Kris Kubik
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | circa 1955 Memphis, Tennessee |
| Alma mater | North Carolina State Auburn University '78 |
| Playing career | |
| 1973-1978 | North Carolina State Auburn University |
| Position(s) | backstroke |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1977-1978 | Auburn University Student Asst. Coach |
| 1979-1981 | University of Texas Assoc. Coach w/Eddie Reese |
| 1981-1986 | Nashville Aquatics Club Longhorn Aquatics Club |
| 1986-2016 | University of Texas Assoc. Coach w/Eddie Reese |
| 2007 | Pan American Games Asst. Coach |
| 2008 | U.S. Olympic Team, Beijing Special Asst. |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 12 NCAA National Team Championships 1981, 1988-91, 1996, 2000-2002 2010, 2015, 2016 (University of Texas) 33 Conference Championships) (University of Texas) | |
Kris Kubik was an All-American competitive swimmer for North Carolina State and Auburn University and the Associate Head swimming coach for the University of Texas under Head Coach Eddie Reese. In his thirty-four year tenure coaching University of Texas Austin swimming from 1979 to 1981, and 1986 through 2016, he helped lead the Longhorns to 12 NCAA National Championship team titles, claiming titles in successive years for the 1989-91, 2000-02, and 2015-2016 seasons.[1]
Kubik was born around mid-1955 to Dr. Burdette Kubik, a Dentist, and former coach, who moved to Memphis in 1948, and Mrs. Zelma Kubik an English teacher at Memphis State. The couple married in 1941, when Dr. Kubik was in Dental School at St. Louis University.[2] By three, Kris was active in Cub Scouting, where his father served as a scoutmaster. He grew up the youngest of four siblings in a swimming family, and was active in competitive swimming by the age of seven, with his initial form of participation at a Red Cross swimming program. As serious age-group competitors who performed strength training and practiced twice daily, he and each of his siblings were on at least one state swimming championship team and garnered many first-place finishes.[3]
Early swimming achievements[edit]
At the age of only eight in April, 1964, Kris broke the Southeastern AAU age group record for boys eight and under in the 25-yard butterfly with a time of 15.6, and tied the record for the 25-yard freestyle with a time of :14.9.[4] [3][5][6][7] In 1966, in an International competition with Canadian swimmers in Ontario, Canada, Kris took two gold medals, winning the 10-and-under 50-yard butterfly while setting a Canadian Open age group record with a time of 30.8. Kris was also on the winning 200-yard medley relay team. In 1966, at the age of 10, Kris had earlier recorded the second best American time in his age-group for the 50-yard butterfly with a 31.3, qualifying him for the Canadian meet.[8]
Kris attended White Station High School in Memphis, and swam under Coach Dick Fadgen for the Memphis Athletic Club team founded in 1956, and later the Memphis State Swim Club Team, which practiced at the Memphis State University campus.[7] Dick Fadgen, Kris's primary High School Coach, would produce seven state championship swim teams with the Memphis Athletic Club and coach Memphis State University beginning in 1972.[9][10]
'72 Olympic Trials[edit]
Kris had hopes of qualifying for the 1972 Olympic swimming trials, and at a high point of his high school swimming career at seventeen, he qualified by swimming a 1:02.3 in the 100-meter backstroke at a meet in Cincinnati. Three other Memphis State Swim Club participants made the trials with him. Kubik competed in the trials in early August in Chicago but did not make the U.S. team, as his preliminary time of 1:03.55 was around 3.3 seconds short of qualifying in the highly competitive trials.[10] In 1972, he also qualified for the AAU National Meet in Louisville, Kentucky while swimming for the Memphis State Swim Club and recorded a qualifying time of :54.6 in the 100-yard backstroke.[9][11][12][13]
College swimming[edit]
Kris was an All-American swimmer for North Carolina State, where he swam under Head Coach Don Easterling.[14][15] In 1974, Kubik swam a conference record 1:57.07 in the 200-yard backstroke, breaking his own record by a second, and helping to lead North Carolina to its fifth straight victory in the Atlantic Coast Conference's swimming title. By February 1975, while at North Carolina State, Kubik held Atlantic Coast Conference records in the 100-yard backstroke of 51.98, and in the 200-yard backstroke of 1:55.30. North Carolina State dominated the conference records with Kubik's teammate Steve Gregg holding records in three events.[16]
He transferred from North Carolina State to Auburn University where he graduated in 1978, and swam under Eddie Reese, with whom he would also serve as a student coach through the 1979 season. Kubik would later have a long career as Associate coach when Kubik would leave Auburn to follow Reese to the University of Texas.[17][15]
Coaching[edit]
Kubik was Associate Head coach for the University of Texas under Head Coach Eddie Reese, from 1979 to 1981, and from 1986 through 2016.
