Keith Murray, who has twice earned the distinction as a Coach of Excellence from the America Swimming Coaches Association, is in his 19th season at the helm of The College of Saint Rose men's and women's swimming and diving programs. Murray’s teams have consistently excelled in the pool and in the classroom throughout his tenure.
Murray’s knowledge goes well beyond competitive swimming. He has acquired a wealth of aquatics experience through his work with various competitive and recreational entities. He is a member of the USA Swimming Coaches Association and also serves as the Aquatics Director at Saint Rose. Murray has completed numerous professional development courses and holds several certifications related to aquatic and recreational activities.
The 2007 Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year, Murray has mentored six Golden Knights who have recorded 22 All-American performances. He is also one of only two coaches in school history to produce a national champion as diver Brandon Birchak captured the one and three-meter events at the 2007 NCAA Division II Championship Meet as a junior. He finished second off both boards the following year.
Last season, the women’s squad was honored by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) with a Team Scholar All-America Award for the 22nd and 23rd consecutive semesters. The men’s team also garnered that recognition last spring while the two squads recorded 12 podium finishes at the NE10 Championships.
The women’s contingent boasted a pair of CSCAA Scholar All-Americans in Gabrialla Ficano (’20) and senior Colleen Quaglia. Ficano was a three-time, NE10 200-yard breaststroke champion. Quaglia was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America® Division II Women's At-Large team. She also qualified for the 2020 NCAA Championships in the 200 butterfly and the 500 freestyle, although she was unable to participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Quaglia was later deemed an All-American by the CSCAA on the basis of her qualifying performances.
The men’s and women’s teams set 15 school records at the 2019 NE10 Championships where Quaglia earned the Elite 24 Award for having the highest overall GPA of any female student-athlete at that meet. She went on to earn Honorable Mention All-American honors in the 500 freestyle at the NCAA Championships.
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In 2018, Grant Tinsley Little earned NE10 Championship Diver of the Meet accolades while in 2013-14 both teams finished fourth at the championship meet where the Golden Knights recorded 10 All-Conference performances.
In 2012-13, Murray sent student-athletes to the NCAA Championships for the 10th consecutive time. For the second straight year, a pair of females qualified as Caitlin Brauer and Naomi Woodcock once again represented Saint Rose. Brauer established herself as an All-American for the third year in a row and was also among a mere 30 women, selected from a group of more than 450 nominees, that were chosen as top-30 honorees for the prestigious 2013 NCAA Woman of the Year award. She was also named the NE10 Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Furthermore, the women’s and men’s squads both finished fourth at the NE10 Championships and were seventh and eighth respectively among 19 competing institutions at the season-ending Metropolitan Conference Championships.
In 2011-12, Brauer set a Saint Rose standard by becoming the first female swimmer to earn All-American honors with her performance in the 400 individual medley. Also, the men took second and the women wound up third at the NE10 Championships, before finishing seventh and sixth respectively at Metros.
The 2010-11 campaign marked the eighth consecutive year that Saint Rose had a presence at the NCAA Championships. Brauer represented the Golden Knights for the second consecutive year as the only female in school annals at that juncture to qualify for that meet. Both teams finished sixth among 19 competing institutions at the Metros. Earlier in the year, the men’s squad took home second place at the NE10 Championships where the women wound up third.
In 2009-10, Brauer and Vadim Yafayev both represented the Golden Knights at the NCAA Championships where Yafayev earned honorable mention All-American honors in the 400 IM on the way to being named the NE10 Swimming Athlete of the Year. Additionally, the Saint Rose women’s squad had its best showing ever at the Metros by finishing fourth among 21 competing institutions. Meanwhile, the men finished 11th among 18 teams at the meet, where the Saint Rose squads lowered 12 school records collectively.
A year earlier, Murray sent Ryan Brauer and Yafayev to the NCAA Championships where they had a combined four All-American performances. Brauer was furthermore named the NE10 Freshman of the Year in April. Murray also led the women's team to a fifth place overall showing among 20 competing institutions at the Metros, the team's best finish up to that point. Both the men’s and women’s clubs established a staggering 31 school records throughout the three-day meet in 2009.
Murray garnered 2007 NE10 Coach of the Year plaudits from his peers after guiding the men's club to its best dual meet record in school history at 9-1. The squad finished second at the NE10 Championships and tied its best finish ever at the Metros with a fifth place overall showing. He also led the women's team to a sixth place performance among 20 competing schools. In the NCAA Division II portion of the meet, the Saint Rose men's squad took the team title while the women's team finished third.
In 2005-06, Murray guided then senior Matt Kavanagh to the NCAA Championship meet for the third straight season, as he earned All-American honors in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles. Kavanagh is the only male swimmer in the 20-year history of the program to qualify for three straight NCAA meets. In 2004, Kavanagh became the first ever Saint Rose swimmer to earn the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Championships.
Murray's impending impact upon the program was foreshadowed in his first season when he led the 2002-03 men's squad to its best mark ever with a 7-3 dual meet record.
A 1996 graduate of Hartwick College where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology, Murray served as a part time assistant coach at Saint Rose from 2000-02 while working full time as the Director of Recreation for the LaSalle School for Boys. Murray has also coached at Union College, Hartwick College and at the Guilderland (N.Y.) YMCA.
Previously, Murray was a team captain for the men's swimming team and was also President of the men's water polo club during his undergraduate career at Hartwick.
Murray and his wife, Andi, reside in nearby Wynantskill with their three children; Cooper, Jackson and Crosby.
