On April 12, 2011, Kelly Kremer became the first head coach of a combined University of Minnesota men's and women's swimming and diving program after 13 years as an assistant, associate head coach and co head coach with the Gopher teams.
Kremer, along with Terry Nieszner, had taken the Gopher women's program to unprecedented success as co-head coaches from 2004-11. This followed an incredible run of six years as an associate head coach and assistant coach under Dennis Dale with the men's program from 1998-2004.
In his first year at the helm of the Minnesota programs, Kremer was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time (2008), after guiding the women to their first Big Ten Championship since 2008, and went on to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, marking the fifth-straight top-15 finish for the Gopher women.
The men finished fourth at the Big Ten Championships and went on to a 24th place finish at the NCAA Championships. Kremer also served as an assistant coach to Team USA at the 2011 Pan American Games in Mexico, and coached Haley Spencer to the Silver Medal in the 200-meter breaststroke. Another of Kremer's swimmers, Ashley Steenvoorden, represented Team USA based on her winning the 400-meter freestyle at the 2011 USA National Championships.
In his last five years with the women's program, Minnesota finished at least 13th at the NCAA Championships, including a program-best ninth-place mark in 2011. With only one NCAA qualifier in 2005 for the Gophers in Kremer's first year, the Gophers qualified 10 in 2006 and have had no less than 10 since that time. The 2011 meet was also the high-water mark in another fashion, with two Gopher swimmers winning national championships. Kremer coached Spencer, then a sophomore, to the 2011 NCAA National title in the 200 breaststroke and senior Jillian Tyler to the 100 breaststroke crown. Prior to 2010, Minnesota had won just one NCAA individual title. Overall, 25 different athletes earned All-America honors in Kremer's seven seasons with the women's program.
The success has not been limited to the pool under Kremer's watch. The Gophers posted at least 14 Academic All-Big Ten selections in each of his seven seasons with the women's program, including 22 in both 2005 and 2011. Kaylee Jamison became the first Gopher to earn GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America First Team honors in 2011. Jenny Shaughnessy was a second team GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2009.
Prior to becoming the women's swimming and diving co-head coach in the spring of 2004, Kremer was a member of the Minnesota men's swimming staff under Dale. Kremer was an assistant coach for the Golden Gophers for four years, before being promoted to the associate head coach position in 2002. After Kremer's arrival in 1998, the Golden Gopher men's team won three Big Ten Championships, including back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002, and again in 2004. The other three years, the Maroon and Gold finished second at the league championships. The Gophers also placed in the top-10 at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in each of his last five years with the men, 2001-05.
Primarily responsible for breaststroke, middle distance and distance swimmers at Minnesota, Kremer has been the personal coach for more than 100 NCAA All-American and/or All American consideration performances, more than 30 individual Big Ten Championship wins and two NCAA National Champions (Haley Spencer and Jillian Tyler). On the International stage, Kremer served as an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2011 Pan American Games. He coached All-American and Canadian Olympians Jillian Tyler (2008, 2012) and Mike Brown (2004), Ashley Steenvoorden and Haley Spencer (2011 Pan American Games), Justin Mortimer (2003 World University Games), Jeff Hackler (2002 World University Games)and Keri Hehn (2003 World University Games). Kremer also coached Keam Ang, who competed for Malaysia, and Yoav Meiri, who competed for Israel in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. In addition, Kremer had the honor of being Team Mexico's head coach at the 2002 Short Course World Championships in Moscow, Russia, and an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2004 World Cup Meet in Melbourne, Australia.
A native of Mandan, N.D., Kremer began his coaching career in 1988 with the Springfield Aquatics Swim Team in Springfield, Mo. From 1992-94, Kremer was the graduate assistant coach for Drury University, also in Springfield. He served as head coach for John Brown University for one year, 1994-95, before moving to Mission Viejo, Calif., to serve as assistant National Team coach to Bill Rose and the Mission Viejo Nadadores from 1995-98.
As an athlete, Kelly finished fifth in the 100 backstroke at the 1991 US Open and participated in the 1992 Olympic Trials in the same event. During his collegiate career, he was a 24-time NAIA National Champion and 29-time NAIA All-American for Drury University, and was elected to the school's Sports Hall of Fame in the summer of 1997. Coach Kremer owns both a B.A. and M.Ed. in education, both from Drury.