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University of the Pacific Director of Athletics Lynn King has announced the hiring of Adam Kennedy as men's and women's swimming head coach. Kennedy takes over the reigns of Pacific's swimming after spending the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy.

Under head coach Bill Roberts, Kennedy helped lead the Midshipmen to four straight Patriot League team titles as the primary sprint and breaststroke coach. Kennedy helped coach 52 all-league performers, three Olympic Trial qualifiers, 13 relay conference champions and 23 individual conference champions. In addition to coaching, Kennedy was the primary recruiter for the Naval Academy, successfully recruiting 39 USA-S Junior and Senior National level qualifiers. He helped bring in the 15th and 17th ranked recruiting classes in the nation in the last two years, according to CollegeSwimming.com.

Kennedy was also the head coach of the USA Armed Forces Swimming Team, coaching a team of active duty military swimmers who are qualified for the 2008 USA-S Olympic Trials. He helped lead the U.S. to five top-eight finishes and one bronze medal at the 2007 Military World Games. He has also served as head coach of the Navy Swimming Club in Annapolis, Md. since 2004, working to bring USA-S national recognition to the Midshipmen programs.

Prior to joining the Midshipmen, Kennedy was a graduate assistant at Ohio University during the 2003-04 season. During his brief stint at the school as a sprint coach, Ohio had four relay and four individual Mid-American Conference champions and the female Swimmer of the Meet. From 2001-03 he served at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. as the Raiders' distance coach, helping the men's 1650 and women's 400 IM to Patriot League championships, as well as 10 all-league performers and a total of five Patriot League champions. From May until September of 2003 he was the Interim Head Swimming Coach and Aquatics Director at Colgate.

Kennedy swam on the collegiate level at Davidson, earning four letters during his career. His prep career included swimming for Ben Davis and the Tualatin Hills Swim Club and for Sunset High School in Portland, Ore.

"Adam has had an excellent career and brings a wealth of experience and energy to our programs," said King. "He has a passion for the sport and understands what it takes to build a program. I am very pleased he is joining the Pacific Athletics family."

"I am excited to be the next leader of the University of the Pacific swimming programs," said Kennedy. "The potential of both programs is immense and I look forward to realizing that potential. The faith and support Director of Athletics Lynn King has in the aquatic programs is impressive and energizing. I am most excited to be working with the talented and well rounded student-athletes at Pacific. Together we will work toward excellence in and out of the water as Pacific continues it's tradition of great swimming. I want to thank the Pacific athletic team for this opportunity and the great coaches I have had the chance to swim for and work beside in my career."

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