Abby Brethauer - Women's Swimming and Diving Coach

Abby Brethauer

Title:
Head Coach
Email:
ab7373@princeton.edu
Phone:
609-258-1140

Abby Brethauer was named Princeton women's swimming & diving head coach in August 2023.

Brethauer, who has 18 years of intercollegiate coaching experience, joined the Tigers as men's swimming & diving assistant coach in June 2021 from Tufts University, where she served as Associate Head Coach of the men’s and women’s program.

2023-24, Brethauer's first season as head coach of the Tigers' women's program, saw her named Ivy League Coach of the Year, Princeton win the Ivy League Championship along with the dual meet title. The Tigers ended the season with an 11-1 record and a perfect 7-0 record in Ivy League competition. Princeton was also ranked inside the CSCAA top-25 for four months, rising as high as No. 20 in March. Five Tigers also qualified for the NCAA Championships, with an additional two qualifying in relays. In addition, Brethauer guided Princeton to 19 All-Ivy honors, with 11 on the First Team and Eight on the Second Team while Dakota Tucker was named Ivy High Point Swimmer of the Meet.

In 2022-23, Brethauer helped guide Princeton to a program-best No. 24 in the final CSCAA Dual Meet Rankings, which marked the first time the Tigers had ended the season in the national top-25. She also led Princeton to a third-straight second-place finish at the Ivy League Championships along with four event titles. With guidance from Brethauer, Raunak Khosla would add three more All-America honors, and earn a third Ivy League High Point Swimmer of the Meet award.

In her first year at Princeton in 2021-22, the Tigers earned a second-place finish at the Ivy League Championships, won four event titles, and garnered 14 All-Ivy League honors. Additionally, Raunak Khosla collected All-America in three events, and the Tigers went 7-1 in dual meets, along with 6-1 in Ivy League meets.

She made an immediate impact at Tufts, helping the men’s program finish 10th nationally and the women 16th, it’s best finish since 1990. In 2019, Brethauer was a member of the coaching staff that received the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year Award.

The Jumbos also had their first NCAA men's champion swimmer since 1982 (Roger Gu in the 50 freestyle) and their first NESCAC champion women's swimmer since 2014 (Amy Socha in the 200 butterfly). In the 2019-20 season, both teams were the runner-up at the conference championships. Twelve members of the women's team and 10 from the men qualified to compete at the NCAA Championships before the meet was canceled due to COVID-19.

Prior to Tufts, Brethauer served as Head Coach at Mary Washington University. She was honored as Capital Athletic Conference Women’s Coach of the Year six times and Men’s Coach of the Year on four occasions. At Mary Washington she also served on the Presidential Task Force for Diversity & Inclusion and was the Athletic Department’s Community Service Coordinator from 2013-18.

Brethauer also served as the Assistant Women’s Swimming Coach at Columbia University from July 2004 until July 2010, becoming an NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy graduate in May 2009. Since 2008, Brethauer has served as Head Coach at the Bates College Swim Camp. She was also the Assistant Swimming Coach at Hamilton College from August 2002 until May 2003.

She earned a Masters of Kinesiology from Columbia University Teacher’s College in 2009 and a Bachelor of Arts in Women’s & Gender Studies from Kenyon College in 2002, where she was a four-year member of the women’s swimming & diving team. Brethauer was a 13-time All-American and a member of three NCAA Championship teams at Kenyon, where she was also a national record holder at the NCAA DIII level. A team captain her senior year, Brethauer won the John D. Rilke Sportsmanship Award in 2002, the Molly R. Hatcher Award in Women & Gender Studies in 2000 and was on the Women’s & Gender Studies Advisory Board in 2001 and 2002.