Skip Kenney, Stanford University’s iconic swim coach has died.
According to sources, Kenney died on Sunday night at age 79 after a short time in hospice care.
Kenney was one of the most successful college coaches of all time. He was also the head Olympic coach in 1996 in Atlanta and was an assistant coach on the 1988 and 1984 teams, coaching 18 Olympic swimmers who totaled 16 Olympic medals during his career.
At Stanford, he led the Cardinal to seven NCAA championships and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in 2004, then in 2005, the American Swim Coaches Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Fresno Athletics and Stanford Athletics Halls of Fame.
Born Feb. 24, 1943, Skip Kenney grew up in Fresno, California attending Fresno High School, playing baseball and doing a little diving. Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Marines, went through boot camp and served in Vietnam in the mid-1960s.
Kenney’s first swim coaching position was as Don Gambril’s assistant from 1968-1971 at Phillips 66 Long Beach. He also coached at Long Beach State during that time. When Gambril moved to Harvard University so did Kenney, and he stayed there for one season before taking his first head coaching position at the Houston Dad’s Club in Texas. After a few years, he moved to Charlie Keating’s Cincinnati Marlins where he coached Renee Magee and Charles Keating, Jr. to the 1976 Montreal Olympics and Glenn Mills, Bill Barret and Kim Carlisle to the 1980 Olympic Team that was never able to compete due to the boycott.
In 1979, Kenney became the head coach of the Stanford University men’s team, a position held for 33 years before he retired in 2012. He led the Cardinal to a record 23 PAC-10 Conference titles. He is a 15-time PAC-10 Coach of the Year, coached 93 All Americans to 785 All-America honors and developed over 63 NCAA champions.
In 1992, Stanford scored a record 632 points, routing Texas by 276 points for its fourth title in eight years. At the meet alone, Cardinal swimmers set seven American records as it marked the first time a program had swept all five relays. A repeat was on in 1993, as the Cardinal came to the Championships following its 12th-straight Pac-10 title. The Cardinal came away with three individual titles and three relay titles. In 1994, Stanford racked up 566.5 points to beat Texas, winning five individual titles and three more relays.
In 1994, Stanford again ran away from the rest of the field, finishing with 599 points in 1998, the second-most in school-history. The Cardinal had a finalist in each of the 18 finals, winning eight of them.
“Coach Kenney is one of the iconic figures in college swimming and he has had a profound impact in shaping the lives of hundreds of young men,” said Stanford Director of Athletics Bob Bowlsby in 2012. “Skip has always been a coach that put the team first and in doing so, he has taught lifetime lessons about how to weave the fabric of a high achieving organization. The Stanford Men’s Swimming Program under Coach Kenney’s guidance has established many standards that will never be equaled in the PAC 12 or nationally”
Skip Kenney has coached 18 swimmers to Olympic competition winning ten gold, three silver and three bronze medals. His swimmers in World Championship competition have won five gold, three silver and two bronze medals. Some of his swimmers include Dave Bottom (American record holder); Ray Cary (1996 U.S. Olympian); Wade Flemons (1980 Canadian Olympian); Kurt Grote (1996 Olympic gold medalist); Joe Hudopohl (1992 and 1996 Olympic gold medalist); Jeff Kostoff (1984 and 1988 U.S. Olympian); John Moffet (1980 and 1984 U.S. Olympian and world record holder); Pablo Morales (three-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time world record holder); Jay Mortensen (1988 Olympian); Anthony Mosse (1988 Olympic bronze medalist); Sean Murphy (1988 Canadian Olympian); Eddie Parenti (1992 and 1996 Canadian Olympian); J. Plummer (1988 Australian Olympian); Brian Retterer (American record holder); Jeff Rouse (1992 and 1996 Olympic gold medalist and world record holder); John Simons (1980 U.S. Olympian); Derek Weatherford (American record holder); and Tom Wilkens (2000 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist).
“Skip will leave a long-lasting legacy of leadership and excellence from his incredible career here at Stanford,” senior associate athletics director and swim administrator Earl Koberlein said upon Skip Kenney’s retirement. “He not only won championships, but he produced great men. To paraphrase many of his former student-athletes, “He made us better men, husbands and fathers”.”
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Skip was one of the world’s finest swimming coaches, a giving. smiling, happy man. RIP friend Skip.
One of the greatest man I ever met, and been associated with love, Jimmy V sports Café
Skip coached Renee Magee at Dads Club in Houston in the summer of 1976 before taking over the head coaching job at the Marlins. RIP ❤️
He was a leader. Ex marine in viet nam. He was an impressive person. I remember him fondly. Bob
He was at Dads Club for several years and built the program into a top age group machine. I remember him well.
Swam in some of the same races at HS regional meets as Renee Magee. Years later was blessed to work under Skip Kenney as a coach during at the Stanford Swim Camps in 2000, 2002 and 2012. Would have loved being coached by him at Dad’s Club in my high school days but alas, my parents would not drive me across Houston for practices.
Skip was also inducted in to the Aquatic Capital of America (Long Beach, CA) Hall of Fame in 2018. His first question when he arrived in Long Beach for the ceremony was, “What happened to my pool?” referring to the demolished Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool.
rip my man…..many great swimmers and great teams thank you for the great memories.
First skip served his country in Viet Nam, then he took many of those learned lessons & applied them to a great successful coaching career. RIP old friend.
So sad to read this news.
Skip and I became coaching friends when I assisted him on the staff of the 1987 Pan American Team About ten years later, he helped me with research to write the book “Four Champions, One Gold Medal.”
At a December (1997?) Invitational at the famed Belmont Plaza Pool, he handed me a copy of Coach Gambril’s log. Reluctantly. He told me that he had two treasures in his “coaching library.” One was Don Gambril’s training log for the distance group for the 1976 Olympics. The second was every copy of Swimming World Magazine that had been printed.
He walked me through the log book carefully and slowly. He turned to one practice and said, “We’ve probably done that workout 100 times at Stanford.”
Over the next year I noticed how good his swimmers were at underwater dolphin kick. A year later, at the same Invite, expecting another long patient answer, I asked him “why?” He told me, “We make important”…and turned and walked away.
Those two experiences defined Skip for me. At times full of patience and kindness and at others straight to the point. But both approaches with very powerful messages.
Perfection eludes us all. So grateful for this man’s life and what he did for so many, including me.
Eternal life be yours Coach Kenney.
This article could seriously use some editing. Ray Carey and Joe Hudepohl’s last names are both misspelled. Stanford’s 1988 NCAA title obviously did not take place in 1994. Plummer’s first name is Jason; there’s no obvious reason to abbreviate it. Even though this is an obituary, failing to mention Coach Kenney’s role in manipulating the Stanford record book toward the end of his tenure is a glaring omission. Did anyone even read this before it was posted??
This article could seriously use some editing. Ray Carey and Joe Hudepohl’s last names are both misspelled. Stanford’s 1998 NCAA title obviously did not take place in 1994. Plummer’s first name is Jason; there’s no obvious reason to abbreviate it. Even though this is an obituary, failing to mention Coach Kenney’s role in manipulating the Stanford record book toward the end of his tenure is a glaring omission. Did anyone even read this before it was posted??
RIP Coach!
Lost a good friend and one of America’s greatest swimming coaches…I’ve known Skip since he first started coaching and I was a little age grouper at Phillips 66 in Long Beach, CA. He is revered and missed!