Northwestern University Athletics
Kipp Tackles New Role With Calculated Vision and New Direction
1/14/2019 3:32:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving, Women's Swimming and Diving
By Jake May
NUsports.com Contributor
Lounging comfortably on a couch behind a set of double doors deep within Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, Jeremy Kipp looks right at home enjoying a bowl of cereal in his purple Wildcats long-sleeve after an early morning swim practice. Named Northwestern's first Director of Swimming and Diving back in May, the first six months of Kipp's tenure included several daunting tasks, chief among them ironing out what it means to hold this role.
"I'm redefining it every day," said Kipp with a chuckle. "My goal every day is to facilitate the success of each one of our athletes and coaches."
Kipp came to Northwestern from Boise State, where he oversaw the women's swimming and diving team from 2016 to 2018. He won back-to-back conference titles in the 2017 and 2018 seasons and was also named Mountain West Coach of the Year three years in a row. Before joining Boise State, Kipp also coached at the University of Southern California for eight years and spent time on staff of both the Polish and Austrian National Teams.
There were several factors that initially drew Kipp to Northwestern. Having recruited heavily from the Evanston/North Shore area during his time at other programs, Kipp referred to it as a "hotbed of swimming." Several friends also thought he would be a great fit to the program and encouraged him to explore the possibility. With that endorsement, he agreed to meet with Northwestern Athletics to further discuss the opportunity.
"I saw a lot of the potential this program had," said Kipp. "When I got here on campus, it blew me away…I'm also glad to be coaching both [men and women] again."
After accepting the position, Kipp spent the summer piecing together a new coaching staff with diving coach Alik Sarkisian as the only holdover. In all, the six-person leadership features five newcomers, including Kipp. He elaborated on what he considered important during the lengthy hiring process.
"I was looking for coaches that shared the vision of what was possible for the program and shared that enthusiasm," said Kipp. "This isn't a sledgehammer job–there was already a good foundation in place here. It just needed a new energy, a new direction."
At his introductory press conference, Kipp mentioned his desire to "turn excitement into action," which currently serves as the roadmap for navigating his new vision for the swimming and diving program. To Kipp, this originates from knowing the program's realistic potential and setting "lofty performance goals" for athletes and coaches. However, those platitudes mean nothing without a concrete plan of action, which Kipp has already put into effect.
Success in the pool begins with an elite practice atmosphere. Kipp spoke about running two cameras at each session to provide his swimmers and divers the maximum amount of feedback on their performance. Each team member is assigned a coach for personalized instruction and support, as well as having a group coach at their disposal. As a newcomer to NU, Kipp mentioned the value of "mining the resources" available, such as being able to look to the returning juniors and seniors for insights on the difficult times of the school year when the staff might need to back off the throttle a bit to find the best balance of school and training.
"Swimming is a hard sport, and we have to make sure it's not a total beatdown," said Kipp. "We do our best to monitor each athlete to know where they are during the academic calendar."
As for competition results, Kipp would like to see his team begin to climb one or two spots a year within the Big Ten. His broader goal: national relevance for both the men's and women's programs. He again takes a strategic approach to this objective, discussing the importance of bringing good relay groups to each meet and propelling those groups to the NCAA Championships. Those team-based events count for double the points within meets and Kipp pointed out that by getting several of those relays to the national championship meet, the team would feature eight to 12 strong individual competitors that can place well in other events as well.
"A lot of the programs that have had a lot of success [at NU] are what you might consider warm weather sports," said Kipp. "If you look at those models, there's no reason why swimming can't have that same level of success."
With four meets under his belt, the early season results give Kipp a sense of optimism. The Wildcats have broken school and pool records, as well as setting personal bests on both sides and will head to Iowa next weekend to face off with Iowa and Wisconsin. The season opener against a tough Michigan squad did not result in a victory for the men or women, but after the stellar performances at the TYR Invite, Kipp continues to see promise from his teams.
"When you start with a traditional power, it's easy to get scared," said Kipp. "But they stepped up and competed, and then raced hard again the following weekend."
As the Northwestern swimming and diving program embarks on their first campaign under new leadership, the new athletic facility offers a physical symbol of the positive changes swirling around the team. Student-athletes no longer share locker room space with members of the student and faculty population. Kipp also highlighted the fact that the swimmers and divers are now receiving the centralized resources they need to be elite and the newly upgraded facilities are a useful recruiting tool in an area rich with potential.
Still, Kipp places a premium on performance in the pool, which in turn captures the essence of his vision for the Northwestern swimming and diving program.
