Luke Johnson, a senior in the film/media studies program at Johns Hopkins University, made the film “COACH – All in the Process” as his thesis/capstone project for his film degree. Johnson swam four years on JHU’s swimming and diving team and will graduate at the end of the month.
Johnson shared with SwimSwam, “During my time with the team, I have swum under two different coaches: George Kennedy, who was with Hopkins Swimming for 31 seasons, and has far more accolades than I can list here, and one of his prior athletes, Scott Armstrong, who has found his own budding success upon returning to his Alma Mater.
“I had the privilege of interviewing both men as well as sitting them down for a more casual chat with the three of us. This is the meat of the documentary I made about them, alongside the footage of the Hopkins Swim Teams that I recorded throughout the year on our training trip, at practices and dual meets, and at NCAA’s.”
Kennedy was NCAA Division III Coach of the Year seven times. At the end of his final year in 2015-16, he was honored with the College Swimming Coaches Association of American (CSCAA) Lifetime Achievement Award after winning 373 dual meets and 24 conference titles, and coaching 31 national champions and nearly 1,500 All-Americans.
Kennedy’s teams finished in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships 48 times, including 21 times in the top-five. Moreover, during his tenure at Johns Hopkins, Kennedy and the Blue Jays earned 12 CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, eight NCAA Postgraduate Scholars, an NCAA Elite 89 Award winner and a Rhodes Scholarship, as well as numerous awards for academic excellence from the CSCAA.
Kennedy was inducted to the Johns Hopkins Athletics Hall of Fame, and in 2014, Fortune named him one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.”
George is currently working as a leadership coach, mentor, and consultant for Baltimore Leadership Guides. Check them out: http://www.Baltimoreleadership.com. He loves sharing his wisdom and providing guidance to the sport.
What’s great film!
Great video on a great coach! Check out the podcast Coach Kennedy did for us a while back – https://rittersp.com/podcast/coaching-is-establishing-a-connection-swim-coach-george-kennedy
If only he coached Dean Farris