Katelyne Herrington: “Respect isn’t given freely; it’s earned through consistency.”

Katelyne Herrington, the first woman in University of the Pacific history to serve as head coach for both the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams, has taken University of the Pacific’s NCAA Division 1 program to places they’ve never been, and she has her sights set on much more.

Under her leadership, the men’s program won its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference Championship. The shiny championship rings awarded for that accomplishment were the first step in what is her ultimate goal. “I want to take a swimmer to the NCAA Division 1 national championships,” said the 34-year-old Stockton native, who is heading into her eighth year as head of both the men’s and women’s teams. She says it with an earned confidence that has been a long time in the making, starting at the pool she now commands. “This is actually where I learned to swim,” she said of the Chris Kjeldsen Pool at the Douglass M. Eberhardt Aquatics Center on the Pacific campus in Stockton. On a recent sunshiny day in June, her athletes were teaching young children how to do a freestyle stroke just like Pacific athletes before them taught Katelyne.

Pushing Her Limits
What began as a love of being in the water evolved into a passion for competing, learning and understanding how far she could push herself both physically and mentally. “Swimming is one of the few sports where your success is directly tied to the work you put in every single day. There are no shortcuts,” she said. “The sport taught me resilience, time management and perseverance, lessons that continue to impact my life long after my competitive career.”

Katelyne would fall in love with both swimming and Pacific, attending swim camps on the campus and training with Tiger Aquatics, a year-round competitive swim club for athletes ages 6 to 21. After swimming for Tokay High School in Lodi, Katelyne was recruited by University of Nevada Las Vegas, where she was a two-time Division 1 All-American, a two-time Mountain West record-holder and a four-time Mountain West Academic All-Conference honoree. The talented athlete qualified for the 2008 Olympic Trials and competed in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials. Although she graduated in 2014, she still holds the UNLV school record in the 100-yard butterfly. Katelyne earned a bachelor’s degree in hotel administration from UNLV in 2014 and a master of arts degree in health and exercise sports science at Pacific in 2026.

That hotel admin degree would come in handy planning travel logistics when she turned her sights on college coaching. The daughter of a longtime college coach, Katelyne grew up watching her dad with a whistle and knew the transformative impact a good coach has on their players. “Swimming gave me so much growing up, and I wanted the opportunity to give back to the next generation of athletes,” she said. “I love helping young men and women discover what they are capable of accomplishing.”

A Family’s Example
Katelyne remembers hearing stories about her dad’s athletes, listening to him talk about their successes and struggles, and watching him open their Stockton home for a family dinner or holiday meal. “What stood out most was that he always saw his athletes as people first and athletes second,” she said. “He genuinely cared about who they were beyond their sport and invested in helping them grow as individuals.”

Her father, Todd Herrington, said Katelyne’s competitive spirit and experience are what it takes to be a motivational coach. “Katelyne has the tools and the ability to teach, coach and motivate her athletes through the highs, lows and the in-betweens with her big heart and her love for the sport of swimming,” he said.

She learned from her father a balance of accountability and compassion that has become the foundation of her own coaching philosophy. “I want my athletes to know that I care deeply about their success in the pool, but even more importantly, I care about the person they were becoming outside of it,” she said. “The relationships we build and the impact we have with one another often last far longer than any race result.”

Career Path
The path to a head coaching job requires persistence. Just 6 percent of NCAA Division 1 head coaches in men’s sports were women and only 43 percent of NCAA Division 1 head coaches in women’s sports are female, according to demographics data for 2024-2025 provided by ncaa.org.

Katelyne’s coaching career started at UNLV, where she served as a volunteer assistant coach immediately after graduation. “Early in my career, I wasn’t just navigating a male-dominated profession, I was doing so as a young female coach,” Katelyne said. “There were times when I felt pressure to prove myself and demonstrate that I belonged on the pool deck.”

Her mother, Kari Herrington, said Katelyne’s success deserves to be celebrated and acknowledged because it’s proof positive that Katelyne belongs in spaces that remain dominated by men. “I think it’s important that she’s such a huge role model for women,” Kari affirmed. “She gives her athletes the confidence to go after their own dreams or a goals no matter how difficult the path can seem.”

