Courtesy: Kenyon Athletics
GAMBIER, Ohio — Winner of more national championships than any person in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history, former swimming and diving coach Jim Steen will be inducted into the Kenyon College Athletics Hall of Fame during a two-day reunion on September 8-9.
Steen began work at Kenyon in the 1975-76 academic year and, within five years, steered the men’s team to its first national championship. Four years later, he had the Kenyon women’s team standing atop the NCAA podium.
Those championships launched a pair of streaks that may never again be witnessed by the NCAA. The Kenyon men went on to win 31 straight national championships, while the women rattled off 17 consecutive national championships.
Overall, Steen, who spent two seasons on sabbatical, concluded his Kenyon coaching career with 29 men’s championships and 21 women’s championships. His total of 50 NCAA team titles is, by far, the most of any coach in the NCAA, including all of its sports and divisions.
During those remarkable runs, Steen’s swimmers won 471 event titles in championship competition, while setting and resetting 155 NCAA records. Steen developed 328 All-America swimmers and divers, as well as 46 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients.
Steen was a 16-time winner (11 men, 5 women) of the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) NCAA Division III Coach of the Year Award and a 26-time winner of the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) Certificate of Excellence. Additionally, he was named winner of the 1994 National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy, the 1996 ASCA Gold Award of Excellence and, in 2012, the CSCAA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Steen’s induction was planned in coordination with the announcement of the newly-established Swimming & Diving Pursuit of Excellence Endowment Fund, created by alumni in an effort to help sustain and augment resources available for the Kenyon swimming and diving programs.
With nearly 200 alumni, family, friends and coaches returning to campus for the event, Steen’s induction the evening of Saturday, September 9 will cap off the two-day celebration. On Friday, September 8, four standout swimmers will precede Steen into the Kenyon Athletics Hall of Fame. That quartet includes Read Boon ’03, Andrejs Duda ’06, Agnese (Ozolina) Butler ’04, and Teresa (Zurick) Fish ’88.
The Swimming and Diving Reunion Page, which includes a link to register through September 1, can be accessed through the following link: https://www.kenyon.edu/for-alumni/events/swimming-reunion/
Congrats Jim! It was an honor to coach against you while at Miami and with you at Total Performance Swim Camps. Also, happy to say that a couple of my club swimmers found their way to Kenyon, a special place with special people!
Most importantly, would be great if SwimSwam took a deep dive into his coaching tree, which could be equally as impressive. To influence the sport through your understudies further showcases your reach.
Arthur Albiero (Louisville)
Josh White (Michigan)
Peter Casares (Bates)
Karin Olmsted (Louisville)
Ben Hewitt (Nova)
Fernando Rodriguez (Georgia)
John Young (Davidson)
Dani Korman (Kenyon)
Jess Book (Kenyon)
Ken Heis (Mason)
Greg Parini (Denison)
Who else?
I’ll add a few to that list…
Jon Howell (Emory)
Tom Rushton (Energy Standard)
Jarrod Murphy (The Woodlands)
Abby Brethauer (Princeton)
Teresa Fish (Illinois Wesleyan)
Kirk Kumbier (UNC)
Tim Murphy (Beach Cities)
Andy Eaton (South Carolina)
Kate Kovenock (Brown)
I’m sure I’m missing many other college and club coaches… not to mention teachers who coach high school teams, such as Michael Bonomo (Western Reserve Academy – OH), Justin Karpinos (University School of Nashville – TN), and Matt Jacobssen (Christ Church Episcopal School – SC).
Kirk Kumbier (UNC)
Tracy Menzel (DePauw)
Abby Brethauer (Princeton)
Jon Howell (Emory)
Others who have retired I think
Nikki Kett (Michigan)
Nick Chariez (JHU)
A great coach and a great man. Used to love to watch him on deck and I always marveled at how he could get a pool crammed full of swimmers to all do a great job at practice. Amazing team culture.
He wasn’t inducted 30 years ago!?!
Never mind Nick Saban……..Jim Steen is perhaps Kent State’s finest coaching alumni. CONGRATS coach, I doubt if there will ever be another one like him!
I was at the nationals where he won his first championship—beating the defending champs JHU. I remember watching Chris Shed swim a wicked double for them (200 fly & 200 back?). This was before he developed into their best sprinter before Born,