Kennedy Accepts Position To Lead Greater Richmond Aquatics Partnership

Stockton, Calif. - University of the Pacific Vice President for External Relations and Director of Athletics Ted Leland announced today that Men's and Women's Swimming Head Coach Adam Kennedy has resigned to lead the Greater Richmond Aquatics Partnership in Richmond, Va. A course of action for new leadership with the Tiger swimming program will be determined soon.

"I appreciate the time and dedication Adam has given to Pacific Swimming over the past three years," said Leland. "We wish him the best in the transition to his new career."

"I'm grateful for the opportunity that Lynn King gave me to build these two teams into a formidable power in the MPSF," said Kennedy. "The last three years have been the highlight of my career.

"The athletes and the team have always been the driver of success of the Tiger swimming programs, and that won't change under the leadership of this year's captains, Kevin (Byers) and Jayme (Swalin). I'm leaving to lead the Greater Richmond Aquatics Partnership, where part of the mission is to teach every second grade student in Richmond how to swim and provide aquatic opportunities for those underserved in Richmond with a first-class, Olympic-quality aquatics center."

A transition to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation highlighted Kennedy's third year on the deck in 2010-11. The women finished with a 7-4 record, including a 4-2 mark in MPSF meets, while the men finished 2-5-1 and 1-2 in the MPSF. The inaugural MPSF Championships saw the men's squad earn a second-place finish as the women's team placed seventh. A total of 14 swimmers were named All-MPSF selections to go along with All-Academic recognition.

The 2009-10 season saw the women's team finish 4-9 in its final year of Big West membership, while the men earned a 1-8 mark. Both teams finished fourth at the Big West Championships after numerous individual top-10 times. Five men's swimmers and one women's swimmer were honored with Big West Academic All-Conference recognition for their performance in the classroom.

In his first year as head coach, Kennedy exceeded expectations with a third place finish for the women and fourth place finish for the men after the squads were picked to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Big West's preseason poll.  He also coached senior Jenny Lewis to the NCAA Championships, where she took 51st place in the 50 Free and 61st in the 100 Back.

During the four years prior to joining Pacific, Kennedy served as the assistant swim coach for the Naval Academy. Under head coach Bill Roberts, Kennedy served as the primary sprint and breaststroke coach and saw the Midshipmen claim four straight Patriot League titles. While at Navy, Kennedy had a hand in coaching 52 all-league performers, three Olympic Trials qualifiers, 13 relay conference champions, and 23 individual conference champions.

While he was busy assisting with the coaching process, Kennedy also served as the recruiting coordinator for the Naval Academy, scouting and bringing in the 15th- and 17th-ranked recruiting classes in the nation over his final two years, according to CollegeSwimming.com. Under his watch, two Navy sprinters finished in the top nine at the USA Swimming National Championships.

As if coaching and recruiting for the Naval Academy weren't enough, Kennedy also served as the head coach of the USA Armed Forces Swimming Team, where he coached a team of active duty military swimmers who were qualifiers for the 2008 USA Olympic Trials. During the 2007 Military World Games, Adam helped guide the U.S. to five top-eight finishes and one bronze medal. Since 2004, he also served as head coach of the Navy Swimming Club in Annapolis, Md., working to bring national recognition to the Midshipmen programs.

Before his time at the Naval Academy, Kennedy spent the 2003-04 season as a graduate assistant coach at Ohio University where he completed a Master of Science in coaching education. In his year as the Bobcat sprint coach, Ohio recorded four relay and four individual Mid-American Conference champions as well as the Female Senior Swimmer of the Meet. Prior to his graduate assistantship, Kennedy spent the 2001-03 seasons as the distance coach at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., where he helped the men's 1650 Free and women's 400 IM swimmers to Patriot League championships. He also coached 10 all-league performers and a total of five Patriot League champions. From May until September of 2003, he was the interim head swimming coach and aquatics director at Colgate.

Kennedy earned four letters during his swimming career at the collegiate level with Davidson College and in 1998 was part of the conference championship squad. He also completed his bachelors degree in history at Davidson.

He currently resides in Stockton with his wife, Amanda.