‘30 years went by really quickly’: Gilson Family Reflects on Involvement with WVU Swimming and Diving – West Virginia University Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.VA. – Many names and faces have passed through the West Virginia University swimming and diving program since its inception. So many in fact, it would take some time to read the entire list of student-athletes who have represented the Mountaineers in the pool and the diving well.

Through all the years and all the changes the program has undergone, one name continues to arise.

Gilson.

Kevin Gilson served as the men’s swimming and diving head coach from 1967-96, and the women’s swimming and diving head coach from 1980-86. During his tenure, WVU had six All-Americans, 27 NCAA qualifiers and one Olympian.

 

“As I look back on the swimming program here and all the family involvement I had with it, it became not a job, but more of a hobby,” Gilson said. “I really loved going to work. I loved teaching and I loved coaching, and 30 years went by really quickly.”

Gilson finished with an overall record of 290-153-1 at the helm of both programs (191-100-1 with the men and 93-53 with the women’s team). He also won 10 Eastern League championships and four Atlantic 10 titles for the men’s team and three Atlantic 10 titles for the women’s team.

When Kevin says family involvement, he’s not kidding. While he was head coach, Kevin coached his daughters, Shawn, Erin and Tara, and his wife, Elizabeth, also did everything from running the clock to even serving as an assistant coach.

“It put us in a position to get closer,” Gilson said. “My daughters swam for me. My wife was my right hand. [She was the] table expert, announcer, timer, all that kind of stuff.”

After she completed her collegiate swimming career, Shawn served as an assistant coach on her father’s staff. Shawn says it is an honor to have her family’s name tied so deeply to a program like West Virginia’s.

“It’s been quite an honor to be associated with the swimming program,” Shawn said. “It wasn’t really a career, it was a family affair. It was quite nice to be able to grow up, see all these swimmers, see the impact we had on them and the impact they had on us.”

 

Erin swam for her dad from 1988-91, and she cherished the time she had with her dad in and out of the pool.

“We got to spend so much time with him,” Erin said. “He was gone from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. every day. Growing up, during high school and middle school, we had two-a-days. We had so much more time with him.

“It was tough at times because he was our dad, and at the pool, he was not our dad, he was our coach. Therefore, he was just as tough on us, if not tougher at times. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

As time went on during his tenure, the WVU swimming and diving program reached new heights that it had never seen before. At times, West Virginia was considered a powerhouse in collegiate swimming, finishing undefeated in 1980 and 1983.

Through all that growth, Gilson remembers where things started before the program moved into a new home at the WVU Natatorium (now the Athletics Performance Center near the WVU Coliseum).

“As we started out, we had an old, old pool,” Gilson said. “The roof was falling in, the shower rooms didn’t work very well. When the water would get on the deck, and it would get cold, the next morning we’d come in and it would be ice puddles.

“Finally, in ’76, we got into the Natatorium. That was a big pleasure for me and for the swimmers. They loved that new facility. To see the level the program has attained in the last few years has made me more and more proud to be part of WVU swimming.”

Kevin Gilson was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 for his years of dedication and success to the Mountaineers. When asked what it was like to coach so many student-athletes, coach Gilson had a difficult time only naming a few.

 

However, the family wanted to be sure that everyone who was part of the program during the Gilson family’s tenure left a lasting impression on them.

“We guess after being there over 30 years like my mom said, 44 kids every year times 30, that’s a lot of names,” Erin said. “So many left an impact on us that we’d like to shout out.”