Johns Hopkins men’s and women’s swimming & diving coach George Kennedy has announced that this will be his last season after 31 years as the team’s head coach.
Kennedy was responsible for 24 conference championships and was named the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year 7 times in his long career. He’s coached 29 event national champions and his swimmers have earned more than 1,400 All-America honors in his time with the program.
JHU’s director of athletics Tom Calder called Kennedy “the best swimming coach in the nation,” and continued to say that “He will be sorely missed by everyone in the Johns Hopkins University Athletics Department and also by all those who have been fortunate to get to know him on a personal basis. I wish George and his wife, Helen, all the best as they finally get to do some things they have put aside for so many years, and I look forward to seeing him at future JHU events.”
Prior to his coaching career, Kennedy was a NCAA Division I National Championship qualifier in the 100 backstroke, and after graduation he would go on to earn his master’s degree and serve as an assistant for the team.
His first head coaching job was with the men’s and women’s teams at Gettysburg College in 1980, and 5 years later he would take over at Johns Hopkins.
He leaves a program that is one of the best in the NCAA. The women’s team has 13 event championships through 2015, 8th-most in DIII history. That team has finished in the top 5 at the NCAA DIII Championship meet 5 times, all under Kennedy’s watch, including a high point of 3rd in 2014.
The men’s team, meanwhile, which had a much deeper history when Kennedy arrived, has placed as the NCAA runner-up three times in the 2000’s: in 2002, 2003, and 2008. The Johns Hopkins men’s program has won the second-most NCAA Division III event championships with 54 (behind Kenyon’s 295).
Kennedy was also named one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders in 2014 by Fortune magazine.
His last meet as the head coach of the Jays will be from March 16th-19th at the Greensboro Aquatic Center when he takes his team to the NCAA Division III Championships. Johns Hopkins was 4th on both the men’s and women’s side of the recent Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships – a mixed-division conference.
Thanks for everything George. I truly enjoyed swimming under you and wish you the best for your retirement!
Congrats on a tremendous career as a Coach and Mentor, way to go Tiny
Happy Retirement George! It was a pleasure working with you on the CSCAA Board, you always took the time to reach out and talk “more” than just Swimming. Thank You.
When you look up “Coaching Role Model” in the Swimming Dictionary, there is just a photo of George Kennedy…nothing else need be said.
A great coach and an even greater brother! When our dad passed away he became the family “communicator”, always checking in on us and keeping the togetherness we had come to know over the years, no matter what the geographic constraints. He is truly the best, and because of him we have been blest…:). Here’s to the next Big G!
As I have told many of his swimmers over the years, lots of coaches can make you a faster swimmer, but swimming for George Kennedy makes you a better person, as well as a better swimmer.
Good Luck George. Thank you for recruiting me to Gettysburg swimming. Enjoy your retirement…
George,
It has been an honor to share the pool deck with you. Your idea for cell phone free saturday at the BMC championships was great and the results were even better. You are a true leader. We will miss you and your wisdom. God Bless.
Amazing coach and a great guy. Was good times growing up under him.