Stanford Hires Chris Lindauer as Women’s Head Coach
Stanford University on Thursday named Chris Lindauer the head coach of its women’s swimming and diving team.
Lindauer takes over for Greg Meehan, who left to take over as USA Swimming national team director last month. Lindauer is the eighth coach in the 12-time NCAA champion’s history.
“It is an absolute honor and privilege to have the opportunity to lead the most successful women’s swimming & diving program in NCAA history,” Lindauer said in a university release. “The standard for academic and athletic excellence at Stanford is second to none, and provides a platform for greatness well beyond the student-athlete experience. I’d like to thank Alden Mitchell, Angie Jabir and Richard Zhu for believing in me and giving my family and I this amazing opportunity. It is my absolute mission to continue the excellent tradition of bringing NCAA Championships to The Farm, and I cannot wait to get started.”
Lindauer has shown a track record of developing swimmers in his career, most recently as the head coach of Notre Dame, where he’s been for the last three years. Among his most prominent mentees is Chris Guiliano, who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in 2024, earning Lindauer a spot as an assistant coach for the U.S. men’s team. Guiliano was the 2024 ACC Swimmer of the year and part of a stellar performance for the Irish at the 2024 Olympic Trials.
Lindauer spent 13 seasons at Louisville, rising as high as associate head coach. He oversaw 12 NCAA champions with the Cardinals. That’s where he swam, graduating in 2008 with a degree in biology after a career that include four Big East championships and seven All-Big East selections.
In all, Lindauer has coached 10 individual NCAA champions, 95 All-Americans (46 women’s, 49 men’s), and 13 Olympic qualifiers. He was on the USA national team staff from 2018-20.
Meehan leaves a massive void in the college landscape. He led Stanford to seven titles in the former Pac-12 and three NCAA titles in a row from 2017-19, three times being named NCAA Coach of the Year. His star pupils have included Maya DiRado, Regan Smith, Torri Huske, Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel.
Lindauer’s teams at Notre Dame didn’t have the same level of success. The Notre Dame women finished 32nd at NCAAs in 2024 and didn’t score in either 2023 or 2025. The men finished 10th in 2024 and 18th in 2023.
Lindauer also leaves a somewhat checkered legacy in South Bend, with the men’s team being suspended for the 2023-24 season due to a culture of gambling within the program. It is being reinstated for this academic year.
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