Wise Choice: Yale Hires Two

It would be nearly impossible for just one person to replace the presence of longtime head coach Frank Keefe.  The old school coach, with thirty-two years at the helm of Yale swimming, is a trove of wit and wisdom, and sure enough the Bulldogs didn't go with one person for the job - they went with two. 

Tim Wise has been named the Bulldogs' new Robert J.H. Kiphuth Men's Swimming Coach while Christina Teuscher Robert J.H. Kiphuth Head Coach of Women’s Swimming. 

“The leadership team of Cristina Teuscher and Tim Wise as the new head coaches of Yale Swimming is very exciting news for our entire community,” said Director of Athletics Tom Beckett. “Both Cristina and Tim are highly regarded in the world of swimming. Cristina is a world class swimmer and Olympic gold medalist.  As an Ivy League graduate and winner of the Honda-Broderick Cup she exemplifies the very best of academic and athletic excellence. Tim as a coach is a rising star in the world of collegiate swimming.  We were thrilled with his contributions to the Yale program as an assistant and now look forward to his continued outstanding work as a head coach.”

Wise recently completed his twelfth year at the Ivy League program.  Aside from brief stints helping both Arizona State and Texas A&M into top-twenty finishes, however, Wise has been a fixture in the New England swimming community having served as head coach for his alma mater, Southern Connecticut and as head coach for OMNI Swimming.

In the past decade Wise developed a track record of both coaching and recruiting success.  Under his watch the Bulldogs have seen an increasing share of Top 100 recruits call New Haven home, most notably NCAA runner-up Alex Righi.  At the same time, Wise has also worked to make is own job more challenging, having produced swimmers who have gone onto represent nearly every Ivy League team plus additional swimmers at Stanford, Texas, North Carolina, Purdue, and UCLA.

“I am humbled and honored to have been selected to lead the men and women of Yale,” Wise said. “This is a dream job, and the opportunity of a lifetime.  I am excited to begin my new role and look forward to working with the most decorated female swimmer in the history of the Ivy League in Christina Teuscher.  I am confident that, together, we will allow our student-athletes the opportunity to chase Ivy League titles and dream the Olympic dream.”

Teuscher comes to Yale from Crimson Aquatics.  She also was a consultant and coach at the Badger Swim Club in Larchmont, N.Y., and served on the 2008 USA Olympic swim coaches six-member selection committee.

At Columbia, Teuscher was a four-time NCAA champion. She won 12 Ivy League titles and set 17 school records. In her four collegiate seasons, she never lost an individual race.  As a senior, she received the Honda Award as the nation’s top collegiate swimmer and was later honored with the Honda-Broderick Cup as the best collegiate women’s athlete in the United States.

Teuscher won a gold medal as a member of the record-setting 800 freestyle relay at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Four years later, she medaled again at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, earning a bronze in the 200 individual medley, while serving as captain of the U.S. team.

Following her graduation from Columbia in 2000, she worked at the Robin Hood Foundation in its 9/11 Relief Effort and had a two-year stint as an analyst with Ziff Brothers Investments.

“Yale Swimming has a tremendously rich history, which is very humbling and exciting to be a part of,” Teuscher said. “I'm looking forward to working with Tim and our swimmers to build on that story with a new era for Yale Swimming.”