The Stanford Cardinal women’s swimming and diving team has brought in former Auburn and Texas women’s head coach, Kim Brackin, to their coaching staff. Head coach Greg Meehan confirmed her arrival on Tuesday, marking her first official day on deck.
Stanford has taken advantage of a recent NCAA rule change that allows single-gender programs to add a third paid swim coach to the staff. According to Meehan, an anonymous donor endowed the new paid position last month.
“We received a large gift last month to endow the position,” Meehan said. “Obviously, December isn’t a typical time to hire a coach and (associate head coach) Katie (Robinson) and I wanted to think a little outside the box on who would be a great addition and be available at this time of year. Kim‘s name kept coming up. She’s tremendous, has great experience, and is going to be a huge asset for us. For now, we’re looking short term from now until Trials and will take it from there to see if she wants to stay beyond that.”
Brackin has been out of the college scene for over a decade, but was one of the biggest names in college coaching in the 2000s. Her most recent stop was at Texas, where she served as the women’s head coach from 2006 through 2012. The Longhorn women finished in 9th place at the NCAA Championships during her last campaign.
Prior to her time at Texas, she coached at Auburn from 1997 to 2005, where she helped the Tiger women win three consecutive NCAA championships from 2002-2004. She was directly responsible for the training of some of the biggest swimming names in the world, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Kirsty Coventry. She continued to coach Coventry after leaving Austin, leading her to a 6th-place finish at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Since leaving college coaching, Brackin founded Brackin Elite Swim Training, where she gave private lessons to elite swimmers. She also served as a coach for the LA Current of the International Swim League and had several international appointments, including serving on Olympic staffs for Zimbabwe and on the US staff for the 2003 World University Games.
Brackin now joins Meehan and associate head coach Katie Robinson, who was a senior at Texas during Brackin’s first season with the Longhorns.
The Stanford women have finished 3rd at NCAAs the last two seasons, and despite losing some key athletes, they have shown early speed and development this season. Their next dual meet comes in two weeks against Arizona State.