By James Sutherland on SwimSwam
The University of Pittsburgh has put the finishing touches on its coaching staff overhaul for the 2024-25 season, announcing Michael Kinross as the team’s new assistant swim coach.
Kinross joins the Panthers after eight years with the Sandpipers of Nevada, one of the premier clubs in the country, along with spending the past seven seasons as head coach at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas.
“We are very excited to add Michael Kinross to our coaching staff.” said Pitt head coach Chase Kreitler. “Michael has built a fantastic résumé coaching at one of the premier USA Swimming club teams in the nation over the past eight years.”
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Kreitler, who finished up his second year as the team’s head coach last season, will have a new-look staff working under him this season after several changes over the last three months.
Last season’s associate head coach Samantha Pitter was hired as the head coach at Miami (Ohio), while assistant coaches Roman Willets (stepping away from coaching), Kevin Arakaki (Louisville assistant) and Kelsey Reott (Princeton assistant) also moved on.
Kreitler has brought in Gideon Louw as the new associate head coach, Ford McLiney (diving) and Kaersten Meitz as assistants, and promoted Zach Breeding to assistant coach as well.
Now, he finishes off the group with the addition of Kinross, who brings plenty of experience to the table and has a proven pedigree of developing swimmers and pushing them to the next level.
Working alongside head coach Ron Aitken, Kinross directly coached 20 high-level senior athletes with the Sandpipers, including six who qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. The program is renowned for its ability to develop distance and open water swimmers, with Kinross notably being named to the U.S. staff at the 2022 Open Water Junior World Championships.
During his time with the Sandpipers, Kinross took over as head coach Bishop Gorman High School in 2017, and was named NIAA 5A Southern Regional Boys Coach of the Year in 2023.
“He is an extremely knowledgeable and passionate coach who will be a fantastic recruiter and on-deck coach for our team. He will work closely with our middle distance and distance groups.” Kreitler said. “As we look to continue to move up nationally and in the ACC, I believe Michael will play a key part in helping us achieve those goals!”
Prior to moving to Las Vegas, Kinross was the head age group coach and assistant head coach with the Barrington Swim Club in Barrington, Illinois. He helped push the club into USA Swimming Silver Medal status in 2016 and coached multiple state champions and three state record holders.
Kinross swam collegiately at Eastern Michigan University, helping the Eagles to three Mid-American Conference Championship titles while receiving All-AMC Academic Honors.
The Pitt women were 10th out of 11 teams at the 2024 ACC Championship while the men were 7th out of 11 teams. Both programs sent two individual swimmers to NCAAs; the men tied for 24th as diver Cameron Cash, the ACC Men’s Diver of the Year, scored 24 points.
Given the success experienced during his time with the dominant distance program that is the Sandpipers, it’s no surprise to see Kinross take the reins with the mid-distance distance freestyle groups at Pitt. The Panthers return their top distance swimmers from last season in Alex Craft, Michal Piela and Guy Frimis on the men’s side, and Tess Mock for the women. Craft was their top finisher in a distance event last season at ACCs, placing 11th in the men’s 1650 free.
Pitt also brings in some intriguing distance prospects in Kimmy Shannon (4:47) for the women, and Brandon Richter (4:30/15:39) for the men.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Pitt Rounds Out Coaching Staff With Addition of Michael Kinross From Sandpipers of Nevada