Now in her fourth season as assistant swimming coach at Florida Southern is former All-SEC and All-American swimmer Kendal Casey. Before joining the Moccasins in October of 2018, She previously served as a volunteer assistant at Florida Atlantic University following her college career at the University of Kentucky.
Since her start with the Mocs in the 2018-19 season, Casey helped head coach Andy Robins coach one NCAA National Champion, 38 NCAA qualifiers, 12 SSC individual champions, and three SSC relay titles between the men and women. In her first year with the Mocs, the men's and women's teams have finished in the top three conference standings each year, including a men's SSC title in the 2021-22 season. The success continued into the NCAA tournament despite the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Casey helped the Mocs to their best season in recent years, and best among head coach Andy Robins, as they emerged as nationally ranked the entire 2021-22 season. After the men's SSC title, the Mocs sent 14 total athletes to the NCAA tournament ahead of a fifth-place finish for the men and 28th for the women, both the best finish in the NCAA tournament since the 2018 finals. Casey helped lead the Mocs to a national champion in the men's 100-breaststroke and other podium finishes at the national stage.
During Casey's time with the Moccasins, there have been several athletes developed into award-winning student-athletes in and out of the pool. There have been 108 All-American honors, including 33 for the men the most awarded in FSC history since the 2018 finals. Freshman, and NCAA national champion, Ludovico Viberti was awarded SSC Freshman of the Year during the 2021-22 season as well. In the classroom, the Mocs have had a number of CSCAA Scholar All-American, SSC Commissioner's Honor Roll, and D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award winners, including the first CoSIDA Academic All-District winner since 2017.
A Florida native from Port Orange, Casey was a four-year letter winner at Kentucky where she qualified for three NCAA Division I National Championships. She began her college career by making the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2014 when she set a new school record in the 200-free and established the second-fastest time in the 1,000-free. She also picked up individual wins that year in the 500-free and 1,650-free, establishing herself as one of the Wildcats’ top distance swimmers.
Casey qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time as a sophomore, earning a spot in the 500 and 1650 while putting herself number two on Kentucky’s all-time list in both events. One year later as a junior, Casey was back at the national finals as an individual qualifier in the 200, 500, and 1650-freestyle events, and also earned honorable mention All-American honors as part of Kentucky’s 800-freestyle relay team. She posted an anchor split of 1:46.59 to help the Wildcats set a new school record of 7:04.75.
Casey capped her career by making her first podium appearance at the SEC Championships as a senior, collecting a bronze medal in the 500-freestyle, while finishing in the top-five of all three of her individual events. She earned Second Team All-SEC honors and returned to the national championships in the 200, 500, and 1650-free. Her performance at the national finals helped the Wildcats finish 14th at the Division I Championships, the highest finish in team history. She graduated number two on Kentucky’s top times list in the 500, 1000 and 1650, and was number five in the 200-free.
An outstanding student as well as athlete, Casey was a member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years she was at Kentucky and was four-time CSCAA Scholar-Athlete award winner. She was a first team member in each of her final three seasons.
In addition to her achievements at the University of Kentucky, Casey was an Olympic Trials qualifier in 2012 and 2016. On June 1, 2019, following her first season as a member of the Florida Southern coaching staff, Casey also brought home a fourth-place overall finish in the 43rd annual Swim Around Key West. She finished the 12.5-mile endurance event in 4:25.14, placing third among women’s swimmers and fourth out of 109 competing individuals.
Casey graduated from the University of Kentucky in May of 2017 with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in economics from the Gatton College of Business and Economics. She earned her Masters of Science in economics in August of 2018.
