Alaska Fairbanks on Wednesday announced the hiring of Cameron Kainer as the new head swimming coach of their NCAA Division II women’s swimming program. Kainer replaces Becca Weiland, who spent 1 season as head coach before being announced as a new assistant at Notre Dame this week.
The school will keep assistant coach Kelsey Leeson on staff for the new season.
Kainer is the 3rd head coach since the program was resumed in 2005.
He comes to the team from another Division II program, UT Permian Basin. UTPB’s women finished 4th in at the NSISC championship meet out of 6 teams last season, while the men placed 3rd out of 5 teams.
Last season, the Nanooks of UAF finished 8th out of 14 teams in a conference that includes Division I, Division II, and NAIA teams.
Full Press Release from UTPB
FAIRBANKS – On Wednesday, University of Alaska Fairbanks vice chancellor for student affairs and athletics Dr. Keith Champagne has named Cameron Kainer the head coach for the Alaska Nanooks women’s swimming program. Today was Kainer’s first official day with the Alaska Nanooks.
Kainer becomes the third head coach in Alaska women’s swimming history since the program’s resurrection in the fall of 2005, replacing 2019-20 head coach Becca Weiland. Assistant coach Kelsey Leeson will resume her position for the upcoming 2020-21 season.
“I want to thank Chancellor White, Dr. Champagne and search committee chair Kayne Gutierrez for all their help during this process and giving me a great idea of what UAF is all about,” Kainer said on Wednesday. “It has been a different process with the world’s current situation, and they made it feel like everything was right. I look forward to getting the student-athletes back on campus and working on this upcoming season. We know it will be a challenge, but we are up to the task to come back stronger than ever.”
Prior to joining the Nanooks, Kainer served as the head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach at the University of Texas Permian Basin, a fellow NCAA Division II institution, since 2013. Throughout his time with the Falcons, Kainer registered a 52-20 overall dual meet record, going 27-11 in the men’s dual meet record and 25-9 for the women.
Under Kainer’s leadership, the Falcons broke all men’s and women’s swimming program records, while most impressively qualifying 24 NCAA national “B-Cut” times. Before joining the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference, Kainer had 38 Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference championship “A-Cut” finalists and one conference championships in 2013. Since the inception of the NSISC, Kainer tallied 70 “A-Cut” finalists and over 120 recorded All-UTPB Top-Ten times.
Kainer specialized with the middle distance and distance groups with the Falcons, while overseeing one full-time assistant coach and one part-time assistant. Kainer also oversaw all aspects of the Falcons’ swimming and diving programs, such as strength and conditioning workouts, budget and scholarship allocations, travel, equipment and recruiting.
“What was appealing to me about UAF was the strong history of the women’s swimming program and the leadership within the athletic department,” Kainer continued. “There has been a lot of success throughout the history of the team and I am excited to build upon that. I think that UAF has a lot to offer the student-athletes academically, athletically and culturally, so it checked a lot off of what I was looking to have in an institution and program.”
An experienced coach, Kainer has also served on the swimming staff at the Florida Institute of Technology, the Nitro Swimming Group, St. Lawrence University, the Longhorn Swim Camp at the University of Texas and the Aggie Swim Camp at Texas A&M University.
“I’m most looking forward to building upon the culture and success that has been laid out here, as well as helping anywhere I can in the department and within the community,” Kainer concluded. “I also want to bring in student-athletes who share the university’s mission of caring, respect, inclusiveness and diversity, as well as being ambassadors in the university and the Fairbanks community.”
Kainer is also certified as a USA Swimming Coach and also through the American Red Cross in CPR for the Professional Rescuer, lifeguard training and first aid.
Kainer is a graduate of UTPB in Odessa, Texas, where he earned a bachelor of arts in communication. As a Falcon, Kainer was the team captain and ranks in the school’s all-time top-ten lists for the 1,000 free, the 1,650 free, the 200 breast, the 400 individual medley and was also a two-time member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference All-Conference Team in 2009 and 2010.
Kainer also graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York with a master’s degree in educational leadership.
Was concerned this might go unfilled. Amazing to see an athletic department act so swiftly. My hat is off to the administration.
Though they needed to fill spot, they could have chosen better. Hope his past doesn’t come back to haunt him.
Better candidates out there.