Richard Quick, Women's Head Coach at Stanford University in Stanford, CA.

One of the most respected names in swimming throughout the world, Richard Quick recently finished his 13th year at the helm of the Stanford University women’s swimming and diving program. Quick was also the head coach of the U.S. Women’s Swimming Team at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, coaching U.S. squad members to 16 medals at the games, including seven Gold Medals. Quick has now served as a member of the U.S. coaching staff for the past five Summer Olympics, including three trips as the head coach.

In addition to his duties on The Farm and to his country, Quick is also the coach for 1995 Stanford graduate Jenny Thompson. Under Quick’s tutelage, Thompson became the most decorated women’s swimmer in the history of the Olympics, bringing a home a total of eight gold medals in the last three Olympic Games. She has broken several world and American records. Thompson is merely one of several current and former pupils of Quick who participated at the Olympics in Sydney this past September.

In his 12 years on the Farm, the 58-year-old Quick has guided Stanford to seven NCAA championships, including six of the past 10 national titles, and 11 of 13 Pac-10 Conference crowns. He has lost only five dual meets while at Stanford, sporting a 95-5 dual record mark (.950) while coaching 76 All-Americans to 645 All-America honors. In addition, Quick has helped develop 38 NCAA champions at Stanford who have captured a combined 54 NCAA individual and 27 relay titles. Along the way, he has picked up five NCAA Coach of the Year honors and three Pac-10 Coach of the Year awards.

But Quick’s success is not limited to the Stanford campus. In 24 years as a collegiate head coach, he has compiled an overall dual meet record of 184-34 (.844), capturing 12 national titles and 17 conference crowns. Before coming to The Farm, Quick led the University of Texas to a then-unprecedented five straight NCAA titles (1984-1988), a string he continued in his first season with the Cardinal. To put things in perspective, of the past 17 NCAA titles awarded, Richard Quick coached squads have captured 12 of them.

On the international scene, his resume is equally impressive. Since 1986, when Quick was named the national coach for U.S. Swimming, he has been involved in nearly every international meet in which the United States has participated. Included on this list are coaching assignments in the past five Olympiads, four consecutive World Championships, the 1990 Goodwill Games, three Pan Pacific Games (1987, 1985, 1983), the 1985 World University Games and the 1979 Pan American Games.

On November 29, 1994, Quick was named by U.S. Swimming as the head coach for the U.S. women’s team at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, a role he continued at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. In Atlanta, Quick led the women’s team to seven Gold, five Silver and two Bronze Medals. The men’s and women’s swimming teams combined for a total of 26 medals, the most by any team in the 1996 Olympic Games.

Quick’s previous international highlight came in 1988, when as head coach of the U.S. National Team, America brought home 17 medals at the Seoul Olympics. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Quick served as an assistant coach, helping the U.S. Team (which featured five Stanford student-athletes) capture 27 medals, 17 of which hung from the necks of Cardinal swimmers. As an assistant at the 1984 Olympics, Quick helped one of his pupils, Rowdy Gaines, to three Gold Medals in Los Angeles.

At the 1994 World Championships in Rome, Italy, Quick was the head coach of the U.S. women’s team. He also served as the U.S. women’s national team coach at the 1990 and 1986 World Championships and was an assistant coach at the 1982 World Championships.

In 1997-98, Stanford finished on top at the NCAA Championships to earn a place in collegiate history with its record eighth national title. The Cardinal also went unbeaten in dual competition (7-0) for the ninth time in 10 years and won its 12th straight Pac-10 title. In 1998-99, Stanford captured its 13th consecutive Pac-10 title and finished second at the NCAA Championships. The Cardinal finished second in the Pac-10 last season and third at the NCAA Championships.

Quick assumed the head coaching reigns at Stanford from George Haines in August 1988 and guided his first Cardinal team to a national championship in March 1989, marking only the second national swimming crown in school history at that point. In the five years under Quick in which Stanford has not claimed the national title, the Cardinal has recorded either second (1990, 1991, 1997, 1999) or third-place (2000) finishes. Overall, Quick has helped Stanford extend its mark to 20 consecutive years of no worse than a third-place national finish.

Prior to his stints with Stanford and Texas, Quick also served as both the men’s and women’s coach at Auburn for four seasons (1978-82). While there, he was the guiding force behind a successful men’s program, as well as the building block for a women’s program that went from an NCAA also-ran to a consistent top 10 finisher. Quick also served as the men’s head coach at Iowa State during the 1977-78 season.

A 1965 graduate of Southern Methodist University, Quick took his first coaching position at Houston’s Memorial High School, guiding his team to six state championships before moving back to his alma mater. At SMU, he served as an assistant coach on the men’s side for four years (1971-75). In 1976, Quick started the women’s program at SMU and laid the foundation for what has become one of the top programs in the country.