Bill Roberts begins his fifth season as the head coach of the Navy men's swimming program this fall, as well as his eighth year at the Naval Academy.

"The goal of our program is to provide an environment that will allow every team member to reach their potential academically, athletically and personally," states Roberts. "We want to be the premier service academy for those interested in swimming and diving in college. Additionally, it is our expectation that we will annually compete for a conference championship while sending athletes to the NCAA and Olympic Trial meets."

Roberts has led the Mids to three-straight seasons of double-digit victories -- the most for the program since winning 10 or more meets in six-consecutive years from 1984-89 -- and a record during this time of 32-15. In all, his four-year record on The Yard is a lofty 40-24 and includes a Patriot League team title in each season.

While the success of the team remains the focus of the program, Navy also has consistently qualified individual athletes for national meets. The program returned to the NCAA Championship Meet for the first time in nearly a decade during his inaugural season of 2004, with four swimmers competing in a combined six individual events at the national meet and earning a pair of Honorable Mention All-America certificates in two relay events.

Additionally during the Roberts era, Navy swimmers have annually taken part in such meets as the World Championship Trials, the ConocoPhillips National Championship and the USA Swimming Spring Championship. Joe Smutz ('06) posted a qualifying time for the 2008 Olympic Trials in the 50 freestyle at the '06 Spring Championship, with Kevin Mukri ('07) qualifying for the trials in the 200 backstroke at the '07 event.

Roberts first arrived at Navy during the summer of 1997 when he joined Lee Lawrence's coaching staff as an assistant coach. In three seasons together, the Lawrence-Roberts duo guided Navy to a 27-10 record, including an 18-9 mark in the Eastern Intercollegiate Swimming League. Roberts coached Navy's 200 freestyle relay team that won the 1999 EISL title, and helped develop sprinter Clint Cornell into a 2000 Olympic Trials appearance and to the 2001 EISL 50-yard freestyle title.

A 1992 graduate of Springfield College, where he was a four-year letterwinner and served as team captain for two seasons, Roberts began his coaching career upon graduation as the head coach of the women's team at Wells College in his hometown of Aurora, N.Y. After two seasons at Wells, he served as a graduate assistant coach at East Carolina, during which time he earned a master's degree in athletic administration. In the summer of 1996, he joined the Villanova program for one year before coming to the Naval Academy.

Roberts left Navy in 2000 to become the head coach at Colgate, during which time his men's and women's teams combined to post a three-year record of 39-36.

Roberts and his wife, Nicole, have three sons -- Will, age eight, Nick, age six, and Jackson, age four.

 

Adam Kennedy begins his fourth season as a member of the Navy coaching staff and his sixth year as an assistant to head coach Bill Roberts.

Kennedy has guided Navy's sprint and breaststroke groups to 15 NCAA 'B' cut times, seven individual event Patriot League titles and 22 EISL top-16 performances. His athletes have gone on to compete in national events such as the World Championship Trials and USA Swimming Championships.

Away from the Lejeune Hall pool deck, Kennedy is directly involved with the program's on and off-campus recruiting efforts, works with the Navy compliance office and oversees the pool preparation for both dual and championship meets.

In addition to his Navy coaching duties, Kennedy also serves as the assistant director of the annual Navy swimming camp, as a coach at swimming camps across the country, as the assistant coach of the Naval Academy Aquatics Club and as the head coach of the U.S. team at 2007 World Military Games. Kennedy first served as an assistant coach to Roberts for parts of two seasons at Colgate. The program's men's swimmers totaled five Patriot League titles and 10 all-league performers during stint in Hamilton, N.Y. When Roberts departed Colgate at the end of the 2003 season, Kennedy served as the program's interim head coach for five months.

He would go on to serve as a graduate assistant at Ohio during the 2003-04 season before arriving at Navy. During his brief stint at the school, his sprint swimmers won four relay and individual event titles at the Mid-American Conference championship.

Kennedy swam on the collegiate level at Davidson, earning four letters during his career. His prep career included swimming for Ben Davis and the Tualatin Hills Swim Club and for Sunset High School in Portland, Ore.