John Klinge

John Klinge has helped elevate the national profile of the Purdue women's swimming & diving program in his 15 years as head coach. He was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year after leading the Boilermakers to historic highs in 2009-10, his second season at Purdue. He was hired in June 2008. Kaersten Meitz was added to the USA Swimming National Team going into her senior season at Purdue after a strong summer in 2017, punctuated by qualifying for the World University Games. After graduating from Purdue in the spring of 2018, Meitz continued to train under Klinge's guide at Purdue. She returned to the World University Games in 2019 and won a pair of gold medals in Italy, winning the 400-meter freestyle and 4x200 free relay. She also helped the U.S. win silver in the 4x200 free relay in Taipei. A finalist in the 400 and 800 free at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Meitz was a two-time medalist in the 500 free at the Big Ten Championships. Diver Casey Matthews' 2013 national championship in 3-meter diving and 2014 Big Ten title in 1-meter diving were also proud moments for the Boilermakers. She won the Purdue women's first-ever national title and first Big Ten crown since 2009. The Boilermakers had at least six NCAA qualifiers for seven consecutive seasons from 2013 to 2019. Purdue finished in the top 25 at the national championship meet in eight of Klinge's first 11 seasons, earning a place in the athletics department's prestigious 25/85 club in the process. It recognized teams that finish among the top 25 in NCAA competition with an 85 percent (or greater) graduation success rate. The Boilermakers' 3.66 team GPA during the 2020 fall semester once again ranked among the top five in the Big Ten. They've built a 3.51 cumulative team GPA through the end of the 2023 spring semester thanks to a streak of 12 consecutive semester with a mark of at least 3.40. Sixteen members of the program had perfect 4.0s in both semesters of the 2020-21 school year. Individual GPAs of 3.5-plus were also numerous in 2022-23 – 25 for the fall semester and 23 in the spring. During the 2019-20 school year, Purdue posted impressive team GPAs of 3.75 in the spring semester and 3.64 during the fall semester. The fall mark ranked second in the Big Ten and among the top 20 nationally. A team-record and department-high 19 members of the program were recognized as Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for their 3.7-plus GPAs during the 2019-20 school year. The year prior, Klinge's team produced a team-record 31 Academic All-Big Ten honorees. During the 2022-23 season, senior Lindsay Turner closed out her career as a four-year scorer at the Big Ten Championships. Maggie Love was a two-time Big Ten Swimmer of the Week, the first Boilermaker to accomplish the feat since the 2015-16 campaign. Love posted four career-best times that moved her up Purdue's all-time lists. Hannah Hill moved into third place in program history in the 50 freestyle (22.56) while winning the C final of the event at Big Tens. She posted Purdue's best time in the event in a decade. She went on to break the team record in the LCM 50-meter free (25.84) as one of three of Kinge's swimmers to compete at USA Swimming's TYR Pro Championships in July. Purdue finished 24th at the NCAA Championships, its 10th top-25 national showing during Klinge's tenure. The Boilermakers are 75-55 in dual meet action under Klinge, including a 72-48 mark since the start of the 2009-10 campaign (his second season). The all-time performance lists have undergone massive reconstruction during Klinge's tenure. All 19 individual swimming events as well as all five relays have new record holders since Klinge took over for the 2008-09 season. The top-15 lists for every event are populated with names of many recent Boilermakers. Hill eclipsed the Purdue freshman record in the 50 freestyle in both the individual race and on the leadoff leg of the 200 free relay at the 2022 Big Ten Championships, becoming the first freshman to break 23 seconds in the event. Turner (200 fly) and Abby Harter (200 back) moved into the top five in program history, joining breaststroke standout Masy Folcik as the Boilermakers' top performers at Big Tens. Purdue had at least one member of each academic class score in an individual event at the conference championship meet. Under Klinge's tutelage and encouragement, Kate Beavon has become an accomplished open water swimmer. Even with no prior open water experience prior to her arrival on campus as a distance specialist from South Africa in the fall of 2019, Beavon has gone from the champion at the 2021 CSCAA Open Water Nationals to a silver medalist at the 2023 African Beach Games and World Aquatics Championships qualifier for South Africa. She also won gold in the 5K as part of a memorable finish at the 2023 South African Open Water Championships. In Purdue history, she ranks among the