University of Minnesota Athletics
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Freestyle
/ Women's Swimming & Diving
Kostoff Adds New Flavor to Coaching Staff
10/29/2019 2:50:00 PM | Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving
It is not every day that a collegiate swimming and diving program has the opportunity to add a five-time NCAA Champion and two-time Olympian to its coaching staff. However, when Minnesota brought on Jeff Kostoff as associate head coach prior to the start of the 2019-20 season, this is precisely what they did.
Before ever embarking on his coaching career, Kostoff enjoyed a plethora of success while swimming for Stanford University. In the span that covered 1982-87, Kostoff not only hauled in the aforementioned accolades, but also set 12 American swimming records, won three NCAA team titles and swam on two U.S. World Championship teams. To call his competitive career a success would be an understatement.
"Being a swimmer at that level, you certainly know a lot about how to be successful," said Kostoff. "But sometimes as a coach, I have to just forget about how I swam because it's not the same. How I did things is not how every swimmer does things, so you kind of have to unlearn a bit of it, really."
Kostoff graduated from Stanford in 1987, capping off one of the more highly decorated swimming careers in the history of the NCAA. His accomplishments for the Cardinal would eventually earn him admittance into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. In the years that followed, Kostoff set off on his professional career.
For much of the nineties, he taught history in public and private high schools, while also serving as a high school and club swimming coach. From 1993-97, he was an assistant coach on the University of Maryland staff. Still, it would be nearly two decades until his coaching career took off.
"I think the biggest experience that I've had that helps me as a coach are the years I spent as a classroom teacher," Kostoff said. "Being a teacher is really closer to coaching, closer to really figuring out how to communicate things effectively, how to figure out where somebody is and what they need to hear or how they need to be motivated."
Having spent many years as a teacher and later as an information technology professional, the itch to coach and return to the pool was ever-present for Kostoff. In 2007, he began applying to coaching jobs across the country. It was not until 2013 that he landed a Division I gig at Indiana University.
"I always liked coaching better," said Kostoff. "I liked being a teacher and I liked coaching. It was just what I wanted to do."
During Kostoff's tenure at Indiana, the Hoosiers experienced their fair share of success. Kostoff coached U.S. National Team members and eventual National Champions Zane Grothe (trained with the post-graduate group at IU) and Lindsay Vrooman, playing a vital role in their development. Then, in 2016, a call came from Kostoff's alma mater, Stanford.
From 2016-19, Kostoff worked as an assistant coach at Stanford on the men's side. His coaching skills were instrumental in bringing a 2017 Pac-12 Conference Championship to Stanford, who saw their national rank improve from 14th to fifth that year. In 2018, Kostoff coached Cardinal swimmer Abe Devine to an NCAA title in the 400 IM, while the team was again ranked top-10 in the nation, this time at no. seven.
Although these immediate results may appear to have come about easily for him, this was not the case. After being away from coaching for more than a decade prior to landing the Indiana job, there was much Kostoff needed to learn and acclimate to in the collegiate swimming realm. Through his experiences at Indiana and Stanford, the former Olympian began to rebuild his coaching foundation, absorbing new knowledge and skill sets from each staff he joined.
"Coming back, there were a few things I had to learn about how training has changed, because there are some methods and techniques that are definitely different from when I was swimming or even from when I was coaching in the nineties," said Kostoff. "I certainly got exposed to a lot of that at Indiana and Stanford and picked up a lot of things along the way. Also, I picked up a lot of things from other coaches."
With the level of success he was enjoying on the Stanford staff, it would not have been the slightest surprise to see Kostoff remain at his alma mater well into the next decade. Nevertheless, there was something special about Minnesota and the Big Ten Conference environment that drew him to the Twin Cities.
"I want to coach men and women. I'm glad to be back in a combined program," said Kostoff. "The Big Ten Conference is really a good conference to be in. Minnesota is a great school in an urban environment and I'm really more of a city person. It's just a different perspective."
It has been just two months since the Gophers officially brought Kostoff on board, but the impact of his presence at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center is already being felt.
"Jeff is a tremendous addition to our staff," said head coach Kelly Kremer. "He has a great understanding and vision to help our student-athletes in and out of the pool, and he is committed to their success in all areas of life."
