Frank Keefe

Coach Frank Keefe, who was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in September of 2005, is in his final year as head coach of Yale's Swimming and Diving Programs. Throughout his tenure at Yale, Keefe has successfully forged Yale Swimming's prestigious and illustrious past with his own unique drive for excellence and achievement. Keefe's undying commitment to the program and his sincere love of Yale Swimming is the driving force behind both teams' success. Under Frank's leadership the Bulldog Swimming Program kicked off the 21st Century with another milestone as the men's program captured their 1000th win at the historic Harvard-Yale-Princeton (HYP) tri-meet in February of 2002. Through his leadership and skill both teams have successfully emerged as contenders in their respective conferences.

Keefe, a 1960 graduate of Villanova, took over the men's program in 1978 and the women in 1980. Keefe has been the recipient of the EISL Coach of the Year award twice. The women's Ivy League named the annual championship trophy after him, citing his drive for excellence and achievement. Besides an extensive collegiate background, Keefe boasts international coaching experience. One of the most respected figures in American Swimming, Keefe served as U.S. assistant coach in the 1984 Olympics and head manager at the 1988 Olympic games. Previously, Keefe served as U.S. head coach at the 1975 and 1979 Pan American Games, and assistant coach at the 1978 World Championships.

Before starting at Yale, Keefe had already coached nine Olympic swimmers. Among them were gold medallist Carl Robie and silver medallist Tim McKee. More recently, Frank coached George Gleason ('00) and Stephen Fahy ('00) to the 2000 Olympic games where they represented the Virgin Islands and Bermuda, respectively. Keefe is a member both the Villanova and state of Pennsylvania Halls of Fame.

Keefe is a native of East Haven, Conn., where he is also was enshrined in its Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Kathleen, have four children.

 

Tim Wise

Tim returns for his sixth year after serving as the head coach at Southern Connecticut in 1995 and 1996. He also has been an assistant coach at Texas A&M and Arizona State. A Wethersfield, Conn., native, Wise is a 1993 graduate of Southern Connecticut where he was a New England Championship finalist three years in a row and set numerous school records. Wise also has been active in U.S. Swimming, serving as head coach for the Omni Swim Club and the Hamden-North Haven, Conn., Swim Club. Tim and his new bride Lisa live in Wethersfield.

 

Don Galluzzi

An ASCA Level 5 coach, Don Galluzzi is in his sixth year at Yale. Don is also not new to the Ivy League, the EISL, eastern or national swimming. He has a proven record of success in working with a wide range of swimmers from "walk-on" to Olympic level. He has coached a World Record, American records and an NCAA Division I champion, as well as a Rhodes Scholar. His clinic experiences are at both the international and national level and include his efforts for the USIS in Morocco and also at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. In the summer of 2005 he coached at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey. The end of the 2006-2007 school year, highlighted by the total of 17 school records that were broken in that one season, brought conclusion to "Coach Don's" initial contributions in the area of recruiting in the first five year cycle that started in September of 2002. In addition the team finishes at the Conference IVY/EISL Championships were the best since the 2002-2003 season. With the entering of the Class of 2011 a second such recruiting cycle was begun. After earning a B.A. degree in History at Rutgers University, and an M.A.degree in Physical Education from Indiana University, Don served as Aquatics Director and Head Swimming Coach at Columbia University for 13 years. He went on to be head coach of the men's and women's programs at Ohio, Fordham, Stevens Institute of Technology and at Fairfield University. He has 288 NCAA career wins as a head coach, with a winning percentage of .676, while rebuilding these eight different programs. In his years as a head coach his teams, both men and women, achieved Academic All-American status more often (over 20 recognitions) than conference championships. The various teams he has coached have won 14 conference championships. Don strongly believes in the philosophy that a healthy balance of challenging academic and athletic goals and social development, not only works, but is also the best preparation for an extraordinary and happy life.

Ryan Moehnke

Ryan enters his sixth season for the Bulldogs. In 2005, Moehnke coached Melanie Loftus ('05) to the Women's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships and in 2008 he coached Jeff Lichtenstein ('08) to the Men's NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. Loftus was also the Ivy League Champion on 3-meter in 2005. In 2007, Moehnke coached Jeff Lichtenstein to a 3-meter Championship at the EISL's and a 1-meter Championship in 2008. Loftus and Lichtenstein were named Divers of Meet for their performances. Lichtenstein was also named to the 2008 Division 1 Mid-Major All-America first team for his performances. Ryan is also responsible for Loftus's 3-meter Yale record and Lichtenstein's 1-meter and 3-meter Yale records. Ryan has also produced 16 Ivy League finalists and 18 of his divers have qualified for the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships. Ryan is also the Co-Head Coach for the Next Generation Diving Team which trains out of Yale University and the YMCA of Norwalk. In 2008, the Next Generation Diving Team won the team title at the YMCA Diving Championships. Prior to arriving at Yale, Ryan was the Head Diving Coach at the Schroeder YMCA in Brown Deer, WI. and coached at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Ryan started his coaching career as the Assistant Coach at the US Diving Training Center in Indianapolis, IN. Ryan's accomplishments as a coach have also included 5 Senior National Qualifiers, 21 Junior National Qualifiers, 8 Junior National Finalists, 2 AAU National Champions, 8 YMCA National Champions, and 18 AAU National Qualifiers with 8 finalists. He helped coach the 2000 Junior World Gold and Bronze Medalists, 3 Senior National Champions and a 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifier. Moehnke also co-authored the USA Diving's S.T.A.R.T. Program for coaches. In 2003, Ryan was selected to coach the USA Diving Junior Pan Am Team in Belem, Brazil and has served as a coach for the Junior National Team Camp 6 times. Ryan has a BS degree in General Studies of Counseling Psychology from Ball State University in Indiana where he competed for the Cardinals.

Kevin Norman

Kevin graduated from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington with a B.S. in Exercise Science as well as Community Health and is starting his first season as an Assistant Coach with Yale. While at UNCW, Norman was a two-year captain and a member of four consecutive CAA Championship teams. He was also a student assistant when the Seahawks won their fifth CAA Title. In Wilmington, Norman was a Strength and Conditoning intern for UNCW Athletics. Kevin has known Frank Keefe since he was a young age group swimmer and swam with Tim Wise as a high schooler at OMNI Swim Club where he is currently an Assistant Coach. Norman is pursuing his M.S. in Exercise Science with a concentration in Human Performance at Southern Connecticut State University. He will be focusing his Independent Study on the physiology of swimming as well as his own experiences with Yale Swimming.

Laura O'Brien

Laura has enjoyed swimming competitively since age five. At age nine, she began swimming at Omni Swim Club with Frank Keefe. After a successful swim career at the Hotchkiss School, she went on to continue swimming with Frank at Yale University. She graduated in 2004 with a teaching certificate and a degree in Spanish. Two of Laura's most rewarding swim experiences were participating in the 2003 Swim Across the Sound and the 2006 Swim Across America to raise money for cancer awareness. Previous coaching experience includes the head coach position for Kennedy High School's girls swim team from 2004-2006. Laura also worked as an assistant swim coach at the Cheshire, CT YMCA during the summer of 2007. Laura is currently in her fourth year as a Spanish teacher at Kennedy High School in Waterbury and resides in Middlebury with her bulldog, Sadie. She is excited for her return to Yale as an assistant swim coach.