Abby Steketee Resigns as Northwestern’s Head Women’s Coach

Northwestern head women’s swimming and diving coach Abby Steketee has resigned, the school announced on Wednesday morning. She spent 3 seasons as the team’s coach after coming from Nevada, where she was the 2015 Mountain West Coach of the Year.

“We’re extremely thankful to Abby and Steve for their contributions to the program over the last three years,” said Vice President for Athletics & Recreation Jim Phillips. “Our Northwestern family wishes them nothing but the best moving forward.”

No reason was given for the resignation.

The Wildcats’ best year under Sketekee was the 2016-2017 season, where Sketekee recruited 2016 Olympian Valerie Gruest, who broke school records as a freshman in the 500, 1000, and 1650 yard freestyles. That year, the Wildcats women broke 10 school records, and diver Olivia Rosendahl won the NCAA Championship in platform diving – the school’s first ever women’s swimming & diving title. Rosendahl repeated in that event in 2018.

Northwestern finished 7th out of 13 teams at the 2018 Big Ten Championship with 528 points; they took the same position and almost exactly the same number of points (534) in 2017, and were 8th with 467 points in 2016. Prior to Steketee’s arrival, the team hadn’t finished higher than 8th since 2012, and were just 10th in the year immediately preceding her hire. The last time the team placed higher than 7th was 2008.

Abby’s husband Steve was also listed as a volunteer assistant. No announcement has been made about the fate of the rest of Northwestern’s staff, and their coaching page has not yet been updated.

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Boise St Recruit
6 years ago

Jeremy Kipp the now ex-Boise St coach is your new Director of Swimming and Diving!

Swammerererer
6 years ago

Doug Lennox would be a great fit! Coached at NYU, Kenyon and now Princeton….from the area, great swimmer and coach

WildcoachCarosel
6 years ago

Take a peek under the hood jarrod, jarrod left the men too. No surprises, poor performances lead to this. Easily the best academic institution in the B1G with big donors, they need fresh coaching to revamp programs.

Anon
6 years ago

Now time for Sue Novitsky Illinois head coach. She needs to go.

Swimws
6 years ago

They could combine programs similar to what OSU has done.

Swimmy
6 years ago

The NCAA has a female coach retention problem.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Swimmy
6 years ago

And hiring.

Bulldogs
6 years ago

Steph Williams should get her bags packed.

SwimZ9
6 years ago

Keeping it classy!?

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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