all-time top 10 in both the traditional 500 and 1000 freestyle. Senior Taite Kitchel closed out her distinguished career as a three-time NCAA Championships qualifier in 2019. She eclipsed the program record in the 100 butterfly at Big Tens and also helped Purdue post new benchmarks in both medley relays for the second year in a row. She was recognized as Purdue Athletics' female recipient of the Big Ten Medal of Honor. Jackie Smailis was also part of both medley relay records. Just as Kitchel finished her career as the program-record holder in both butterfly events, Smailis did likewise in both backstroke races. Beginning in the fall of 2019, Purdue welcomed Paralympic swimmer and 50-meter fly world champion Evan Austin into the program. Austin began training under Klinge's guidance at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center while also volunteering on deck during Purdue's training. Austin became the program's official volunteer assistant coach for the 2020-21 school year and qualified for his third Paralympics in June 2021. Austin went on to win a pair of medals at the Paralympic Games, including gold in the 50 fly (S7) via an American record time of 28.98. He also took bronze in the 400 free (S7). All-America honors for Lexi Vincent, Jinq En Phee and Meitz plus a program-record 12 qualifiers for the NCAA Championships highlighted Purdue's 2017-18 campaign. The Boilermakers finished in 19th place at the national championship meet. That matched Purdue’s third-best finish ever, behind only two years that it hosted NCAAs (2005 and 2010). Vincent (4th, platform diving), Meitz (5th, 500 free) and Phee (8th, 100 breast) were All-Americans as championship finals qualifiers. The 2010 season marked the only other time that Purdue had three full-fledged All-Americans in the same year. Phee returned to the FINA World Championships in 2019 and remains one of just two Boilermakers in school history to break one minute in the 100 breast. Meitz closed out her career as a four-year individual qualifier for the NCAA Championships, becoming just the fifth Boilermaker to accomplish the feat. She eclipsed program records in the 500 and 1,650 free as a senior. The Big Ten silver medalist also swam on the 800 free relay at NCAAs, as Purdue qualified a relay for the first time since 2015. Meitz became only the third swimmer in program history to be an All-American in an individual event three years in a row. As a junior she finished in 13th place in the 500 free at NCAAs. That same year, Vincent and Emily Meaney made Purdue the only school with two divers in the platform final at NCAAs. In 2016, Allie Davis, Emily Fogle and Nika Karlina Petric all closed out their careers as four-time NCAA Championships qualifiers. Mary Beth Dunnichay, Meitz and Fogle teamed up for five All-America honors at the NCAA Championships. Fogle became Purdue's first swimmer to earn full-fledged All-America honors in an event since 2010. The breaststroke record holder was later named Purdue's Female Athlete of the Year, the first swimmer to win the award since 1994. Of the six swimmers in program history to qualify for the NCAA Championships four times, five of them have raced during Klinge's tenure. Rhiannon Sheets also accomplished the feat under Klinge, graduating as the record holder in the 200 free and 200 fly. The Purdue women were represented by 10 student-athletes (eight swimmers and two divers) at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Davis and Meitz both posted a top-30 finish in an event. Within Purdue Athletics, Klinge's program has won the President's Cup multiple times for having the best team GPA during a semester. The Boilermakers are annually recognized as a Scholar All-American Team by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America. Numerous Boilermakers also have earned individual recognition from the CSCAA. Purdue has had hundreds of Academic All-Big Ten honorees and dozens of Big Ten Distinguished Scholars during Klinge's tenure. Individually, Carly Marshall became the first Purdue student of any kind to be a finalist for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to the University of Cambridge in England. Marshall was later selected as a Big Ten Postgraduate Scholarship recipient. Lauren Gustafson (2013), Hanna House (2018) and Alex Clarke (2019) have also been rewarded for their academic excellence with the Big Ten postgrad scholarship. Since it was established in 2013, four of Purdue's first seven female recipients of the scholarship have been swimmers. As a senior in 2011, Allie Smith was selected as the Big Ten's female recipient of the prestigious Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship Award. Gustafson graduated in 2013 with a 3.99 GPA to earn first-team Academic All-America recognition as the program's first such first-team honoree. In the pool, she broke the program record in the 50 free at the 2013 Big Ten Championships and