East Carolina University Men's Swimming

Kobes team have won over 70 percent of their dual meets. His 523 dual meet wins place him fifth all-time on the NCAA Division I list for mens and womens combined victories. The 2016-17 season will be his 35th season at the helm of the East Carolina swimming program. Kobes approach to winning has been the same for more than 30 years: recruit the top athletes who can come in and be competitive from the first day. During his time at ECU, Kobe has helped the Pirates set 347 varsity records and capture 164 inidividual/event conference titles. He has coached four NCAA All-Americans, one Olympic participant and 227 all-confernce performers. Over 100 of his athletes have made their NCAA A or B cut and participated in seven NCAA Division I Championship meets. Kobe enjoyed a pair of milestones in 2014 as he became just the sixth coach in NCAA history to amass 500 dual meet victories and the first women's coach to lead ECU to an undefeated season as the ladies posted a perfect 11-0 record. It's just the second undefeated season among active athletic porgrams in East Carolina history .   Kobe was named conference Coach-of-the-Year for the 10th time in his illustrious career in 2015-16 after leading the ECU men's squad to its second straight American Athletic Conference title. East Carolina has collected 10 conference team championships under his leadership. His teams have been 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 ladies team posted the highest team GPA in nation following 2013 spring semester. Kobe 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, while Andrew Stoker received the dubious honor during the 2010-11 season. Two of his former swimmers: Meredith Bridgers and Diane Parker have been elected into the ECU Athletics Hall of Fame. Kobe served as an assistant coach for the Pirates from 1980-82 before taking over the men and womens swimming programs prior to the 1982-83 season. After one season, Kobes workout regiment and recruiting abilities began to pay off as the mens team finished with an 8-4 dual meet record, and the womens 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 teams successes, Kobe has become the winningest coach in Pirate athletics history. His .738 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, Kobes teams have combined for a 523-185-1 record in 34 years. The Pirate men's swimming and diving team has posted a dual meet record of .500 or better for 33 consecutive years, while the women's team has reorded 24 consecutive winning dual meet meet campaigns. For his accomplishments, Kobe was elected to the Windsor (Vt.) High School Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014. Just the fourth coach in the rich history of ECU swimming and diving; Kobe began his coaching career at West Virginia University 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. Fourteen of Kobes former assistant coaches have moved on to become head coaches 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 bachelors degree in health and physical education in 1976 and obtained his masters degree in the same field from West Virginia in 1978. Kobe was one of the youngest coaches ever to receive the prestigious Masters Coach Award presented by the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America. Kobe has two daughters: Suzanne and Catherine. He is married to the former Courtney Holton Welch and has three stepdaughters: Lindsay, Tyler, and Holton.   THE RICK KOBE FILE

Jabs has successfully coached a number of different stroke groups. Under his tutelage, ECU swimmer have recorded over 30 individual school records, with over 140 individual performances ranking in the program's all-time top-10.  Jabs began his coaching career as a volunteer assistantat ECU in  2000, before serving as a graduate assistant the following two seasons. After completing his postgraduate work, a part-time assistant position was created allowing him to stay on staff and continue to develop as a coach. During this time he also worked as an assistant coach with the developmental group of the Greenville Swim Club. He then spent the next nine seasons as a full time assistant with the Pirates, including eight as the program's lead assistant. In 2013 head coach Rick Kobe promoted Jabs to his current title of Associate Head Coach. A four-year letterman at ECU, Jabs was a multiple CAA Championship finalist, served as team captain his senior year and was awarded ECU's Most Outstanding Swimmer Award twice (1999, 2000). At the end of his career he was ranked among the school's all-time top-10 in the 50, 100, and 200-yard freestyle. His most notable accomplishment came in his final meet as a Pirate when he posted the then-fastest 100-yard freestyle time in school history, a record that had stood for over 20 years before Jabs broke it. Jabs graduated from East Carolina University in 2001 with a degree in exercise and sports science with a minor in recreation and leisure studies, and earned his master's in athletic and physical education administration two years later. A native of Vernon, Conn., Jabs resides in Winterville with his wife Jaclyn, also an ECU graduate, and their two sons, Evan (8) and Jackson (4).

Woodhull-Smith was voted the team's Most Valuable as a senior in 2009-10 after receiving the Hardest Worker award a year earlier. He also earned the team's Most Improved award as a freshman and sophomore and was deemed a Scholar-Athlete in six semesters. The former school record holder in the 200 IM, Woodhull-Smith competed in the event at the 2008 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Neb. Woodhull-Smith earned his bachelor's degree in accounting from N.C. State in 2010 and received his master's degree in parks, recreation, tourism and sports management two years later.