Pull Back the Plaid Curtain on Head Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Coach Matt Kinney

Get to know head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach Matt Kinney in this addition of "Pull Back the Plaid Curtain!"

1. What drew you to being a coach – why the path to intercollegiate athletics?

I started swimming later compared to most swimmers, which was in my sophomore year of high school, and fell immediately in love with the sport. I went to college for pre-med, but after a few more years of college that desire lessened and my focus/interest on swimming and coaching kept growing. The experiences and impact my college team had on me really made me want to share that potential in this sport with others – and here we are 25 years later.

2. What is your favorite memory during your time at Carnegie Mellon?

There are so many that stand out to me. It's been such an incredible thirteen years already, but one of the best memories was the NCAA selection this past season. We qualified 24 men and women to NCAA's, by far the largest group in school history and my coaching career – until next year! Video

3. Who has been the most influential person in your career?

I would say it's a toss-up between three amazing coaches; Jeff Eckhart - my high school coach who ingrained so much work ethic in me from the beginning; Rick Morrison - another North Canton coach who taught me more than I even realized about coaching, passion, and efficiency in a few summer months; Jim Steen – my college coach who not only allowed me to grow immensely in the sport and achieve more than I thought I could, but also created the team environment that would sustain me during college, and decades after with the connections and lessons I learned in my time there.

4. What was sports like while you were growing up – how do you think it’s changed?

Not to date myself, but we played everything growing up from basketball, football in the streets, tennis - etc. For organized sports, I wrestled and ran cross country before I started swimming in high school and loved being able to do all of those activities as a kid. I think specialization is amazing, but it was fun to just "play" and try new things back in the day.

I also think growing up in Ohio in the 80's and being gay was a challenging dynamic in sport, so coming out in college in the early 90's was not the easiest process at the time. I was very fortunate to have such an amazing response from my college teammates and coaches, but I know that has not always been the situation for so many others. After 25 years of college coaching and being out during that time, it's been an empowering/hope-filled experience to see how much more support there is in general for kids coming out, as well as the development for more mental and emotional support from athletics departments, universities, and teams comparatively. It's not perfect, but it has come a long way.

5. What is the most memorable athletic event you have witnessed / been a part of outside of Carnegie Mellon Athletics?

Being in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics as a young coach. Seeing all of the top level athletes during the competition and then out and about in the city after they were done was pretty amazing. Also, watching some of my teammates compete at trials in 1996 and 2000 were probably highlights for me.

6. What is one thing that no one knows about you?

I'm a pretty open book with my teams and colleagues and a very task/work-ethic oriented person in general, so I think the kinder side of my writing/author work and the messaging of empathy and understanding are nice counterpoints to the more driven, competitive parts of my personality. I also am a huge sci-fi/superhero fan and cannot get enough of that genre.

For other department member responses, visit Pull Back the Plaid Curtain.