won silver in the 100 free. Gustafson finished her career part of record-setting teams in all five relay events. After missing most of two seasons due to injury and personal adversity, Fogle returned to the active roster in the fall of 2014 and went on to qualify for NCAAs for the third time. The Purdue record holder in three events was recognized nationally with the N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award in June 2015. Nine NCAA Championships qualifiers and five new relay records established at the Big Ten Championships highlighted the 2010-11 season. Highlighted by the 400 and 800 relays, Purdue captured All-America honors in six events at NCAAs that year. The 2009-10 season, Klinge's second at Purdue, went down as the campaign that marked the beginning of the program's rise in the Big Ten and nationally. Nine different Boilermakers earned All-America honors as the Purdue's aquatic center served as the host of the NCAA Championships. As a freshman, Caitlin Hamilton took down Purdue records in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 free multiple times. She won silver in the mile at Big Tens in a time of 16:02.61 that obliterated the previous record of 16:26.31, which had stood for more than a decade. She went on to finish eighth at the NCAA Championships in 16:02.01 to earn All-America status. The Boilermakers also had All-American swims from Smith in the 100 backstroke and three relays. Their 16th-place finish continues to stand as the best in program history, and the nine different All-Americans, as well as the five different scoring events, also ranked as program highs. At the Big Ten Championships, Purdue broke 17 program records and five freshman records, and captured five silver medals. Ariel Martin led the charge as she took down three individual freestyle benchmarks (50, 100, 200) and contributed to records in all three freestyle relays. Klinge's background includes time spent serving his country with the United States Marine Corps in addition to coaching stops at the collegiate, club and high school levels. Klinge is the seventh head coach in program history and the first male since Fred Kahms was at the helm from 1981 through 1985. He has a vision for success at Purdue, which is, "To establish and ensure an environment where motivated and talented student-athletes strive for excellence in swimming & diving and in the classroom, and work together to consistently challenge for Big Ten and NCAA championships." A native of Richmond, Indiana, Klinge graduated from Purdue in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He returned to his home state after spending five years as an assistant to men's head coach Bill Wadley at Ohio State. Wadley promoted Klinge to associate head coach in May of 2008, shortly after the Buckeyes posted their second straight top-20 showing at the NCAA Championships. OSU finished 12th in 2007 and 16th in 2008. Klinge's last Buckeye squad finished 13th in the national dual-meet rankings and broke a total of 10 school records before sending 11 student-athletes to the NCAA Championships. Senior sprinter Matt Voelker placed 15th in the 50 freestyle to capture honorable mention All-America accolades and was part of three Ohio State relay teams that finished in the top 16 to earn honorable mention All-America accolades. While at Purdue, Klinge qualified for the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and went on to place 15th in the 200 backstroke. The former team captain also earned U.S. Swimming All-America honors in 1991 for placing fifth in the 200 backstroke and was awarded All-Big Ten honors in 1990 and 1994. Klinge left Purdue as its second-fastest swimmer in the 100 and 200 backstroke events as well as the 200 and 400 IM. He also held the Lambert Pool record in the 200 backstroke (1:49.68) and 200 IM (1:51.47) when he graduated. More than 14 years later, Klinge's lifetime-best 1:46.36 in the 200 backstroke still holds up among the fastest times in Boilermaker history even though Purdue moved into a much faster and improved facility in August 2001. Klinge made an immediate transition into coaching following his senior year, serving as an undergraduate assistant coach to Purdue men's head coach Dan Ross for the 1994-95 season. Klinge joined the Buckeyes after serving as the head coach at both Bozeman High School and Bozeman Barracuda Swim Club in Bozeman, Montana. During his tenure at Bozeman, Klinge led the Hawks to five state championships and coached multiple National Age Group Top 16, Junior National, United States Open and high school All-American swimmers. Klinge is a commissioned officer for the United States Marine Corps. He has received two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals for various outstanding performances. Klinge is married to the former Chris Anderson, who also swam for Purdue. They have three children -- sons, Jack and Matthew, as well as a daughter, Madison.