Kris Kubik

Kris Kubik (born c. 1955) was an All-American competitive swimmer for North Carolina State, Auburn University and the Associate Head swimming coach for the University of Texas under Head Coach Eddie Reese. In his thirty-four year tenure coaching swimming at the University of Texas at Austin from 1979 to 1981, and 1986 through 2016, he helped lead the Longhorns to 12 NCAA National team Championships, claiming titles in successive years for the 1989–91, 2000–02, and 2015–2016 seasons.

Kubik was born mid-1955 in Memphis, Tennessee to Dr. Burdette Kubik, a Dentist, and former coach, who moved to Memphis in 1948, and Mrs. Zelma Kubik an English teacher at Memphis State. The couple married in 1941, when Dr. Kubik was in Dental School at St. Louis University. By three, Kris was active in Cub Scouting, where his father served as a scoutmaster. He grew up the youngest of four siblings in a swimming family, and was active in competitive swimming by the age of seven, first learning to swim at a Red Cross swimming program. As serious age-group competitors who performed strength training and practiced twice daily, by high school he and each of his siblings were on at least one state swimming championship team and garnered many first-place finishes.

In 1966, in an International competition with Canadian swimmers in Ontario, Canada, Kris took two gold medals, winning the 10-and-under 50-yard butterfly while setting a Canadian Open age group record with a time of 30.8. Kris was also on the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

High school highlights Kris attended and swam for the Memphis White Station High School Spartans under Coach Larry Heathcott where he graduated around 1973. By his Junior year, at 16, he held two Southeastern AAU records, and would compete in the city's Interscholastic Athletic Associations' swimming title in the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard freestyle, and 200 Medley Relay. In highly competitive age group swimming, from an early age he also swam under Coach Dick Fadgen for the Memphis Athletic Club team founded in 1956, and later the Memphis State Swim Club Team, which practiced at the Memphis State University campus. In 1972, he also qualified for the AAU National Meet in Louisville, Kentucky while swimming for the Memphis State Swim Club and recorded a qualifying time of :54.6 in the 100-yard backstroke.

College swimming Kris was an All-American swimmer for North Carolina State, where he swam under Head Coach Don Easterling.

He transferred from North Carolina State to Auburn University where he graduated in 1978, and swam under Hall of Fame Coach Eddie Reese, with whom he would also serve as a student coach through the 1979 season. Kubik would later have a long career as Associate coach when he would leave Auburn to follow Reese to the University of Texas.

University of Texas, Austin

With the two of them working together well, Kubik coached a total of 34 seasons with Eddie Reese as Head Coach and won 12 NCAA National team championships. In Reese and Kubik's second year together, they led Texas to an NCAA runner-up finish at the 1980 NCAA Championships and gave Texas its first NCAA men's swimming team championship in 1981. The 1981 team featuring Scott Spann, Kris Kirchner, backstroker Clay Britt, and butterflier William Paulus remained at the top of their conference in 1981 and had the rare honor of leading the nation in college competition.

After Kubik returned to Texas after a stint with age-group coaching in the mid-80's, Kubik and Reese had four consecutive NCAA National Championships from 1988 to 1991, and won their sixth National Championship in 1996. They won consecutive titles from 2000 to 2002, won again in 2010, and took titles from 2015 to 2016. Benefitting from the press coverage and publicity brought to the university in 1989, their third NCAA championship while coaching together, Kubik received a 9% bonus in pay as did Reese.

During Kubik's tenure, Texas swimming had 26 NCAA finishes in the top-three and 32 NCAA showings in the top-five. Texas had a total of 54 NCAA individual titles and 42 NCAA relay titles during Kubik's tenure, and had 32 Olympians who captured a total of 36 gold, 16 silver and eight bronze medals. The team of Kubik and Reese took conference team titles in 33 of its 34 seasons working together.

International coaching Kubik served as coach for several international teams. He was Asst. Coach for the U.S. team at the 2007 Pan American Games and served as a special assistant for the Coaching Staff of USA Swimming at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

He was the Team USA Asst. Coach at the FINA World Championships in 2009 and the 2015 World University Games.

In 2011, Kubik was inducted into University of Texas's Athletics Men's Hall of Honor. In a more exclusive honor, Kubik was more recently chosen as one of the 100 Greatest Swimming and Diving Coaches of the Century in 2021 by the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA).