Campbell promotes Betz and Downey

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Head swimming and diving coach Clark Campbell announced Monday that after years of hard work and dedication to the program, assistant coach Jen Betz and diving coach Gabe Downey will see new titles as they have been elevated to associate head coach and head diving coach, respectively.
 
Campbell is excited to make this announcement and is proud of all the hard work that the two have put into the team with many more improvements to come.
 
“In our program, you definitely earn things, and we feel that both Jen and Gabe and their years of service here have earned those upgrades in titles to their positions,” Campbell said. “We are really fortunate to have really good coaches and we want to keep them and make our program better. It is important to have stability, and so to elevate them both to more responsibility is only going to make our program better.”
 
Other schools have been making the change to associate head coaching positions and Campbell found it fitting that Betz be a part of that trend. She has been a solid coaching staff member for 15 years and has already taken on greater roles within the swimming community at KU.
 
“I am very grateful for this opportunity and being promoted is just a bonus to my job,” Betz said. “I have already taken on a lot of responsibilities – director of ops, equipment stuff, head recruiting coordinator and coaching. As far as everyday it probably won’t change a whole lot.”
 
Betz’ ability to be diverse in working both as a coach and taking on a higher role in administration leaves Campbell at ease as he is the soon-to-be president of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) starting in May.
 
On the diving side, Campbell is just as confident that Downey will work well with this title change.
 
“He (Downey) already has a lot of freedom to run his program how he wants to, but we want to give him even more responsibility in the diving community,” Campbell said. “We want to show that KU really is a program that takes diving seriously and we let Gabe be the director of that.”
 
These changes show the commitment from the athletics department and how Betz and Downey are valued as part of the swimming and diving program.
 
“They have earned it,” Campbell said. “Both of them have worked for many years here and they have been very loyal to Kansas Athletics. They have been incredibly hard workers to make our program better and so we want to make sure we honor that.”
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