By Elliott Almond

Cal's Teri McKeever became the first woman picked to coach an American Olympic swim team when USA Swimming on Wednesday named her to head the women's squad at the 2012 London Games. Florida coach Gregg Troy will coach the men.

McKeever, 45, has served as an assistant U.S. coach at the past two Olympics. She is credited with helping resurrect the career of Natalie Coughlin, a winner of 11 medals in Athens and Beijing who will try to swim in her third consecutive Olympics in London.

"I don't think it's completely sunk in. It's a little bit surreal," McKeever said. "I feel incredibly honored and excited and anxious, sort of the whole spectrum."

McKeever, who has led Cal for 19 years, also has coached stars Haley Cope, Emily Silver, Staciana Stitts and Dana Vollmer. Last season, the NCAA named her women's coach of the year after the Bears won their first national title. The milestone also was the first swimming national championship won by a female coach.

McKeever was an All-American swimmer at USC, where her father, Mike, was a star lineman in 1959.

Asked how she planned to celebrate the announcement, McKeever said: "My husband wants to go to the (Cal) basketball game."


The teri mckeever file
CURREnT Position: Cal women's swimming coach
Years at Cal: 19
Dual-meet record at Cal: 152-55
Career Highlights
  • All-American swimmer at USC
  • First woman to serve on a U.S. Olympic swimming staff (2004) and first woman to serve as a U.S. head coach (2006 Pan Pacific Championships).
  • Won NCAA national championship in 2009, first in Cal's history, becoming first woman coach to lead a women's team to the NCAA title
  • Coached a number of Olympians at Cal, including Natalie Coughlin, Staciana Stitts and Haley Cope