Kubik left UT for four years, where from 1981 to 1985, he was an age group coach for the Nashville Aquatics Club and then for the Longhorn Aquatics Club, a high achieving age group swim club in Austin, Texas.[15]
University of Texas, Austin[edit]
With an exceptional chemistry working together, Kubik coached a total of 34 seasons with Eddie Reese as Head Coach and won 12 NCAA National team championships. Making an immediate impact, in Reese and Kubik's second year together, they led Texas to an NCAA runner-up finish at the 1980 NCAA Championships and gave Texas its first NCAA men's swimming team championship in 1981. Kubik and Reese had four consecutive NCAA National Championship from 1988-91, and won their sixth National Championship in 1996. They won consecutive titles from 2000-2002, won again in 2010, and took titles from 2015-2016.[1]
During Kubik's tenure, Texas had 26 NCAA finishes in the top-three and 32 NCAA showings in the top-five. Texas had a total of 54 NCAA individual titles and 42 NCAA relay titles during Kubik's tenure, and had 32 Olympians who captured a total of 36 gold, 16 silver and eight bronze medals. The team of Kubik and Reese took conference team titles in 33 of its 34 seasons working together.[1]
In Kubik's final season, Texas had a perfect 10–0 record in dual meets, took it's 37th consecutive conference title, recorded seven NCAA American records, and more significantly won their 12th NCAA National team title. Four swimmers from that team, Townley Haas, Jack Conger, Clark Smith and Joseph Schooling, were expected to attend the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[18]
International coaching[edit]
He also coached several international teams. He was Asst. Coach for the U.S. team at the 2007 Pan American Games and served as a special assistant for the Coaching Staff of USA Swimming at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
He also was the Team USA Asst. Coach at the FINA World Championships in 2009 and the 2015 World University Games.[18]
Kris was married to April Russell, David Russell's daughter. Russell was an outstanding defensive back on two University of Texas SEC Champion football squads from 1959 to 1961.[15]
Honors[edit]
In 2011, Kubik was inducted into University of Texas's Athletics Men's Hall of Honor.[18] In a more exclusive honor, he was more recently chosen as one of the 100 Greatest Swimming and Diving Coaches of the Century in 2021 by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).[19] As one of the organizations greatest honors for coaching achievement, Kubik was also a recipient of the National Collegiate and Scholastic Trophy by the CSCAA in May, 2017.[20]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c "Texas Sports Hall of Fame, Kris Kubik". Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
- ^ Burk, Bill, "Press-Scimitar Puts $100 Bond in the Kubik's Scrounge Fund", The Memphis Press-Scimitar, Memphis, Tennessee, 24 January 1958, pg. 4
- ^ a b Hart, Harold, "How Many Kubik Feet in a Swimming Pool", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 4 May 1963, pg. 23
- ^ "Mac Swimmers Score in Meet in Vandy Pool", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 12 April 1964, pg. 28
- ^ "Future Boy Scout", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 31 August 1958, pg. 8
- ^ Kaye, Sara, "Lamb Shasklik Keeps Hosts With Guests", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 4 September 1964, pg. 20
- ^ a b Johnson, Robert, "Good Evening", The Memphis Press-Simitar, 14 January 1972, pg. 5
- ^ "Kubik is Adept in Pool Interview", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 24 January 1966, pg. 18
- ^ a b "Tigers Qualify in Eight Events", The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 19 March 1972, pg. 40
- ^ a b "Swim Club Aims at Olympic Trials", The Memphis Press Scimitar, Memphis, Tennessee, 20 April 1972, pg. 6
- ^ Athletic Club Party Tonight, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 20 December 1956, pg. 52
- ^ "Memphians Enter Olympic Trials", The Commerical Appeal, Memphis, Tennessee, 27 July 1972, pg. 41
- ^ "1972 Chicago Olympic Trial Results, pdf format" (PDF). USA Olympic Trial Results. Retrieved 1 June 2024.
- ^ "Wolfpack Wins Swim Crown", Winston Salem Journal, Winston Salem, North Carolina, 3 March 1974, pg. 21
- ^ a b c d "University of Texas Sports Hall of Fame, Kris Kubik". University of Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
- ^ "Current Swimmer's ACC's Best", The News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, 26 February 1975, pg. 12
- ^ "State Wins ACC Swimming Record 5th Straight Time", The News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, 3 March 1974, pg. 23
- ^ a b c "SwimSwam, University of Texas Associate Head Coach Kubik Retires". SwimSwam.
- ^ "CSCAA Coaches of the Century Named, Carl Samuelson". Retrieved January 27, 2023.
- ^ "Kubik Awarded National Collegiate and Scholastic Trophy". Retrieved January 27, 2023.