Northwestern is promoting associate head coach Katie Robinson to head coach of its combined men’s and women’s program following Jeremy Kipp‘s departure to USC, the school announced on Thursday. Her official title is “Director of Swimming and Diving.”
The move makes Robinson the second of only two female coaches of a men’s team among schools in the Power 5 conferences, the other being Georgia Tech’s Courtney Hart. Including Robinson and Hart, there are only six female head coaches of any gender team in the Power 5 (the others are Cal’s Teri McKeever, UCLA’s Jordan Wolfrum, Texas’ Carol Capitani, and Illinois’ Sue Novitsky.).
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.
In May, USC announced it hired away Kipp – its former assistant coach of eight years – after he spent two years leading the Northwestern program. Last week, the Trojans announced that former Wildcats assistant (and USC alum) Meghan Hawthorne would follow Kipp back to Southern California – the two have worked together each of Kipp’s five seasons as a collegiate head coach.
After filling USC’s role, Kipp left Northwestern with the biggest gap in staff so far this offseason. The program has some upward momentum, with a good incoming recruiting class built off the success of the last few seasons under Kipp. Those classes include names like Annika Wagner and Lola Mull. At a minimum, Kipp rebuilt belief that Northwestern could once again have a top-tier swimming program.
After Kipp’s departure, SwimSwam speculated that Robinson would be the best choice for the job.
Congrats Katie!! So well deserved! I can say that through my recruiting process, I was much more impressed with her (as well as Jake and Andrew) than I was with Kipp. Katie’s passion for the sport, her swimmers, and Northwestern as a school will make her a great head coach and one that will continue to build on Northwestern’s success. If I were a rising high school junior right now, I would absolutely consider reaching out to Northwestern, ESPECIALLY now with Katie as head coach.
Hell right! WTG Katie
Congratulations Katie!
Congrats to Katie and great hire for the Wildcats! Katie is a class act and a dynamic and vibrant personality that will do a great job.
YES!!! Congrats Katie. So happy for you.
Does Sue Novitsky really count as a head coach?
Come on SwimSwam, you are better than letting this through!
Ooooh the horror. College swimming fans talking trash about other teams.
If someone is offended by this incredibly soft dig, then they don’t belong as an NCAA Division I head coach.
Is NW really a top programme? I’ve only ever known it to be where now frail elderly Underground Weatherman hang out.
“After Kipp’s departure, SwimSwam speculated that Robinson would be the best choice for the job.”
I love the little ‘I told you so!’ bit at the end!
Way to go Katie! Super proud of you and the path you created for yourself. Your hard work has paid off! Enjoy the journey and kick some ass!!