Yesterday Kim Brackin was released from her contract as Head Coach of the University of Texas Women’s Swimming Team. We contacted Kim by email, and she was gracious enough to answer a few of our questions.
Kim…tough day. I know you love your Longhorns.
Yes, I am extremely disappointed because my love for and loyalty to UT and the people I worked with is still strong. I had a great assistant in Jim Henry and we both worked hard to help rewrite the record boards of a historically successful Texas women’s program.
As the UT Women’s Head Coach, what are you the most proud of?
During my six year tenure, I strove to be a strong role model professionally and personally. I am proud that I helped these young women find excellence both athletically and academically.
With what happened today, has it changed anything about you, personally? Will this change your coaching philosophy?
No, the foundation of who I am as a person and coach continues to be strong values and principals, hard work, striving for excellence and a strong sense of personal accountability. Winning has always been important to me but, even more valuable, is how you get there and the personal lessons learned; college athletics has got to be more about life lessons than the scoreboard.
Kim, you’re ranked among the best coaches in the world. Can you explain a little about how you got there and how your career evolved at UT?
My experiences at Auburn taught me how to build a championship culture that embodied toughness and valued personal sacrifices that place “team” over individual. I am proud to say that is exactly what I have been striving to do at Texas. We’ve had a number of struggles and unfortunately, I wasn’t yet able to establish that culture here. UT expects and demands excellence and everyone involved wants immediate results; I couldn’t deliver those consistently so now I need to be held accountable.
How’s your relationship with the athletic department admin? Right now?
I am proud to have worked for and with Chris Plonsky. She held me to a high standard, was always honest, direct and wants only the best for the University of Texas, all things I demanded of myself. Charles Logan and his staff at the Texas Swim Center have always been first class and supportive of Texas Swimming and Diving. I am thankful for the University of Texas support staff from the training room, the strength and conditioning staff, the academic counselors to the folks that feed these kids in the dining hall! These athletes are given every resource to put themselves in a position to be successful and I continue to encourage them to show gratitude and respect for that.
Change is never easy. Every successful person goes through it, however. Who has helped build your foundation as a coach?
I really value the mentorship I’ve relied on from folks like Dave Durden, David Marsh, Richard Quick, Jack Roach, Kathie Wickstrand-Gahen and more importantly, people right here at UT like our trainer Tina Bonci, and coaches Bev Kearney and Matt Scoggin.
Kim, you’ve been very patient. One more question. What are your plans going forward?
I’ll miss a lot of the people here and I wish those Texas swimmers and divers only the best. I plan to continue to prepare Kirsty Coventry for her 4th Olympic Games in London and then take some time to welcome my husband back home from his service to our country and enjoy Austin with our children.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: As head coach of the University Texas Women’s Swimming Team, Brackin secured four top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championships and was twice crowned Big XII coach of the year .
Brackin coached at Auburn University from 1997-2005, working daily with both the men’s and women’s swimming programs. At Auburn, she was part of seven NCAA Championships – three by the Tiger women and four by the Tiger men’s swim squad (2000, 2003-05). In her last three years at Auburn, she served as women’s co-head coach. Since Brackin’s arrival as an assistant, the women’s team progressively improved, moving from an 11th-place NCAA finish in 1999 to the Tigers’ first-ever women’s NCAA Championship in 2002. With Brackin as women’s co-head coach, the Tigers repeated as NCAA national champions in 2003 and 2004 and placed second nationally in 2005. Additionally, Auburn earned three straight SEC titles from 2003-05. Brackin was the 2002 NCAA Women’s Swimming Co-Head Coach of the Year and the 2003 SEC Swimming Co-Head Coach of the Year.
On the international stage, Brackin’s swimmers have won 7 Olympic medals, 9 World Championship medals, and 15 World University Games medals.
Wow! Why do people come on these sites and bash others while hiding behind a pseudonym? If you are an insider and Kim is gone then why hide, she has no control over you now. Using your real name gives you some credibility (only some if you still bash, you can disagree without being disagreeable.) especially if you are and insider.
I know Kim a bit from working some swim camps at Auburn. My interactions with her were short but I appreciated the way I was treated by her and I appreciated her insights into swimming.
Classy responses Kim, Best of Luck to you and to Kirsty!
Regardless, this clearly was not working. The team was not achieving what those kinds of recruiting classes should have been, the swimmers had lost faith in the coach and there was no sign of this getting better. Your fault, my fault, nobody’s fault, sometimes you have to recognize a failed situation and move on. This shouldn’t have surprised Kim Brackin or anyone else.
And by the way: Eddie Reese won’t be taking over, though he has said he’s been asked/begged/prodded from inside the university and out.
Move. On.
Agreed. No benefit comes from re-hashing and the team should look forward as should Kim.
Well said
Let me just say that Kim was given the benefit of the doubt for several years. We are not just talking about a mistake at NC’s. When 100% of the team and yes I do mean 100% of the team does not want her as a coach then I want you to tell those girls that they all have big egos. Unless you were on deck from day in and day out you have no idea what was said on a daily basis. Kim will figure something out but don’t place blame unless you were in their shoes.
How do you call someone “classy” when the last impression she left was yelling at her swimmers about what terrible teammates they are and has yet to come back and say bye after being fired?
After forcing her out you want her to come back and say “bye bye”?
Just put it behind you, as she seems to have done.
I just want to say that if this was Goldman Sachs and someone got fired there is no way the insiders we see above would be defending her “class” on a public website. Take this as you wish
and yes, if everyone is going to defend her class (what we say when there is nothing tangible to defend) then I do expect her to say bye bye
There are a lot of swimmers who have posted phenomenal times as age groupers and then when they get to college they can’t seem to swim as fast anymore.In reality they may have been training like a college swimmer as an age grouper and so training more wouldn’t benefit them.So the swimmers and their parents blame the coach or the program.Instead they should take another look at what their expectations are and how real they are.Reese made it clear from Day 1 he didn’t care for Kim.
The tension on deck was palpable.There were a lot of people who were gunning for her and maybe it is because she got the job and they didn’t.She handled it well. We… Read more »
I understand all the positive comments about Kim Brackin and feel that back in the day she may have been a good coach and good person but what you don’t know is time can change a person. The last several years I have been a part of this tragedy and what anyone outside the true picture does not know is the TRUE story. Kim is great at talking the talk but has forgotten to walk the walk. Her lack of ability to produce accomplishments is the minor thing to her getting fired. I am just hoping that because of this she takes a look in the mirror and takes responsibility for her actions and finds a way to change for… Read more »
I thought that this was a site for professional commentary.
Disrespectful (SirBro and Jenny) and incoherent (OldMcDonald) entries demean what legitimate critics, both negative and supportive, are contributing. This is no way to talk about a top U.S. coach and a classy woman! Shame on you!
This is definitely not a site for “professional” commentary (quality, timely content, but commentary is something else). Classy woman Brackin may be (I’m only familiar with her coaching results), but I don’t think she’s a top U.S. coach (anymore).
So how come she is taking one of the world’s top swimmers to the Olympics again?
I wouldn’t consider Coventry one of the world’s top swimmers anymore, after all you don’t hear any talk about her in the hunt for medals in the medleys and backs. Since her shuffling around between coaches coincided with her drop from the rankings, I think she’s trying to repeat the circumstances from which she last found success, hence the return to Texas. However, I feel her decline isn’t due to coaching but just age. Hopefully Brackin doesn’t try to “redeem” herself and place to much expectation on Coventry, but best of luck either way.
Coventry is definitely not an American thereby making Kim definitely not a “top US coach”