Head Coach Abby Brethauer

Abby Brethauer Named Women's Swimming and Diving Coach

There's a new Tiger head coach, and that always makes for big news here. 

First, though, there's the matter of this little greeting: Happy Birthday BrotherBlog.

TigerBlog knows his brother checks up here to see what's going on with Princeton Athletics. He'll often check in from the other side of the country, Seattle, to be exact, and send a text message or email suggesting he read up on that particular day's entry.

The only issue is that TB isn't sure that his brother reads every day or just checks up at the end of a week or every few days. If he does read every day, then this is your birthday card. If not, then it's still your birthday card. 

Either way, TB will be calling to send him the best and to remind him that no matter how old TB gets, his brother will always be two years older.

He's a good man, BrotherBlog. His heart is certainly in the right place. He's always been a better student than TB, which explains his master's degree and then J.D. from the University of Washington, where he is now on the faculty. 

He's never been a huge sports fan, but he has made an effort in recent years to become more into the Seattle pro teams and the Huskies. He even goes to some games. And he can always say that he saw his nephew and his niece play lacrosse.

TigerBlog will celebrate his brother's birthday by going to the dentist. His last checkup was six months ago, and when he left, he scheduled the one for today, thinking that he'd remember he had to go to the dentist on his brother's birthday. Of course, he completely forgot that until he got the text reminder last week.

TB starts the week at the dentist. The week ends with the start of the 2023-24 athletic year at Princeton, as the women's soccer team hosts Monmouth Friday night at 7:30.

This coming athletic year will see two new head coaches for the Tigers. Jason Vigilante, as you know by now, takes over for the legendary Fred Samara as the head coach of the men's track and field program.

And there will also be a new head coach of the women's swimming and diving team. Like Vigilante, the new head coach is well known already within the program after having been an assistant coach at Princeton before this.

Abby Brethauer was a Tiger assistant for the last two seasons, though she worked with the men's program. She is now the head coach of the women's team, the seventh head coach of the women's team. 

She replaces Bret Lundergaard, who left to become the head coach at the University of Kentucky. Brethaurer worked under men's head coach Matt Crispino, which makes his thoughts on the hire quite valuable:

“There is no one better suited to lead Princeton women’s swimming & diving program than Abby Brethauer. For the last two years, she has been instrumental to the success of our men’s team. Abby is a world class coach with a deep understanding of Princeton and the Ivy League. But more importantly, Abby is the right person for the job — she is compassionate, invests fully in the people she coaches, and will provide an environment for each woman to thrive in and out of the pool. I could not be more proud of Abby and honored to continue sharing the pool deck with her.”

That's certainly saying a great deal. 

Brethauer's swimming resume includes being a 13-time All-American at Kenyon College, where she was part of three NCAA championship teams. She spent eight years as the head coach at Mary Washington, with an earlier stop at Columbia and then another at Tufts. While at Mary Washington she won 10 conference Coach of the Year Awards, six with the men and four with the women.

Princeton's women are the defending Ivy League champion. The Princeton men finished the year ranked 24th nationally a year ago. 

Women's swimming and diving is one of the most successful sports Princeton has ever had. The team dates to the first year of women's athletics at Princeton, when swimmer Jane Fremon and diver Cece Herron were the entire team all by themselves. 

The Ivy title won a year ago was the 24th in program history. That figure is more than twice what any other Ivy school has, and it trails only field hockey for Ivy titles by a Princeton women's team. 

Brethauer is well-liked and well-respected among the swim programs, and the department as a whole. Now she takes over as the head coach. It's the latest step in a career that has been devoted to the sport and to what Princeton calls Education Through Athletics.

She seems to be the perfect fit.