Northwestern head coach Katie Robinson will become the next associate head coach of the Stanford women’s swimming and diving team under head coach Greg Meehan, who gave Robinson her coaching career start 15 years ago as a grad assistant at University of Pacific.
Robinson replaces longtime Stanford women’s associate head coach Tracy Slusser, who departed the Farm last month after 11 years with the Cardinal.
Sources tell SwimSwam that there was some hangup about Robinson’s buyout from Northwestern, but that it was ultimately cleared up, paving the way for her to move west.
“My leaving Northwestern has nothing to do with the insane amount of belief I have in the program,” Robinson said. “Let it be clearly stated that Northwestern’s best days are ahead! I love the heck out of our student-athletes — and future ‘Cats — and I will forever have NU in my heart, wishing them well. They have made this decision absolutely heart-wrenching and to say I’m grateful for them would be a massive understatement. Not to mention all the other people I’ve met along the way…the Head Coach community at NU is something I will always cherish. Thank you for welcoming me into such an esteemed group.
“This change is a personal one for me,” she continued. “There are few moments in life we, as coaches, get to lift our head out of the trenches we have been doggedly digging to reflect where we came, and more importantly to see the direction we are heading. I look back at my career thus far and see where my fierce competitive nature has led me to keep stepping up the coaching ladder to prove it can be done. While I have no doubt in my ability to carry on the path I set out to accomplish, I owe it to myself to pick a path that is more congruent with my overall fulfillment in life. Just like the saying goes, ‘Happy swimmers are fast swimmers,’ the same can apply to coaches too.
“This move feels like a homecoming to be working alongside Greg (Meehan), a long-time mentor and friend of mine,” Robinson added. “15 years ago, he took a chance on me as his grad assistant at UoP when I was fresh out of college. I deeply respect his clarity of leadership, integrity, athlete advocacy and internal drive to be great. I am confident partnering with him at Stanford will bring out the best in both of us and the incredible women on the team. I simply cannot wait to see what the future holds.”
Robinson is the fourth Northwestern coach to leave in the last year. Associate head coach Andrew Hodgson was named Alabama’s new associate head coach last month, Cal added former Northwestern graduate assistant Kim Williams to their staff in April, and former Northwestern sprint coach Ignacio Gayo was hired by Ohio State last August. Gayo was the primary coach of prominent Northwestern sprinters Jasmine Nocentini, Maddie Smith, and Miriam Guavera.
In spite of those losses, the Northwestern men still boast the best recruiting class in the Big Ten and the women recently got a boost from the addition of fifth-year transfer Ayla Spitz from Cal.
“Katie Robinson unquestionably advanced Northwestern Swimming and Diving as the leader of both our men’s and women’s teams,” Northwestern athletic director Derrick Gragg said. “Her commitment to our student-athletes in and out of the pool was obvious, and we wish her the best moving forward. We will immediately begin a national search to identify the Wildcats next coach who will build on an established foundation that produces champions, Olympians, and Northwestern graduates.”
Thank you and good luck to @KatieSwimCoach! @NUSwimDive pic.twitter.com/DmMRz8t633
— Northwestern Athletics (@NU_Sports) June 25, 2023
Robinson was promoted from associate head coach to director of Northwestern’s combined swimming and diving program in 2020, making her one of only two female coaches of a men’s team among Power Five schools at the time (the other being Georgia Tech’s Courtney Hart).
Robinson was named associate head coach of the Northwestern swimming and diving program in July 2018. Prior to joining the Wildcats, she was the head women’s swimming and diving coach at Tulane University from 2012-17 after stints as an assistant coach at Virginia (2008-11) and Rutgers (2011-13).
She began her collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at University of the Pacific during the 2008-09 season.
Robinson swam collegiately at the University of Texas from 2003-07, and was an 11-time All-American. She also was a three-time Big 12 conference champion in the 200 fly and served as team captain and recruiting coordinator in 2006-07.
The Stanford women placed 3rd at the NCAA Championships last season while the Wildcat women placed 29th and the men didn’t score at NCAAs after placing 7th out eight teams at Big Tens.
This is a very positive move for Northwestern. The swimmers deserve a strong leader.
Ok
A name to consider is definitely Alec Hayden.
Doesn’t Margo Geer coach a unified program at Alabama?
Robinson was promoted from associate head coach to director of Northwestern’s combined swimming and diving program in 2020, making her one of only two female coaches of a men’s team among Power Five schools (the other being Georgia Tech’s Courtney Hart).
Right, that was referring to 2020 when she was hired.
Curious about the trajectory of the program given coach departures, Big 10 and NCAA scoring and placement trends over the last 2 to 3 years.
Excellent move for her. I have no doubt she will continue to see success wherever she goes. The Standford ladies hit the jackpot.
Don’t forget that Katie also produced the only woman head coach of a men’s program or of a combined program in the Ivy League – Milana Socha at Dartmouth – coached at Northwestern for two years under Katie.
So does Northwestern even have a coach on staff now?
Jake Tapp and Steve Iida I think are the only two that currently remain.
Yes, Jake and Steve are still at NU
I think Steve could be a great head coach. He helped Olivia Smoliga maximize her high potential, and he has developed from scratch many other strong college swimmers who did not have a size advantage.