Kate Chronic Named Head Swimming & Diving Coach At Illinois Tech

Courtesy: Illinois Tech Athletics

Chicago, Ill. – Kate Chronic has been named Head Coach of the Illinois Tech Swimming and Diving program.

“I’m honored and excited to join the Scarlet Hawk family” said Chronic. “There’s such rich tradition here. The Swimming & Diving team is an amazing group of student-athletes truly dedicated to their sport. I’m excited to join the team and share in their continued successes” Chronic said.

“I am thrilled to have Kate Chronic as our new Head Swimming and Diving Coach” said Assistant Vice President – Director of Athletics, Usha Gilmore. “She brings a wealth of experience with her. Being a former Division I swimmer, she understands the importance of academics and swimming competitively. She has developed a number of great student athletes in her swim programs. We are excited to have her join our team” Gilmore said.

Chronic takes over the program from Interim Head Coach Billy Bafia, who led the program for the past two seasons, which included a Liberal Arts Conference Championship in 2022, as well as producing back-to-back swimmers that qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championships.

“We are excited to have Kate Chronic join us as the Head Swimming & Diving Coach for the Men’s and Women’s programs” said Bafia. “Her extensive background and proven success in coaching will help our team shine on the competitive platform as we look to continue moving up in the Liberal Arts Conference Championships meet and sending more athletes to NCAA Division III National Championships. Kate’s strong background in working with student-athletes will translate seamlessly to our academic environment and will be the continued support our students need to remain successful in both the classroom and pool. Our entire staff looks forward to working with Kate and our student-athletes” Bafia said.

Chronic indeed brings extensive experience to her new role, with over 30 years coaching swimmers from the youth level through collegiate age groups. Chronic herself swam collegiately at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, where she achieved All-American honors.

Most recently, Chronic has been serving as the Head Coach at M3 Aquatics in Chicago, an organization she founded during the 2020 pandemic and she continues to lead. In her role at M3 Aquatics, Chronic trained, coached and developed multiple athletes from those as young as five-years old to those of collegiate age. Chronic and M3 Aquatics have also been extensively involved in giving back to the community, with community swim lesson programs as well as community drown-proofing initiatives.

Prior to founding M3 Aquatics, Chronic served as the Head Coach and Director of the Midway Aquatics Club through the University of Chicago from 2013 to 2020. In her time at Midway Aquatics, Chronic also coached the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the University of Chicago laboratory school, University High School.

Prior to her time at Midway Aquatics, Chronic coached several high school and club teams between Illinois and Tennessee, including six years as the assistant head coach at Excel Aquatics in Brentwood, Tennessee. Locally, Chronic was the Head Swim Coach at Libertyville High School, as well as the Head Swim Coach for the Homewood Flossmoor Swim Club.

Chronic has a BA in Psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, as well as Master of Arts courses in Clinical Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University. Recently, Chronic achieved an Associates in Applied Science EMT-II Paramedic at Malcolm X College in Chicago. Chronic is also a Nationally licensed paramedic.