Ted Knapp

Ted Knapp was named Goldman Family Director of Men's Swimming in 2012 after serving as an assistant under Hall of Fame head coach Skip Kenney for 28 seasons.

2018-19 was Knapp's seventh season at the helm of the program and 35th overall. Knapp spent the 11 seasons prior to his most recent promotion as the team’s associate head coach, and has been a part of the program since 1984 when he was hired as a volunteer assistant coach.

Since coming to The Farm, Knapp has played an influential role in Stanford capturing seven NCAA championships and as many conference titles as seasons served as an assistant and associate head coach with the program. Since being named Goldman Family Director of Men’s Swimming in 2012, Knapp has added two Pac-12 Conference Championships (2016, 2017), upping the program total to 64.

In 2019, Abrahm DeVine captured his second consecutive 400 IM championship, becoming the first Stanford swimmer since Tom Wilkens (1997-98) to repeat in the event. 

In 2018, Knapp guided DeVine to a national championship in the 400 IM, Stanford’s first since 1998 and first in any swim since 2014. DeVine also captured two Pac-12 championships in the 200 IM and 200 back, and Grant Shoults finished fourth in the 500-yard freestyle for the second straight season. In all, 13 swimmers earned All-America honors while 16 were named to the Pac-12 All-Academic team, the most of any program.

Knapp oversees all phases of the program including daily workouts, team travel and recruiting. In addition, Knapp supervises all dry-land training and the team's strength program.

During his tenure at Stanford, Knapp has coached 10 different swimmers who have set 20 world records. Most recently, Paul Kornfeld was a part of the record-setting 400 medley relay team while swimming the breaststroke for Canada in 2009. 

Knapp has also coached 19 Olympians who have represented eight countries at the Summer Games. At the 2008 Olympics alone, David and Jason Dunford, Phillip Morrison, Tobias Oriwol and 2008 gold medalist Ben Wildman-Tobriner each were Knapp-coached swimmers.

Other former Olympians who have trained under Knapp include Pablo Morales (three-time gold medalist), Jeff Rouse (three-time gold medalist) and Markus Rogen (two-time silver medalist).

Knapp has coached numerous NCAA champions, including 28 swimmers who teamed to total 70 individual titles. Morales accumulated a Stanford-record 235 points and 11 individual titles at the NCAA Championships in the mid-1980s.

In his first three seasons as head coach, the Cardinal finished in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships, extending its streak to 35 consecutive seasons in doing such. In 2015, the Cardinal finished sixth at the NCAA Championships, its best finish since Knapp took charge in 2012. 

Ten school records have also been set under Knapp's watch, most recently Jack Levant, who set the program record in the 200-yard freestyle at the 2018 Texas Invitational.

In 2015, Knapp oversaw David Nolan twice break the American record in the 200 IM, setting the mark at the Pac-12 Championships and later at the NCAA Championships.

Knapp was named the winner of CollegeSwimming.com's inaugural national assistant coach of the year award in 2011.

Knapp has also been involved with various national teams over the past two decades and was the head men's manager to the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. Knapp was the men's manager for both the 1998 Goodwill Games in New York and the 2002 U.S. Junior Team which competed in Rome.

In the 2013 Dual in the Pool, Knapp was an assistant coach for the competition in Glasgow, Scotland, as Stanford's Eugene Godsode competed. Godsoe was joined by Bobby Bollier, BJ Johnson and Max Williamson at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto where Knapp served as the United State's assistant coach.

Knapp was named assistant manager at the 2005 U.S. World Championships in Montreal and at the 2007 U.S. World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. In addition, Knapp provided talent stats for NBC's Triplecast at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and the on-deck red hat for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

A 1981 Stanford graduate with a degree in civil engineering, Knapp was a four-time letterman while specializing in the freestyle events. In his junior season (1979-80), Knapp earned All-America status after anchoring the Cardinal's 400 medley relay squad to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

A competitive swimmer for three years before entering the coaching profession, Knapp also participated in the 1980 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Ted and his wife, Laurie, reside in Menlo Park. The couple's daughter, Ellen, is a graduate of Santa Clara. Their son, Sam, graduated from Stanford in 2013 and was a wide receiver on the Cardinal football team.