Allen “Skip” Kenney, one of the most successful coaches in NCAA history, died on Sunday night. He was 79 years old. Let us see more details about him and his cause of death in detail.
Cause of death
Kenney passed away on Sunday night at the age of 79, according to sources, following a brief stay in hospice care. Three weeks ago, Kenney collapsed and broke both of his hips. Despite having surgery in the hopes of regaining some mobility, Kenney’s situation never got any better.
Who is Skip Kenney
Skip Kenney was born on February 24, 1943, and spent his formative years in Fresno, California, where he also played baseball and went scuba diving occasionally and attended Fresno High School. He enlisted in the US Marines after graduating, went through boot camp, and served in Vietnam in the middle of the 1960s.
Don Gambril’s assistant at Phillips 66 Long Beach was where Kenney held his first post as a swimming coach from 1968 until 1971. He also received training at Long Beach State during this time. Kenney transferred with Gambril to Harvard, where he remained for a season before accepting his first head coaching position with the Houston Dad’s Club in Texas.
Career Journey
Kenney was one of the most successful college coaches of all time. He was also the 1996 Atlanta Olympics head coach and assistant coach to the 1988 and 1984 teams, where he coached 18 Olympic swimmers who won a total of 16 Olympic medals throughout his career.
He coached the Stanford Cardinal to seven NCAA titles while there, and in 2004 and 2005, he was inducted into both the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) and the American Swim Coaches Hall of Fame. Additionally, he belongs to the halls of fame for Stanford and Fresno athletics.
Before his retirement in 2012, Kenney spent 33 years as the men’s swim team’s head coach at Stanford University, a post he assumed in 1979. He guided the Cardinal to a record-breaking 23 PAC-10 championships. He has won the PAC-10 Coach of the Year award 15 times, coached 785 All-America selections out of 93 All-Americans, and produced over 63 NCAA winners.
Stanford won its fourth championship in eight years in 1992 after scoring a record 632 points and outscoring Texas by 276 points. Cardinal swimmers established seven American records only during the competition, making it the first time a program has defeated all five relays. The Cardinal won his 12th consecutive Pac-10 championship in 1993, advancing to the championships.
The Cardinal picked up three singles titles and three season titles. In 1994, Stanford accumulated 566.5 points to beat Texas and won five singles titles and three more seasons.
Kenney’s Scandal
Despite his accomplishment, Kenney’s career ended during a scandal. After admitting that he had purposefully removed school records and top rankings from the team’s media guide of numerous athletes with whom he had disagreements, he was suspended by Stanford in March 2007.
Since Kenney was suspended, Ted Knapp served as associate head coach at the 2007 NCAA Championships. A history of disagreement between Kenney and certain swimmers he coached, including NCAA infractions of voluntary workouts and claims of abusive treatment of athletes, was discovered as a result of a university investigation.
Kenney was suspended for 60 days without pay by Stanford in April 2007, after which he will resume his duties as head coach. When the school revealed Kenney’s punishment, she apologized in front of the public. Knapp took over as head coach after Kenney retired in 2012 and remained in that position for seven seasons before leaving in April 2019.
Awards and Recognition
In 2012, Bob Bowlsby, the director of athletics at Stanford University, stated that Coach Kenney was “one of the legendary figures in collegiate swimming and he has had a lasting impact on the lives of hundreds of young men.” “Skip has always been a team-first coach, and by doing so, he has given lifelong lessons in how to assemble a high-performing squad. Coach Kenney has led the Stanford Men’s Swimming Program to several benchmarks that are unequaled in the PAC 12 or nationwide.
Kenney has coached 18 Olympic swimmers and won ten gold, three silver, and three bronze medals. His swimmers at World Championships have won five gold, three silver, and two bronze medals. Some of its floats belong to David Bottom (American record holder)
Ray Cary (1996 US Olympic gold medalist)
Watflemons (1980 Canadian Olympian)
Kurt Grote (Olympic Gold Medalist 1996)
Joe Hudopohl (Olympic Gold Medalist 1992 and 1996)
Jeff Kostoff (1984 and 1988 US Olympic Champion)
John Moffet (1980 and 1984 US Olympic champion and world record holder);
Paul Morales (three-time Olympic champion and four-time world record holder)
Jay Mortensen (Olympic champion 1988); Anthony Mosse (1988 Olympic bronze medalist)
Sean Murphy (1988 Canadian Olympian)
Eddie Parenti (1992 and 1996 Canadian Olympian)
J Plummer (Australian Olympian 1988)
Brian Rescuer (American record holder)
Jeff Rous (1992 and 1996 Olympic champion and world record holder)
John Simons (1980 US Olympic Champion)
Derek Weatherford (American record holder)
Tom Wilkens (2000 US Olympic champion).
Tributes
Richroll Posted
You were one tough SOB Skip. Hardly perfect. But I’m proud to have been a member of the dynasty you created. And forever grateful to you for bringing together an extraordinary group of people to do extraordinary things together.
You were one tough SOB Skip. Hardly perfect. But I’m proud to have been a member of the dynasty you created. And forever grateful to you for bringing together an extraordinary group of people to extraordinary things together. https://t.co/Ftw6Gdxv0y
— richroll (@richroll) November 28, 2022
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