Holy Cross Hires Kristy Jones to Lead Men’s & Women’s Swimming Program

NCAA Division I school Holy Cross has announced the hiring of Kristy Jones as the new head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs. Jones was hired in April and comes to the program from Babson College, a Division III school that is only about 45 minutes away from Holy Cross in Massachusetts. Jones already lives in Worcester, where Holy Cross is located.

“Kristy Jones is the ideal candidate to help lead Crusader Swimming and Diving to new heights,” Director of Athletics Kit Hughes said. “Her significant experience as a head coach, former student-athlete and former NCAA and Olympic Trials qualifier have her well positioned to help lead and mentor our student-athletes, and I am thrilled to welcome Kristy and her husband David to the Holy Cross community.”

“I’m honored to serve as the next head swimming and diving coach at the College of the Holy Cross, an institution with a long tradition of academic and athletic excellence,” Jones said. “The student-athlete experience is important to me, and I look forward to continuing to support, develop and advance the men’s and women’s swimming and diving program. I would like to thank Kit Hughes and the Holy Cross community for this amazing opportunity.”

At Babson, Jones was also the head coach of both men’s and women’s programs. The Beavers finished 7th out of 10 teams in women’s swimming & diving and 5th out of 7 teams in men’s swimming and diving at the 2022 NEWMAC Championship meet.

Jones spent six seasons at Babson. In 2017-2018, she led the men’s team to their most dual-meet victories (10) since 2002 and followed it up by leading the team to a fourth-place finish at the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Championships for the first time in seven years in 2019. The Beavers finished just four points out of fourth place in 2020 and came in fifth this past winter while recording their highest point total (519) in nearly a decade.

After recording just two dual-meet wins from 2014-17, Jones guided the Babson women to five wins in 2017-18, eighth in 2018-19 and a program-best 10 victories during the 2019-20 campaign. The Green and White matched its highest finish (7th) since 2012 at the 2019 NEWMAC Championships and recorded its highest point total (343.5) in school history at the 2020 league meet. Additionally, Jones led the Beavers to their second-highest point total and a third straight seventh-place finish in 2022.

Along with their success in the pool, Jones’ teams earned College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America honors in 10 consecutive semesters going back to the spring of 2017. She also had a pair of athletes claim CSCAA Scholar All-America honorable mention honors, while the program earned 30 NEWMAC Academic All-Conference accolades during her tenure.

Before Babson, Jones spent two years as an assistant at WPI from 2014-2016. WPI is another NCAA Division III program in Massachusetts.

As a student-athletes, Jones (then Kristy Martin) swam collegiately at Indiana. There, she was a captain as a senior and qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 200 IM and 400 IM in both 2002 and 2003. That included scoring points in 2002 and qualifying for the US Olympic Trials.

Babson has not yet announced a replacement for Jones. Jones is at least the third woman to be named the head coach of a combined-gender NCAA Division I swimming & diving program this offseason, along with Dartmouth’s Milana Socha and UIC’s Ashley Dell.