A week after Skip Kenney announced his retirement after 33 years as head coach of men’s swimming and diving, former associate head coach Ted Knapp will take over as the Goldman Family director of men’s swimming and diving.
Knapp has been involved in Stanford athletics for most of his life. Before getting into coaching, he had a successful collegiate career with the Cardinal from 1977-1981. Knapp swam under Coach Kenney in his junior and senior seasons, earning All-American status his junior year.
Following his swimming career, Knapp quickly jumped onto the coaching scene by serving as a volunteer assistant beginning in 1984. By the 1988-1989 season, he was working as a full-time assistant coach.
In the 28 years that Knapp spent alongside Kenney, he has been a driving force in Stanford’s incredible run that includes seven national titles and 31 consecutive conference championships. Knapp closely works with his swimmers every year, including designing workouts and overseeing dry-land training.
Knapp has also played a major role in the coaching world beyond the Farm. He has coached 19 Olympians, including three-time gold medalist Pablo Morales. Ten of his swimmers have gone on to set a total of 20 world records. In addition, Knapp served as the head men’s manager of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team as well as the assistant manager of the 2005 and 2007 U.S. World Championship team.
In 2011, Knapp won the national assistant coach of the year award, given by collegeswimming.com.
Knapp will officially begin his duties as head coach in July after the Olympic Trials.
-George Chen