Washington State Swimming Adds Former ECU Coach Kate Moore to Coaching Staff

Washington State swimming announced this evening that former East Carolina associate head coach Kate Moore has joined the Cougars coaching staff as an assistant coach. Moore, who competed for East Carolina as a collegiate swimmer, spent the past decade on the ECU coaching staff. East Carolina announced back in May that it would be cutting its swimming and diving programs, becoming the first college in an ever-growing list to cut swimming due to financial concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

During Moore’s decade as an ECU coach, the Pirates won 4 American Athletic Conference team titles. ECU also sent 9 swimmers to NCAAs over that time period, which is a significant accomplishment for a Division I Mid-Major program. Over the past decade, ECU also had 41 individual conference titles and 21 relay titles.

Speaking on her new position with the Cougars, Moore said “I am extremely honored to be joining the Cougar Family. After learning more about Matt and his ambitions for the program, I couldn’t be more excited to get started in Pullman.” Washington State head coach Matt Leachsaid in part on the hire, “Kate’s work ethic while at ECU showed how much she cares for her student-athletes and did every job under the sun to help her team grow.”

The addition of Moore comes a few months after former Washington State assistant coach Bex Freebairn had to leave her post to return to her home country of New Zealand due to changes in United State visa policy.

Former ECU assistant coach Christa Saunders has also found another coaching position. Saunders accepted a position as an assistant coach for Army swimming and Diving back in early July. Meanwhile, fellow-former ECU assistant Kevin Woodhull-Smith was named the new head coach of Barton College a few weeks ago. Former ECU diving coach Jesse Lyman has taken a job at Alabama, while former ECU head coach Matthew Jabs has not yet publicly accepted a new coaching position.