(Update: Teuscher talks about her decision).
Another relatively-significant Division 1 coaching position is opening up, with an official announcement expected shortly, as Cristina Teuscher will be stepping down as the head coach.
Teuscher took over the Yale women’s program as the head coach in 2010, following the retirement of Frank Keefe’s 32-year reign in New Haven. She will be leaving swimming to pursue a career in the corporate world, working for a firm in New York City.
Keefe ran the program jointly, but so large was his shadow that it took two to replace him – Teuscher was the head women’s coach, Wise was the head men’s coach, and they co-directed the program as a whole (so it was sort of a hybrid combined/separate program).
During her tenure, Teuscher’s biggest coaching success was continuing the strong-performances of butterflier Alex Forrester, who finished 6th in the 100 fly at last year’s NCAA Championships. In the 2010-2011 season, Teuscher put three swimmers on the All-Ivy First Team individually, plus two relays.
Teuscher is perhaps best recognized for her own swimming accomplishments. She had a good recruiting draw in the Ivy League as one of the most successful swimmers in the history of the conference. While at Columbia, she took 12 Ivy League Championships, 4 NCAA Championships, and a pair of Olympic medals (on the 800 free relay in 1996, and in the 200 IM in 2000). After winning that gold medal (which coincided with her graduation from Columbia), she spent time working for the Robin Hood Foundation as part of their 9/11 relief efforts, and then spent two years as an analyst with Ziff Brothers, an investment firm.
That makes her somewhat of an Ivy League legend, demonstrating an ability and a knowledge to seamlessly integrate the Ivy League education (maintaining an A-B average) with elite athletics, while still understanding what 99% of her athletes will face after graduation in the corporate world.
Cristina- I always knew you would go on to do great things. Belated congratulations, and very best wishes to you!
So will Yale stick to the co-coach system? Frank just finished a stint as interim head @ D-III Wesleyan (CT), maybe he still has some coaching left in him – emeritis?
College coaching to corporate law, what a change! I’m sure she just tripled her salary, but she also just entered a world of suits, face time and billable hours. Best of luck to her, but I’d take the pool deck any day of the week.