Northern Kentucky University Athletics

In a hire that will go down in school history, Northern Kentucky University and Vice President and Athletics Director Christina Roybal has announced the hiring of Kevin Woodhull-Smith as the first men's and women's swimming head coach in program history in April 2024.

"I am very excited to be named the first head swim Coach at NKU," Woodhull-Smith said. "Adding a NCAA Division I men's and women's swim team is an amazing thing for college swimming. I want to thank Vice President and Director of Athletics Christina for this great opportunity to lead the new swim team at NKU."
 
"We are excited to introduce Kevin as the first head men's and women's swimming coach at NKU," Roybal said. "He has a proven track record of recruiting student-athletes and focusing on building confidence during training and the mental preparation to develop successful swimmers."
 
"Also thank you to Chris Hafling and the entire committee for their work during the hiring process," Woodhull-Smith added. "A huge thank you to my wife Britney and our family for their support. Thank you to all the coaches and swimmers that I have worked with over the years that helped me get to this point in my career. I'm looking forward to building a great program at NKU. Norse Up!"
 
Prior to joining the Norse, Woodhull-Smith was the head men's and women's swimming coach at Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina for three years. While with the program, he was named the Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year three times (both the men's and women's coach of the year in 2022 and the women's coach of the year in 2021). To go with the individual accolades, Woodhull-Smith led his teams to one conference championship (women's conference title in 2021), three runner-up performances and two third place showings. His squads never finished lower than third at the conference championship meet.
 
Woodhull-Smith's student-athletes broke over 25 varsity records and posted over 100 all-time top-8 performances. He also had a NCAA Division II National Championship qualifier in the women's 50 free in 2022. To go with his standout work with his squad in the pool, the teams were just as successful out of it as a mainstay on the CSCAA Scholar All-America awards for excellence in the classroom.
 
Before his time with the Bulldogs, Woodhull-Smith served as an assistant swim coach at East Carolina University for eight years. He led the Pirates men's team to four American Athletic Conference Championships in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020 to go along with eight league individual championships in a total of 22 events. Woodhull-Smith also coached 28 student-athletes to All-AAC honors. In addition, five of his student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Division I National Championship.
 
He also has experience as a swim coach at the Greensboro Community YMCA and the Enfinity Aquatic Club, as an assistant coach at East Carolina Aquatics and as a graduate assistant at North Carolina State University.
 
Woodhull-Smith earned his bachelor's degree from North Carolina State in 2010 and followed it up with a master's degree from the institution in 2012. He lettered for four seasons on the nationally ranked Wolfpack squad and qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 200-meter individual medley in June 2008.