"We want to be a program that makes Northwestern proud," said Kipp. "Swimming and diving should be a reflection of the rest of the university; nationally relevant, competitive and a source of great pride and tradition."
NUsports.com Contributor
Lounging comfortably on a couch behind a set of double doors deep within Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, Jeremy Kipp looks right at home enjoying a bowl of cereal in his purple Wildcats long-sleeve after an early morning swim practice. Named Northwestern's first Director of Swimming and Diving back in May, the first six months of Kipp's tenure included several daunting tasks, chief among them ironing out what it means to hold this role.
"I'm redefining it every day," said Kipp with a chuckle. "My goal every day is to facilitate the success of each one of our athletes and coaches."
Kipp came to Northwestern from Boise State, where he oversaw the women's swimming and diving team from 2016 to 2018. He won back-to-back conference titles in the 2017 and 2018 seasons and was also named Mountain West Coach of the Year three years in a row. Before joining Boise State, Kipp also coached at the University of Southern California for eight years and spent time on staff of both the Polish and Austrian National Teams.
There were several factors that initially drew Kipp to Northwestern. Having recruited heavily from the Evanston/North Shore area during his time at other programs, Kipp referred to it as a "hotbed of swimming." Several friends also thought he would be a great fit to the program and encouraged him to explore the possibility. With that endorsement, he agreed to meet with Northwestern Athletics to further discuss the opportunity.
"I saw a lot of the potential this program had," said Kipp. "When I got here on campus, it blew me away…I'm also glad to be coaching both [men and women] again."
After accepting the position, Kipp spent the summer piecing together a new coaching staff with diving coach Alik Sarkisian as the only holdover. In all, the six-person leadership features five newcomers, including Kipp. He elaborated on what he considered important during the lengthy hiring process.
"I was looking for coaches that shared the vision of what was possible for the program and shared that enthusiasm," said Kipp. "This isn't a sledgehammer job–there was already a good foundation in place here. It just needed a new energy, a new direction."
At his introductory press conference, Kipp mentioned his desire to "turn excitement into action," which currently serves as the roadmap for navigating his new vision for the swimming and diving program. To Kipp, this originates from knowing the program's realistic potential and setting "lofty performance goals" for athletes and coaches. However, those platitudes mean nothing without a concrete plan of action, which Kipp has already put into effect.
Success in the pool begins with an elite practice atmosphere. Kipp spoke about running two cameras at each session to provide his swimmers and divers the maximum amount of feedback on their performance. Each team member is assigned a coach for personalized instruction and support, as well as having a group coach at their disposal. As a newcomer to NU, Kipp mentioned the value of "mining the resources" available, such as being able to look to the returning juniors and seniors for insights on the difficult times of the school year when the staff might need to back off the throttle a bit to find the best balance of school and training.
"Swimming is a hard sport, and we have to make sure it's not a total beatdown," said Kipp. "We do our best to monitor each athlete to know where they are during the academic calendar."
As for competition results, Kipp would like to see his team begin to climb one or two spots a year within the Big Ten. His broader goal: national relevance for both the men's and women's programs. He again takes a strategic approach to this objective, discussing the importance of bringing good relay groups to each meet and propelling those groups to the NCAA Championships. Those team-based events count for double the points within meets and Kipp pointed out that by getting several of those relays to the national championship meet, the team would feature eight to 12 strong individual competitors that can place well in other events as well.
"A lot of the programs that have had a lot of success [at NU] are what you might consider warm weather sports," said Kipp. "If you look at those models, there's no reason why swimming can't have that same level of success."
With four meets under his belt, the early season results give Kipp a sense of optimism. The Wildcats have broken school and pool records, as well as setting personal bests on both sides and will head to Iowa next weekend to face off with Iowa and Wisconsin. The season opener against a tough Michigan squad did not result in a victory for the men or women, but after the stellar performances at the TYR Invite, Kipp continues to see promise from his teams.
"When you start with a traditional power, it's easy to get scared," said Kipp. "But they stepped up and competed, and then raced hard again the following weekend."
As the Northwestern swimming and diving program embarks on their first campaign under new leadership, the new athletic facility offers a physical symbol of the positive changes swirling around the team. Student-athletes no longer share locker room space with members of the student and faculty population. Kipp also highlighted the fact that the swimmers and divers are now receiving the centralized resources they need to be elite and the newly upgraded facilities are a useful recruiting tool in an area rich with potential.
Still, Kipp places a premium on performance in the pool, which in turn captures the essence of his vision for the Northwestern swimming and diving program.
"We want to be a program that makes Northwestern proud," said Kipp. "Swimming and diving should be a reflection of the rest of the university; nationally relevant, competitive and a source of great pride and tradition."
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