Cal Poly has informed team members that Traci Granger and Kim Foster Carlson have been hired as co-head swimming coaches of the school’s co-ed swimming & diving program. They will join returning head diving coach Laurel Abernathy, who will fill a lot of the administrative duties, as part of an all-female NCAA Division I swimming coaching staff.
The pair take over from Phil Yoshida, who was placed on a leave of absence last season and ultimately did not return to the program after 24 years as part of the coaching staff. Tom Milich, Yoshida’s former boss and the former head coach of the program, served as the interim head coach after Yoshida was placed on a leave of absence.
Both coaches have previous ties to the program. Granger was recently announced as an inductee to the school’s athletics hall of fame. She swam for Cal Poly from 1978-1980, is a Masters Swimming World Champion and American Record holder, and served as the school’s head coach during the 1984-1985 season.
She also served as an assistant coach for the swimming & diving program at El Camino College in nearby Torrance, California for 20 years while teaching in the school’s Kinesiology department.
She re-joined the staff as an assistant in December 2022.
Carlson, meanwhile, served as the team’s announcer during dual meets last season. Carlson is the mother of former USC All-American breaststroker Kasey Carlson.
A graduate of Cal Poly, she earned six CSCAA/NCAA All-America honors as a swimmer at Florida State and Cal Poly.
While her coaching experience is limited, she has built a career as a radio news anchor, including over 16 years at KGO Radio in San Francisco until late 2021.
The Cal Poly men finished 4th out of 7 teams at last year’s MPSF Championship meet and the women finished 6th out of 10 teams at the same meet.
Swimmers were also informed that the start of practice for the season has been pushed back to Tuesday, September 17, which is just four days before the team’s traditional season kick-off in the Queen and King of the Pool meets against Cal. Fall classes begin on September 23rd.
One Cal Poly swimming parent said that many connected to the team were disappointed with the hires and felt that this could be a sign that the school is planning to eventually cut the program.
These hires read like:
Granger – great swimmer, probably great prof, microscopic experience level
Carlson – the lifeguards didn’t apply
AD – couldn’t care less
What’s most infuriating is that nearly 25, yes 25 very GOOD & QUALIFIED people applied and ZERO got interviews or even a call back to say no thanks. As for the pay, the alumni & parents are ready and willing to pay to make up the gap and the AD has known this!
What will be the repercussion for lying on a resume about having coaching experience? Coaching your kids when they swim for another team doesn’t count.
To my research there is no proof she was NCS coach of the year.
I am surprised for a state job that there isn’t a process in place to interview and vet applicants for state funded positions. Who is ensuring that the swimmers will not be harmed by a coach that has no relevant experience to manage and oversee the high level training necessary to compete and excel in a D1 program?
Its a tough situation for the kids. If the team succeeds thus year, it will look like a great hire from the slimy AD, but if they dont, well thats on them right? This feels like a big middle finger to the swimmers for getting phil out of there.
Agreed. Very difficult to understand the thought process of Admin. In the end, it’s only the swimmers that will be hurt. Did they even host interviews? Pretty much had an entire year to get ahead of being in this exact situation. And yet…here we are
Promoting a qualified assistant coach makes complete sense. Hiring the “announcer” who has virtually zero coaching experience is simply lazy. The University leadership should be embarrassed by this decision.
There were several HIGHLY qualified applicants that would have easily elevated the program who were never contacted. The compensation range didn’t deter top candidates from applying. That confirms what many in the swim community have known for a long time. The Cal Poly program is an attractive option for any qualified candidate looking for their first head coach role.
If I were a parent of an incoming freshman I would be very concerned. The future of the program is very questionable.
As an alumni, I sincerely want to thank Traci and Kim for stepping up to help when the program needs it. I wish others on here would show them, as people, more respect. They both have each spent their whole lives around a pool deck. They have both been successful in and out of the pool. I don’t think this was either of their top choice, but they are answering the call to help the program.
I hope that any alumni reading this shows up to this year’s alumni meet. I hope they donate what they can. This program has meant so much to so many people, and I hope we can keep it going.
What will donating money accomplish? Sincere question.
Likely nothing until the AD or someone says how much it will take to keep the program alive or build it better. Not having a clear goal will suppress donations, and the lack of a goal is telling about the future of the program.
Money makes the world go around, and it also funds college athletic programs. I don’t know how much would need to be raised to save the team, but I am going to reach out to the AD on Monday to find out. I think it will take a huge effort to save the team.
My intel on the situation is that the AD is reluctant to move in a coach from out of the area due to uncertainty of the future of the team. The athletic department’s budget is turned on its head due to the potential settlement from the Grant House lawsuit. Pretty much the whole NCAA community will be impacted, and there are several dozen schools considering… Read more »
Let us know if you hear anything back from the AD or his office. From what we can tell it is unlikely he will acknowledge any questions.
He , the AD, wont respond to anyone so good luck with that.
Won’t happen. After he announced this, he left for Ireland for 2 weeks.
What’s your intel source?
Borderline crazy. You can thank the individuals for stepping up, but the AD didn’t do his job by interviewing and bringing in the most qualified candidates. The posted pay for D1 head coach is clearly below market, but guaranteed there are younger assistant coaches @ top D1 programs who could re-energize this program. The named co-coaches are likely great people, but the last thing this program needs is 2 mid-60 year old coaches who don’t relate well to the current student-athletes.
Absurd and stupid conclusion…that they can’t relate. You have no idea who these people are and how they may relate. But, yes, the AD was too lazy or disinterested to interview ANY of the 25 applicants.
Totally agree!! Well written.
Wild…
I believe this is the AD’s way of getting back at the program/athletes/parents for forcing him to deal with the previous coach’s situation. Make no mistake, this means that the Cal Poly Swim Team’s days are numbered.
So sad. Can Poly is a top tier school in a great location with a great facility. If they just brought in a legitimate coach, this program would thrive!
There needs to be a movement to get rid of the AD.
Exactly the people to thank are those that raised hell to get Phil out. They try to help because Phil was not a great coach but that’s not a guarantee that it will get better. Similar to Grant House he thought this was a good idea to sue the NCAA but it could end destroying college swimming.
There were MANY issues with Phil besides just his coaching. 42 swimmers quit or forced out of a program in 3 years is staggering- leaving many with mental health issues and never wanting to swim again after their experiences. There were many layers to the issues.
If you have any suggestions on how to start a process to get the AD out please share. He seems to be tied into the old boys network & untouchable
Im interested to hear if the athletic director interviewed any real swim coach or simply saw impressive resumes and threw them in the garbage.
Candidates saying that none got an interview
I believe they did not reply to any of the 25 applicants.
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