Stanford Hires Chris Lindauer (Notre Dame) as New Head Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach

The Stanford Cardinal have hired Chris Lindauer as their new head women’s swimming & diving coach. Lindauer spent the last 3 seasons as the head coach of the men’s and women’s teams at Notre Dame.

Stanford launched a national search to replace Greg Meehan, who is leaving to become the USA Swimming National Team Director. No Stanford women entered the NCAA transfer portal in the special 30 day window allowed when a school announces a head coaching change, which has already closed (the change was announced April 11).

That means, barring any defections or redshirt years, Lindauer will be left with a full cupboard after the Cardinal finished 2nd at last year’s NCAA Championship meet. The Cardinal return 76.7% of their individual points (197), which is more points than any team in the country besides the defending champion Virginia Cavaliers, and a higher percentage than any other team in the top 4.

That includes Olympic gold medalist Torri Huske, who has one year of NCAA eligibility remaining.

Lindauer’s prior stop before Notre Dame was as an associate head coach at Louisville. When he moved up to his first big head coaching position, he hired most of his staff from that Louisville family – including assistants Joao de Lucca, Kameron Chastain, Kelsi Dahlia, and Trevor Carroll, who all swam at Louisville.

Dahlia, a U.S. Olympian in the 100 butterfly like Huske, would be a tantalizing choice to join him in Stanford, though current Stanford associate head coach Katie Robinson is one of the top associate head coaches in the country and would be a viable candidate to stay in that role – although that is an uncommon transition.

Lindauer had quick success at Notre Dame with the men’s team, which finished a record 10th at the 2024 NCAA Championships a year after a record 18th place finish in 2023. That included coaching Chris Guiliano from an unheralded recruit to a U.S. Olympian.

That progress came screeching to a halt when the entire Notre Dame men’s swimming team was suspended for the 2024-2025 season amid an investigation into gambling and other team culture issues. Guiliano ultimately transferred to Texas.

The Notre Dame women didn’t have quite that same level of success. They didn’t score at the 2023 or 2025 NCAA Championships. At the 2024 championships, they placed 32nd with 6 points scored by diver Caroline Brady.

Lindauer and his wife Beth have three sons, Jack, Owen, and Brady.

Stanford listed the position with a salary range of $160,000-$195,000, though that doesn’t include an estimated annual take of $60,000 from swim camps or the university’s housing stipend. As a private university, Lindauer’s salary and contract are not subject to public records.

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Total disaster
19 days ago

Things Lindauer does not do:
-table cloths
-captains

400IMer
19 days ago

Chris oh Chris, whose mouth runs faster than his women’s team ever did. As a former swimmer of Lindy‘s for three years, I will say his communication skills are abhorrent, His “pep talks” were just “trust the process” spews, as clear as mud and twice as useless. Facts? We limped to 32nd at the 2025 NCAAs with a pathetic 6 points. Good luck Stanford!!!!! You’ll need it ☘️

RealSlimThomas
19 days ago

It’s often a “you can leave ‘quietly’ or we’ll have no choice but to fire you” scenario when things go sideways..

I_Said_It
19 days ago

ah… the SwimSwam Comment Section… the gift that always gives. Always turning those frowns upside down.

YSwim
19 days ago

question
why don’t swimmers get a 30 day transfer portal after a new coach is announced
instead of 30 days after previous coach announces they will be leaving?
in a case like this do the swimmers have no choice but to accept the new coach?

thezwimmer
Reply to  YSwim
19 days ago

What it should be (and maybe this isn’t practical) is the athletes have a window from when a coach leaves to 30 days after a new one is announced to enter the portal. It allows people to stay on top of decision, but also if a new coach comes in and you don’t vibe with them, you can still duck out.

Curious
Reply to  Braden Keith
19 days ago

But wouldn’t they put their scholarship at risk?

FastSwimming
Reply to  Curious
19 days ago

It sure does, but a new head coach can make changes anyway

Curious
Reply to  FastSwimming
19 days ago

Not if you have a signed scholarship agreement?

FastSwimming
Reply to  Curious
18 days ago

https://informedathlete.com/tag/ncaa-di-coaching-change-impact-on-scholarship-athlete/

Agreements are primarily between head coach and athlete, so if head coach leaves a new head coach has the right and autonomy to dismiss anyone from his/her team to build the team they think will be successful. Schools are supposed to see out scholarship agreements, however kids can be let go from the team and retain said scholarship without competing. The majority of athletes (freshman or sophomore) will consider transferring in this case to continue competing. Juniors with one season left will likely just stay because transferring credits senior year is tough. Scholarship agreements – for the most part – are also single year contracts.

I would know
19 days ago

Interesting choice by Stanford to have Lindauer as a women’s coach. having been coached by Lindauer for a few years at ND, I’ve watched him create strong relationships with the men’s team (until completely letting them take the fall this year for hits he knew they didn’t deserve) while not giving an ounce of effort towards relationships with the women’s team. Not to mention the clear lack of improvement of ND women under Lindauer’s coaching which is a direct reflection of his favoritism towards the men’s team and only caring about people that are performing well in the moment. Many people, including myself, spoke to him about culture concerns when he was a new at ND and he turned a… Read more »

NahBro
19 days ago

Hahaha hire the guy who had no control over his athletes. Dumb move for supposedly smart people.

Mr.Mister
19 days ago

He can surely make people swim fast. If he made mistakes at ND here is a great chance avoid them and become even better. Best of luck for the team!

About Braden Keith

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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