While being in a male-dominated field could be daunting, Katelyne soon realized she didn’t need to try to fit in to be taken seriously. She said it became so important to her to be authentic and stay true to her values. She was hired as director of operations for the swimming and diving program at University of New Mexico before returning to Stockton as an assistant coach at University of the Pacific. From there, she landed her first head coaching job at Fresno Pacific University.

Move to UOP
Several years later, she interviewed for the Pacific Tigers head coaching job when it became available and became the University of the Pacific’s head coach for men’s and women’s swim and dive program in 2019. It was important for her to be close to her friends and especially her family, since her father had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

It’s clear she loves where she is in her career. “As I gained experience, I learned that respect isn’t given freely; it’s earned through consistency,” she said. “I also discovered being a leader was one of my greatest strengths. And this gave me the confidence to continue to work hard, set goals for myself and my program.”

Her parents, who have always been her biggest fans, attend all the competitions to watch her coach and cheer on the Tigers, even out of state, just as they did throughout her entire swimming journey. “They have been incredibly supportive throughout both my swimming and coaching careers,” she said. Her dad is known for volunteering on the Pacific pool deck, always with a stopwatch!

Sitting in her office, just steps from the pool, Katelyne says her time at Pacific has been a full-circle moment that had impeccable timing. “It’s been so special for me,” she said. “I never imagined coming back to Stockton but for me it was the people and my family who drew me back.” And that helps sell Stockton when she recruits athletes to commit to Pacific. “I think it helps when they learn I grew up here and what my experiences have been,” she said. “It really is the people who make the place.”

Maintaining Tradition
As her father did, she hosts team dinners for her athletes. It’s a tradition that will be a big undertaking when her roster grows to 60 athletes. She and her two assistant coaches, Tim Buisson and Nate LeRoy, have forged a team culture that creates a family atmosphere in which athletes feel supported, valued, and connected to something bigger than themselves. “The strongest teams aren’t just built through training; they’re built through shared experiences, trust and meaningful relationships,” she said. Some of their favorite team building activities outside of their rigorous training schedule have included a trust walk, scavenger hunt, paper bag skit, pie eating contest, gingerbread house competition, class dinners, cooking competitions, team trivia and movie nights in the pool. Forging close connections can be especially welcoming to student athletes who are far from home. Some, even international athletes, stay and train over the summer.

It also helps that her swimmers know she was an accomplished D-1 athlete who has been through the same challenges and victories that they are experiencing. “I understand firsthand the demands and sacrifices required to compete at a high level,” she said. “I know what it’s like to manage early morning practices, academic pressures, travel and the expectations athletes place on themselves.” That experience helps her coach with empathy while still maintaining high standards.

One athlete said that his coach’s experience has taught him one extremely important thing. “There’s always something left in the tank, no matter how tired you feel from training or a race,” Nate Rasmussen, who is going into his junior year, said. Her background as a D1 athlete has contributed greatly to the program because she’s brought high-quality adjustments, tiny adjustments to their techniques that are extremely important, Nate said. “One thing I appreciate about Katelyne’s coaching style the most is that she’s a great listener and is willing to try and help the situation any way possible, whether it be in the pool or out,” the sports management major said.

A typical day for Katelyne starts at 4:30 a.m., when she gets ready for her day. A two-hour team practice starts at 5:30 a.m. After that she has office time until 1 p.m. During that time, she will do stroke analysis, work on team lineups, travel logistics, scout the competition and work on recruiting the next class of athletes. A second practice is held from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. The remainder of her day is spent on fundraising and making alumni connections.

She is close with her family, which includes an older sister and a younger sister whose children call her Aunt Kiki. Katelyne met her boyfriend at UNLV when they both swam for the Rebels. As a former athlete, she said he understands the whys of her workload. “He understands the commitment and he’s a good sounding board,” she said. She’s taken up sourdough baking—her sourdough starter is named Betty—and she has been taking CrossFit classes. She is also into running. “My inner athlete has not left,” she said. In fact, she still makes time to swim twice a week and has competed in several open-water swims.

The championship ring sits high on a shelf in her office and she seems almost too humble to try it on for a visitor. But she took it out of the box and showed it off, proof that hard work and commitment to the process pays off. “Oh yes, this ring was just the first step,” she said.