By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Cal Poly has informed team members that Traci Granger and Kim Foster Carlson have been hired as co-head swimming coaches of the school’s co-ed swimming & diving program. They will join returning head diving coach Laurel Abernathy, who will fill a lot of the administrative duties, as part of an all-female NCAA Division I swimming coaching staff.
The pair take over from Phil Yoshida, who was placed on a leave of absence last season and ultimately did not return to the program after 24 years as part of the coaching staff. Tom Milich, Yoshida’s former boss and the former head coach of the program, served as the interim head coach after Yoshida was placed on a leave of absence.
Both coaches have previous ties to the program. Granger was recently announced as an inductee to the school’s athletics hall of fame. She swam for Cal Poly from 1978-1980, is a Masters Swimming World Champion and American Record holder, and served as the school’s head coach during the 1984-1985 season.
She also served as an assistant coach for the swimming & diving program at El Camino College in nearby Torrance, California for 20 years while teaching in the school’s Kinesiology department.
She re-joined the staff as an assistant in December 2022.
Carlson, meanwhile, served as the team’s announcer during dual meets last season. Carlson is the mother of former USC All-American breaststroker Kasey Carlson.
A graduate of Cal Poly, she earned six CSCAA/NCAA All-America honors as a swimmer at Florida State and Cal Poly.
While her coaching experience is limited, she has built a career as a radio news anchor, including over 16 years at KGO Radio in San Francisco until late 2021.
The Cal Poly men finished 4th out of 7 teams at last year’s MPSF Championship meet and the women finished 6th out of 10 teams at the same meet.
Swimmers were also informed that the start of practice for the season has been pushed back to Tuesday, September 17, which is just four days before the team’s traditional season kick-off in the Queen and King of the Pool meets against Cal. Fall classes begin on September 23rd.
One Cal Poly swimming parent said that many connected to the team were disappointed with the hires and felt that this could be a sign that the school is planning to eventually cut the program.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Cal Poly Hires Co-Head Coaches to Lead Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Program