David Marsh to Fill In as Cal Men’s Assistant Coach With Chase Kreitler Expecting First Child
During his 17-year career as head coach at Auburn, coach David Marsh led his team to a dozen NCAA titles, seven on the men’s side and five for the women’s team (including sweeps of the women’s and men’s titles in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007). Marsh left college coaching in 2007 and spent a decade coaching professional swimmers in Charlotte, N.C., before he spent two seasons as head coach at the University of California San Diego. Now, Marsh will be heading back to the college ranks temporarily with one of the nation’s premier men’s programs.
Marsh will be working as a men’s assistant coach at Cal for the final two months of the college season. He will be filling in fourth-year Cal assistant coach Chase Kreitler as Kreitler and his wife, Liz, prepare to welcome their first child.
Bears head coach Dave Durden actually spent four seasons as an assistant to Marsh at Auburn before taking over at Maryland and then at Cal, and the two have worked together on numerous U.S. national team staffs over the past decade, including at the 2016 Olympics (where Marsh was the women’s head coach and Durden a men’s assistant).
Marsh told Swimming World that he was excited to have the chance to work with the accomplished Cal program for a brief period. He raved about the positive team culture Durden has built in his 15 seasons at Cal, and the results are evident: Cal has finished first or second at the NCAA Championships every year since 2010.
“Dave has a role he needs filled, and we have a lot of history together. I’ve certainly been a big fan of his program. My wife swam at Berkeley, so she will obviously enjoy being up there,” Marsh said. “I think the biggest thing is when he asked me, I got most excited because the thing I missed most about college swimming is this time of year. Championship season is the most fun. To get a chance to experience this with a group of guys and with Dave and (his wife) Cathy, that would be hard to turn down.”
Marsh, who still lives in San Diego and coaches a group of professional swimmers, will join the Golden Bear men when they are in San Diego to face UCSD, and he expects to spend two months in Berkeley. One of Marsh’s top pupils, former 100 backstroke world-record holder Kathleen Baker, will be accompanying Marsh to Berkeley as she returns to her alma mater. Baker swam for three seasons for Teri McKeever’s women’s squad at Cal.