Former Cal assistant swim coach Dani Korman has taken a temporary contract position with the Collegiate Swimming & Diving Coaches’ Association of America (CSCAA).
Korman, a former CSCAA board member, will work with the organization to prepare for the annual convention in Chicago in May.
Korman will be replaced at Cal by Jesse Moore, who spent last season as the head coach at Dartmouth.
Korman spent three seasons as an assistant for Cal head coach Teri McKeever with the women’s swimming & diving team. Prior to that, she spent four seasons as the head coach at MIT, three as an assistant at Yale, four as an assistant at Johns Hopkins, and two as an assistant/interim head coach at Carthage College.
Korman was promoted to associate head coach in June 2020.
The Cal women placed 8th at the 2022 NCAA Championship meet, which was their lowest finish since 2005. While a lot of swimmers are still getting faster upon arrival in Berkeley, Cal’s recruiting hasn’t been at the level it once was in recent seasons. The addition of NCAA Champion and Olympic gold medalist Maggie MacNeil as a 5th-year transfer from Michigan next season will help with that, and if Izzy Ivey returns for her 5th year next season, that would give Cal one of the best one-two punches in the country. Cal is lead by head coach Teri McKeever, who among other accomplishments led the U.S. women’s team to the 2012 Olympic Games.
Prior to Cal, Korman spent four seasons as the head coach of NCAA Division III power MIT, where both teams went four-for-four in conference titles, and where the women had four-straight top 10 performances at the NCAA Championships. She also coached the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year Margaret Guo.
Prior to Korman, two of the last three full-time Cal assistants left the program for roles off-deck.
- Dani Korman, 2019-2022 (joined the staff at the CSCAA)
- Sarah Dunleavy, 2017-2019 (left to “pursue interests outside of swimming”)
- Ian Walsh, 2016-2017 (left to become assistant at Buffalo, now head coach at Marshall)
- Kristen Cunnane, 2007-2015 (left to focus on her family)
Samantha Barany was recently named the new Executive Direct of the CSCAA, making her the first woman to lead the organization in its history. She will formally take over the role during the CSCAA convention in early May.
Korman has not responded to SwimSwam’s questions about whether or not she plans to be back on deck in a coaching capacity in the future.
I don’t feel like this is a step up at all for Dani, and a waste of her talent. She is an outstanding coach.
When a program like Cal has a track record of losing assistants (and not to head coaching jobs), it never looks good …
Can’t be easy to make living as an assistant at Cal. Cost of living is outrageous. Couldn’t imagine any assistant coach wanting to stay there more for more than 3 years.
Also, if you look closely at the admin work assistants have to do, it makes sense to branch outside of on deck coaching. I believe for this instance, Dani was well prepared to take the next step forward in her career. This is a good look.
Coach Macgyver, you have no idea what your talking about. This is not a step up and only a contract position. Do you honestly believe she chose this on her own?
Y’all have reused this sentence in at least 6 different posts.. “Cal’s recruiting hasn’t been at the level it once was in recent seasons. The addition of NCAA Champion and Olympic gold medalist Maggie MacNeil as a 5th-year transfer from Michigan next season will help with that, and if Izzy Ivey returns for her 5th year next season, that would give Cal one of the best one-two punches in the country”
The paragraph that intrigues me is about the recent history of Cal assistants. Seems like an awesome opportunity to take your career to the next level, and yet…..
one assistant before her was talking in podcast about burnout etc, issues, it is hard work to be assistant
Braden is working smarter not harder.