As a coach, Kostoff's philosophy revolves around helping individuals improve. In order to do this successfully, he puts an emphasis on building a relationship with each swimmer on the team, as to allow him to understand what motivates the individual and what goals he/she are trying to accomplish.
"What you're trying to do is match up what their goals and expectations are and put forth a training program and everything else that's going to help them get where they want to go," said Kostoff. "To me, that's the interesting part. What I like to do most of all is help athletes to improve."
Being a former NCAA Champion and Olympian, there is no doubt that Kostoff knows what it takes to succeed in the pool as an individual. Still, to appreciate the full extent of Kostoff's contributions to the Minnesota program, there is no one better to hear from that one of his own Gopher swimmers.
"I have really been able to see the influence he has had on the team at practices and meets," said sophomore Kate Sullivan. "He has such a positive and motivating attitude during practice, which is awesome to have during tough sets."
In the midst of his first season with the Gophers, Kostoff's focus remains on the performance of his swimmers and helping student-athletes at Minnesota improve on a daily basis. Even so, this does not mean the veteran coach is without long-term goals for what the Maroon and Gold can achieve during his time in Minneapolis. As is the case with most world class athletes, past and present alike, Kostoff has a larger vision for what Minnesota's program is capable of.
"I want to coach student-athletes and get them to swim at their highest possible levels, which includes making NCAAs and scoring points at NCAAs," said Kostoff. "I'd like to help make Minnesota the type of program that has both the men's and women's teams in the top-10 every year, and maybe even better than that."
Although grand, such goals are certainly not out of the realm of possibilities for a program as successful and storied as Minnesota. The Gophers lay claim to 25 individual NCAA Champions in their history, while also having 269 All-American Performances to accompany 21 Olympians and 16 Big Ten Championships. If nothing else, the groundwork has already been laid for a vision such as Kostoff's.
For Minnesota to begin making this a reality, Gopher swimmers will need to take a page out of Kostoff's very own book of success from his competitive career. Back when he was winning an NCAA title seemingly every year of the eighties, there was one thing Kostoff was more proud of than any accolade or award.
"The thing that I'm most proud of in terms of my own swimming career is the consistency," said Kostoff. "That means a lot to me. I'm always just steadily working at things and I think the same thing will come about here. We're just going to steadily get better and try to have as good of a time doing it as we can."
Before ever embarking on his coaching career, Kostoff enjoyed a plethora of success while swimming for Stanford University. In the span that covered 1982-87, Kostoff not only hauled in the aforementioned accolades, but also set 12 American swimming records, won three NCAA team titles and swam on two U.S. World Championship teams. To call his competitive career a success would be an understatement.
"Being a swimmer at that level, you certainly know a lot about how to be successful," said Kostoff. "But sometimes as a coach, I have to just forget about how I swam because it's not the same. How I did things is not how every swimmer does things, so you kind of have to unlearn a bit of it, really."
Kostoff graduated from Stanford in 1987, capping off one of the more highly decorated swimming careers in the history of the NCAA. His accomplishments for the Cardinal would eventually earn him admittance into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. In the years that followed, Kostoff set off on his professional career.
For much of the nineties, he taught history in public and private high schools, while also serving as a high school and club swimming coach. From 1993-97, he was an assistant coach on the University of Maryland staff. Still, it would be nearly two decades until his coaching career took off.
"I think the biggest experience that I've had that helps me as a coach are the years I spent as a classroom teacher," Kostoff said. "Being a teacher is really closer to coaching, closer to really figuring out how to communicate things effectively, how to figure out where somebody is and what they need to hear or how they need to be motivated."
Having spent many years as a teacher and later as an information technology professional, the itch to coach and return to the pool was ever-present for Kostoff. In 2007, he began applying to coaching jobs across the country. It was not until 2013 that he landed a Division I gig at Indiana University.
"I always liked coaching better," said Kostoff. "I liked being a teacher and I liked coaching. It was just what I wanted to do."
During Kostoff's tenure at Indiana, the Hoosiers experienced their fair share of success. Kostoff coached U.S. National Team members and eventual National Champions Zane Grothe (trained with the post-graduate group at IU) and Lindsay Vrooman, playing a vital role in their development. Then, in 2016, a call came from Kostoff's alma mater, Stanford.
