USC head swimming and diving coach Jeremy Kipp has been placed on administrative leave, sources tell SwimSwam. Amid an investigation into allegations of abusive conduct towards athletes, USC athletics director Mike Bohn told the team in a meeting on Friday that he had placed Kipp, who is beginning his 2nd season at the helm of the program, on leave.
USC made a statement to the Southern California News Group confirming that Kipp has been placed on leave, saying in part “Coach Jeremy Kipp is on administrative leave. We are unable to provide further details because of the confidential nature of personnel matters.” The university added that “The well-being of our student-athletes is our top priority. When a concern is raised about a coach or staff member, the university takes it seriously and looks into it.”
While the specific nature of these allegations of abuse are still unknown, Kipp has been accused of such behavior in the past. This April, SwimSwam reported on a incident wherein Kipp allegedly kicked a water bottle, which ended up hitting a swimmer in the face. Sources told SwimSwam that Kipp was removed from the deck following the incident, although that was never fully confirmed. USC did, however, release a strikingly similar statement on that incident to the statement given to SCNG following the news of Kipp’s leave of absence.
This is the statement USC gave following the April incident involving the water bottle:
“Whenever a concern is raised about a coach or staff member, USC Athletics takes it seriously and looks into it. However, we do not discuss individual situations because of the confidential nature of personnel issues.”
Since SwimSwam reported that incident, a number of Kipp’s former swimmers have contacted SwimSwam with reports of other troubling or erratic behavior by Kipp
Kipp was hired as the new head coach of the Trojans in May 2020, following the retirement of Dave Salo. While Kipp is on leave, associate head coach Lea Maurer will take over as interim head coach for USC. Maurer is a 1992 Olympic gold medalist and the former head coach of the Stanford women’s team.
The Trojans are set to host the USC Invitational next weekend (10/15-10/16).
How has this issue STILL not been resolved, all these months later?
This was a safety hire and not the first choice. Apparently not safe enough but there was likely less vetting based on previous time in the program. Who may have been a leading candidate last time through? While I ponder I think I will have some lemon heads.
Well I’m sure USC would have loved to land Dave Durden from Cal or Trojan Alums Ray Looze from Indiana or Mike Bottom from Michigan. But those are dream picks and seem to be established in their current responsibilities. Looze even has his daughter on the IU squad. USC AD Bohn too busy now looking for Football HC replacement that’s been in the works for some time.
I’ve never been to good with names but I remember places…..
Ooops…typo. Faces.
I have to admit the photo of Kipp is not the most flattering….unless you’re a casting director looking to cast someone in a “Silence of the Lambs” prequel as young Hannibal Lecter ;-).
Just kidding and it’s best to lay optics aside and consider the facts of this inquiry, not let emotions and speculation drive the narrative.
The facts are that Kipp has a long, well-documented history of bullying, shaming, intimidating, and demeaning behavior as a coach toward swimmers he’s coached. Not all, but many. Combining those traits with physical violence indicates a deeply troubled person that needs professional help and by no means should be anywhere near the coaching profession. He should’ve been removed from the deck long ago.
Your comment express the thoughts of many USC alumni. Recently(after these news came out) spoke with some of my ex teammates and all expressed the same thoughts.
At least USC is doing something, unlike UNCW that continuously covered for their new coach and dismissed multiple complaints. When half the team quits, a beloved coach gets fired for standing up, and there are several complaints, you have a BIG PROBLEM!
You need to get your facts straight too before you start throwing accusations. Sounds like your personal feelings are getting in the way of you seeing reason and truth.
Swim coaching is a sham. Unless you’re a Byron, James, Tom or Mark, your time is limited. Stories are made up and embellished to get these coaches out 😜😜😜
Could never be UArk
My daughter swam for USC coming in as a breastroker and pretty good sprint freestyler. She swam in the sprint group with Jeremy as her coach. I swam D1 and coached and I’ve never seen a better coach. From Kasia Wilk to Vlad Morozov, Jeremy would take sprinters and make them a lot better. My daughter became an NCAA finalist in both the 100 and 50. She never complained about his coaching style. He was always professional. Her club coaches were way worse than anything I’ve seen at USC. Jeremy doesn’t deserve this cancel culture. He’s a great coach and in my opinion a great person. No one ever said anything but great things about him at Boise State and… Read more »
While your daughter had a great experience with him, it sounds like she swam for him during his first stint at USC which was quite a few years ago. Coaches can definitely change (it happened with my college coach), and someone who makes a good assistant may not make a good head coach.
Jeremy had no complaints as the head coach for Boise State and Northwestern.
Bet.
We’re happy he’s not at northwestern anymore if it makes you feel any better
I’m sorry but when your career depends on 18-22 year olds who are just figuring out swimming life etc. and you are expected to perform at a D1 level, any coach can seem tough. This isn’t rec swimming and everyone doesn’t get a trophy.
I swam at USC with Kasia Wilk(now Wasick), Vlad Morozov and many other great swimmers there. One of the girls in my class was constantly harassed by Kipp. She was not the only one as there was another senior that was also constantly being harassed by Kipp, sometimes without reason. In some speed workouts we wouldn’t understand why he would react horribly to her for no reason and even called her names. Everyone at USC knew that if you got Kipp on his wrong side he would treat you horribly!! I feel terrible for the girl in my class since she was constantly harassed and even threatened by Kipp in front of our training group. It finally stopped when Dave… Read more »
Salo was way worse in my opinion. Than Kipp or Catherine Vogt. Not sure what team you were on.
Not on the side of a verbally abusive coach. Specially one that cant control his outbursts of anger in front of young adults that he is supposed to lead.
I did not think Swimswam would get so many miles out of the mugshot-esque photo. But, it’s come in handy multiple times now….
At least a couple more times for when he gets fired and when he and USC get sued and then when the lawsuit settles for mid six figures. I wonder if any of his ex swimmers have taped it to a dart board
The picture just adds something to the article.