Rick Kobe
	Position: Head Coach Experience: 30th Year Alma Mater: Fairmont State, 1976

For three deacdes, Rick Kobe has been responsible for making East Carolina swimming and diving one of the winningest programs in the country Since becoming the Pirates' head coach in 1982, Kobe's team have won over 70 percent of their dual meets. His 470 dual meet wins place him third all-time on the NCAA Division I list for men's and women's combined victories.

During his time at ECU, Kobe has helped the Pirates set 276 varsity records and 154 freshman records. He has coached four NCAA All-Americans, one Olympic participant, 140 individual event conference champions and 165 all-conference performers. Fifty of his athletes have made their NCAA 'A' or 'B" cut and participated in five NCAA Championships.

Kobe teams have also won eight conference team championships. Kobe was named the 2002-03 Conference USA Coach-of-the- Year marking the eighth time that he has received a Coach-of-the-Year honor. He has also tutored some of the top academic performers at ECU. Marc Cook (1991, `92) and Geoff Handsfield (2007, `08) were both two-time Academic All-America selections, with Andrew Stoker earning the same recognition in 2011.

Kobe served as an assistant coach for the Pirates from 1980-82 before taking over the men and women's swimming programs prior to the 1982-83 season. After one season, Kobe's workout regiment and recruiting abilities began to pay off as the men's team finished with an 8-4 dual meet record, and the women's program came away in even better fashion, sporting a 9-4 record.

From there, Kobe has taken the swimming program to a level unsurpassed in Pirate history. Through his team's success, Kobe has become the winningest coach in Pirate athletics' history. His .728 winning percentage is the best of any Pirate coach with at least five years at ECU since the school became a Division I institution in the mid 1960s.

Overall, Kobe's teams have combined for a 470-175 record in 30 years. Just the fourth coach in the rich history of ECU swimming and diving; Kobe began his coaching career at West Virginia where he was an assistant from 1976-78. Beginning in 1978, he coached the Raleigh Swim Association and then, in 1980, came to ECU as an assistant coach under Ray Scharf. Kobe then took over the top spot in the Pirates' program on March 15, 1982.

Twelve of Kobe's former assistant coaches have moved on to become head coaches of their own at other schools.

A native of Windsor, Vt., Kobe swam competitively for Fairmont State (W.Va.) College, serving as team captain during his senior season. He earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1976 and obtained his master's degree in the same field from West Virginia in 1978.

Kobe was one of the youngest coaches ever to receive the prestigious Master's Coach Award presented by the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America.

Kobe has two daughters: Suzanne, who is a 2007 graduate of New York University and Catherine, who is a senior at N.C. State.

Kobe is married to the former Courtney Holton Welch and has three stepdaughters: Lindsay, Tyler, and Holton.