From 2016-19, Kostoff worked as an assistant coach at Stanford on the men's side. His coaching skills were instrumental in bringing a 2017 Pac-12 Conference Championship to Stanford, who saw their national rank improve from 14th to fifth that year. In 2018, Kostoff coached Cardinal swimmer Abe Devine to an NCAA title in the 400 IM, while the team was again ranked top-10 in the nation, this time at no. seven.
Although these immediate results may appear to have come about easily for him, this was not the case. After being away from coaching for more than a decade prior to landing the Indiana job, there was much Kostoff needed to learn and acclimate to in the collegiate swimming realm. Through his experiences at Indiana and Stanford, the former Olympian began to rebuild his coaching foundation, absorbing new knowledge and skill sets from each staff he joined.
"Coming back, there were a few things I had to learn about how training has changed, because there are some methods and techniques that are definitely different from when I was swimming or even from when I was coaching in the nineties," said Kostoff. "I certainly got exposed to a lot of that at Indiana and Stanford and picked up a lot of things along the way. Also, I picked up a lot of things from other coaches."
With the level of success he was enjoying on the Stanford staff, it would not have been the slightest surprise to see Kostoff remain at his alma mater well into the next decade. Nevertheless, there was something special about Minnesota and the Big Ten Conference environment that drew him to the Twin Cities.
"I want to coach men and women. I'm glad to be back in a combined program," said Kostoff. "The Big Ten Conference is really a good conference to be in. Minnesota is a great school in an urban environment and I'm really more of a city person. It's just a different perspective."
It has been just two months since the Gophers officially brought Kostoff on board, but the impact of his presence at Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center is already being felt.
"Jeff is a tremendous addition to our staff," said head coach Kelly Kremer. "He has a great understanding and vision to help our student-athletes in and out of the pool, and he is committed to their success in all areas of life."
As a coach, Kostoff's philosophy revolves around helping individuals improve. In order to do this successfully, he puts an emphasis on building a relationship with each swimmer on the team, as to allow him to understand what motivates the individual and what goals he/she are trying to accomplish.
"What you're trying to do is match up what their goals and expectations are and put forth a training program and everything else that's going to help them get where they want to go," said Kostoff. "To me, that's the interesting part. What I like to do most of all is help athletes to improve."
Being a former NCAA Champion and Olympian, there is no doubt that Kostoff knows what it takes to succeed in the pool as an individual. Still, to appreciate the full extent of Kostoff's contributions to the Minnesota program, there is no one better to hear from that one of his own Gopher swimmers.
"I have really been able to see the influence he has had on the team at practices and meets," said sophomore Kate Sullivan. "He has such a positive and motivating attitude during practice, which is awesome to have during tough sets."
In the midst of his first season with the Gophers, Kostoff's focus remains on the performance of his swimmers and helping student-athletes at Minnesota improve on a daily basis. Even so, this does not mean the veteran coach is without long-term goals for what the Maroon and Gold can achieve during his time in Minneapolis. As is the case with most world class athletes, past and present alike, Kostoff has a larger vision for what Minnesota's program is capable of.
"I want to coach student-athletes and get them to swim at their highest possible levels, which includes making NCAAs and scoring points at NCAAs," said Kostoff. "I'd like to help make Minnesota the type of program that has both the men's and women's teams in the top-10 every year, and maybe even better than that."
Although grand, such goals are certainly not out of the realm of possibilities for a program as successful and storied as Minnesota. The Gophers lay claim to 25 individual NCAA Champions in their history, while also having 269 All-American Performances to accompany 21 Olympians and 16 Big Ten Championships. If nothing else, the groundwork has already been laid for a vision such as Kostoff's.
For Minnesota to begin making this a reality, Gopher swimmers will need to take a page out of Kostoff's very own book of success from his competitive career. Back when he was winning an NCAA title seemingly every year of the eighties, there was one thing Kostoff was more proud of than any accolade or award.
"The thing that I'm most proud of in terms of my own swimming career is the consistency," said Kostoff. "That means a lot to me. I'm always just steadily working at things and I think the same thing will come about here. We're just going to steadily get better and try to have as good of a time doing it as we can."
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