you get to work with here, the athletes that comethrough here. You pinch yourself when you are really here. It'sjust unbelievable." To understand Kenney's impact on the sport, it goes beyond theseven NCAA titles or 31-straight Pac-10/12 titles, the 1086All-America certificates or 72 NCAA champions. The three-timeOlympic coach also produced 20 of his own Olympians, which won acombined 18 medals from 1984 through 2008. But that still doesn'ttell the whole story. "Coach Kenney is one of the iconic figures in college swimming andhe has had a profound impact in shaping the lives of hundreds ofyoung men," said Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics BobBowlsby. "Skip has always been a coach that put the team first andin doing so, he has taught lifetime lessons about how to weave thefabric of a high achieving organization. The Stanford Men'sSwimming Program under Coach Kenney's guidance has established manystandards that will never be equaled in the PAC 12 or nationally" His teams made NCAA history. No other team has finished fourth orbetter at every NCAA meet from 1982 to 2012. And conferencehistory, too. The 31-straight titles crushed John Wooden's UCLAteam record of 14-straight titles in 1995. Wooden was on deck thatday to honor that accomplishment. "These athletes are so bright, so dedicated and I don't know howyou describe it," said Kenney. "They are just really, really goodpeople. Most of them have leadership skills, which means they careabout their teammates." Individually, he was a six-time NCAA coach of the year and 20-timePac-10 coach of the year. In 2004 he was inducted into theInternational Swimming Hall of Fame and in 2005 the American SwimCoaches Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Fresno Athleticsand Stanford Athletics Halls of Fame. His coaching position is also endowed, courtesy of the GoldmanFamily in 2011, mostly because of his efforts. Equally impressive is the fact that 100 percent of his athleteshave graduated, including 10 which were Academic All-Americans--including Olympians Pablo Morales, Ray Carey, Kurt Grote and BenWildman-Tobriner. "When I think of swimming, the 10 things that are most important tome, all 10 come from Stanford," said Olympic Gold medalist JayMortenson. "The Olympic gold medal is a good distance behind." As former swimmer, Adam Messner noted in a Stanford Magazinefeature six years ago, "A generation-spanning community of swimmersand former swimmers would all 'lie down in traffic for him,'" There are certain traditions that likely will continue-- thepassing down of a pair of sweats from the 1967 NCAA championshipteam, given annually to the teammate with the best team spirit; orthe annual run around campus in their Speedos and running shoes; orthe gloves of 1993 graduate Chas Morton, for the swimmer with thebest leap from dual to championship season. Every New Year's Day, swimmers went to the Veteran's Hospital towatch football with the residents. Kenny was especially fond of theveterans from the Greatest Generation, and what they could pass onto his athletes. His swimmers have also tried to get out of practice, by singing theMarines' Hymm on the Marines birthday. It sometimes works. Kenney was looking up at his wall of NCAA champions, recently andsaid, "That's why I've been here. It is how much each individualathlete cared and wanted to make their teammate better. You saw itover and over. They would say, let me stay after practice to lookat your stroke, let me look under water and look how you'repulling. It went on for years." That culture, which Kenney first built when he came to The Farm in1979, has survived because of his athletes, who routinely comeback, most notably during the Pac-12 and NCAA Championships to rooton their team first, coach second. The Stanford Magazine article put it best from Kenney then said, "Irely on the alums for some of the decisions we make on the team.Think of it: most of them were in swimming for 18 years. And thelast four of those years they were surrounded by all this othergreat talent. Why waste all that knowledge and experience?" Kenney never swam competitively. The Fresno native graduated fromLong Beach State in 1972. He was an assistant for the 49ers from1968 to 1971 and also coached at Harvard from 1971 to 1972. For thenext seven years he coached AAU teams in Houston (1972-76) andCincinnati (1979). A former Marine, he served in Vietnam and wentto then California State College, Long Beach, on the GI Bill. Keneny was hired by athletics director Andy Geiger to replace theretiring Jim Gaughran. Compare and contrast Kenney's impact on the program. When he gotthe job at Stanford, the Cardinal had won one national title (1967)and finished third another three times from 1936 to 1980. UnderKenney, the Cardinal were third or better, 27 times. From 1916 tohis arrival in 1979, Stanford had won conference 31 titles. In his33 years, he won 31. The Cardinal finished sixth in the Pac-10 his first season. Threeyears later they were Pac-10 champions for the first time, andfinished third at the NCAA meet. By 1985, he won the first ofthree-straight NCAA titles. He won another three-straight NCAAtitles from 1992-94. He won his last NCAA title in 1998. His teamshave finished as NCAA runners-up another seven times. His teams also set the standard in swimming. The 1992 NCAAchampions set the meet record with 632 points, with a record 276points over second place Texas. That team set seven Americanrecords, as the Cardinal were the first-ever team to sweep all fiverelays. The 1998 team became the first NCAA team to produce aswimmer in every A final of an individual swim event or relay. Hisfirst NCAA champion, in 1985, paced by Olympians Pablo Morales,John Moffett and Jeff Kostoff, won eight events. Morales, asophomore at the time, won three of his 11 NCAA titles that year. An Olympic coach as well, he was an assistant for Team USA in 1984and 1988 and was the head men's coach in Atlanta in 1996. He wasalso a U.S. National coach at the Pan-American, Pan-Pacific andother world championship events. The 20 Olympians also included two walk-ons-- Ryan Grote and TomWilkens. Maybe the ultimate testament to his athlete's commitmentfrom start to finish. The record books are now filled with hisathletes. The Stanford top-15 is entirely Kenney-coached athletes.His legacy is set, but his teams will live on. "Skip will leave a long-lasting legacy of leadership and excellencefrom his incredible career here at Stanford," said senior associateathletics director and swim administrator Earl Koberlein. "He notonly won championships, but he produced great men. To paraphrasemany of his former student-athletes, "He made us better men,husbands and fathers"." Kenney By the Numbers Years at Stanford: 33 (1979-2012) NCAA Titles: 7 Conference Titles: 31 (all in a row) Top-Three NCAA Finishes: 27 (never lower than fourth) NCAA Coach of the Year: 6 Pac-10 Coach of the Year: 20 All-Americans: 134 Top-16 Individual Finishes: 1086 NCAA Champions: 72 Olympians: 20 Olympic Medals: 18 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans: 10 Graduation Rate: 100 Percent Stanford Olympians Under Kenney Pablo Morales (1984, 1992) Jeff Kostoff (1984, 1988) Joe Hudepohl (1992, 1996) Jeff Rouse (1992, 1996) Eddie Parenti (1992, 1996) Siobhan Cropper (1996, 2000) Markus Rogan (2004, 2008) John Moffet (1984) Anthony Mosse (1984) David Sims (1984) Sean Murphy (1988) Jason Plummer (1988) Kurt Grote (1996) Ray Carey (1996) Tom Wilkens (2000) Ben Wildman-Tobriner (2008) David Dunford (2008) Jason Dunford (2008) Phillip Morrison (2008) Tobias Oriwol (2008) The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming WorldMagazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing.Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audienceby contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However,Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material isposted. Search For More News About: Skip Kenney. I am an expert from portablebluetooth-speakers.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Mini Vibration Speakers , Wireless Portable Bluetooth Speakers Manufacturer, Portable Iphone Bluetooth Speakers,and more.
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