The drama in Palo Alto appears over.  The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Stanford men's swimming coach Skip Kenney will remain as the head of the Cardinal program.  The longtime coach will serve a 60-day unpaid suspension following an investigation into allegations that he doctored the school's record books and unfairly treated some athletes.  The longtime coach will also meet with a conflict resolution counselor weekly.

In a prepared statement, Kenney apologized for the "for my error in judgment. I had no right to omit the records of any athlete on media guides or other publications. This will not occur again."  He continued by thanking Stanford for keeping him on and assured that, "I will do my absolute best to develop outstanding young men to realize their potential. You can count on me for a 100 percent effort." 

Athletic Diretor Bob Bowlsby explained that he expects that some will view the decision as too lenient and some who felt it was too harsh.  Bowlsby explained, "I took the full body of his work into account." 

That body of work includes 26 Pacific-10 Confernence Championships, seven NCAA Championships, and almost Jeckyl and Hyde reputation as a volatile yet caring fatherly figure.  The longtime coach received overwhelming support via letters to Bowlsby and local media.  In the April 3th Stanford Daily , eighty-nine swimming alumnae wrote, in part:

It was Skip’s efforts outside the pool, his intense focus on our personal development and his desire to see us grow into men that we are most appreciative of to this day. Skip’s teams are always successful in competition, but we are just as proud of the fact that they are also models of the student-athlete ideal. Skip has coached dozens of Academic All-Americans in his thirty years as head coach, and his athletes have not only graduated, but gone on to highly successful careers after college.

Most importantly, though, the Stanford swim team, under Skip, has become a family, one where we all have learned to compete against ourselves to be the best — as swimmers, as students and as people. Whether it involves our own families, relationships or jobs, the values Skip taught us have benefited us long after graduation. We are deeply indebted to Skip. 

That support, and that legacy of helping swimmers, in the words of Bowlsby, "become better athletes, better students, better husbands, better fathers [and] better people," more than made up for any shortcomings.

Stanford's investigation found that there were no violations of NCAA rules governing voluntary practices.  Michael McLean alleged that he was mistreated after pursuing a summer internship instead of training with the team. 

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