Keenan Robinson, the long-rumored last cog in the world-class machine Arizona State head coach Bob Bowman is assembling in Tempe, Ariz., has officially been hired as the “head of high performance services for aquatic sports,” according to Jeff Metcalfe of the Arizona Republic.
When news first broke that Michael Phelps was headed to Tempe alongside Bowman, it was a foregone conclusion that Robinson would join him in Tempe. Robinson has been Phelps’ head strength and conditioning coach for the bulk of his career.
Bowman and Robinson coached together at Michigan, and Robinson also served as the head training for the 2012 USA Swimming Olympic team. Robinson is slated to continue to work with the pros that train in Tempe, including Phelps and Allison Schmitt as well as whatever other redshirt swimmers make their way to Tempe during the 2016 Olympic year like Chase Kalisz.
This move, however, was a bit more delicate as Robinson now has a full family to consider and also needed to find a way to merge with Arizona State’s strength and conditioning program for the entire athletics department. Luckily for Robinson, he has deep ties to Arizona already. He was a graduate assistant with the ASU track team in 2004 and also married Arizona-linked Olympic swimmer Kalyn Keller.
The two had their first child in the past year, and Keller’s family still resides in Prescott, Ariz. So, the homecoming should be nice for the Robinson family when Robinson begins his duties in mid-August.
Robinson joins the already assembled class of Ryan Mallam (associate head coach), Misty Hyman (senior assistant coach), Dan Kesler (assistant coach) and Tim Hochradel (director of operations).
This…. Was a given. ??