Building on foundations laid by Dr. Ray Martinez and Ray Scharf, Richard W. “Rick” Kobe led the ECU swimming and diving program as head coach for thirty-five years, achieving an outstanding record as the winningest coach in the program’s history. He is one of only six coaches in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history with 500 dual meet victories. With his total of 539 dual meet wins, Kobe finished his coaching career ranked fourth all-time on the NCAA Division I list for men’s and women’s combined victories. Under his leadership, ECU won 11 conference championships.
In 2016-2017, Kobe was named conference coach-of-the-year for the 11th time after leading the ECU men’s squad to its third straight American Athletic Conference title. With Kobe as head coach, the men’s team posted a dual meet winning record of .500 or better for 34 straight seasons and the women recorded 26 consecutive winning dual meet campaigns. Kobe’s student-athletes set 363 varsity records and claimed 173 individual event conference titles. He coached four NCAA All-Americans, one Olympic participant, and 245 all-conference performers.
Kobe’s teams were one of the top academic squads in the country, consistently earning Scholar All-America Team accolades awarded by the College Swim Coaches Association (CSCAA). The women’s team posted the highest team GPA in the nation following the 2013 spring semester. The year after his retirement, Kobe was inducted into the ECU Athletics Hall of Fame.
Sources
- “Foursome Elected to ECU Athletics Hall of Fame.” ECUPirates.com. 2016. https://ecupirates.com/news/2017/7/25/general-foursome-elected-to-ecu-athletics-hall-of-fame.aspx.
- “Rick Kobe.” ECUPirates.com. 2016. https://ecupirates.com/coaches.aspx?rc=271.
Citation Information
Title: Richard W. “Rick” Kobe
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 6/25/2019