STANFORD, Calif. – Head Coach Brian Swingly announced assistants Chris Klevan and Nic Baird on Tuesday to complete the Stanford sailing coaching staff.
"I am thrilled to have Chris and Nic joining the coaching staff and feel we now have a group of coaches with a complementary set of skills that can offer a range of knowledge and insight to the team," Swingly said.
"Chris and I have developed a great coaching relationship and dialogue during the past six years and I look forward to continuing to improve our approach at Stanford," Swingly said. "Chris demands the best from his athletes and backs that up by demanding the best of himself. He has one of the best minds in the sport along with a physical skill set not many can match. His expertise will be critical to our everyday process. I am grateful and humbled that Chris was excited to make this move with me and I know both the team and I will be pushed to new limits with his influence."
"Nic is a natural talent who has won across multiple disciplines in both his youth and collegiate career by working harder than his competitors and always staying one step ahead," Swingly said. "I am excited for the team - many of whom have competed against Nic recently - to learn from his ability to be consistent but flexible during the course of an event. He is the ultimate thinker, always re-evaluating the conditions and the circumstances. All the while, Nic's overall goal is simply to enjoy the sport and maintain the respect of his competitors."
Chris KlevanKlevan was an assistant on Swingly's coaching staff at Coast Guard for the last six years. The pair helped lead the Bears to the 2016 Sperry Women's National Title as well as back-to-back second-place finishes at the Gill Coed National Championships in 2015 and 2016, a third-place finish at the 2017 women's national championships, and two Quantum Women's Sailor of the Year award winners.
"I'm extremely excited for the opportunity to work with Stanford University," Klevan said. "My time at the United States Coast Guard Academy was more than rewarding. Those I met there and the lessons I learned will always be with me. However, the next challenge in my life starts now."
Klevan, who also spent one year as an assistant at George Washington University, was a four-year member of the Hobart and William Smith sailing team. Klevan helped the team bring home a second-place finish at the 2011 ICSA College National Championship regatta in Hood River, Oregon, an A Division victory at the 2011 Atlantic Coast Championship, and a third-place finish at the ICSA College National Team Race Championship in Austin, Texas in 2012. Klevan was honored as an All-American crew each of those two years.
Outside of college sailing, Klevan was an avid member of the Vanguard 15 class and boasted finishes consisting of third at the 2010 V15 National Championship regatta and first at the 2016 V15 National Championship. Klevan also competed in the George R. Hinman National Team Race Championships eight times between 2010-18 finishing fifth, seventh, 12th, fourth, 11th, third and fifth before eventually winning the championship in 2018. Klevan also competed in the Wilson Trophy, the United Kingdom's Open Team Race Championship three times (2015, 2018, 2019), where he finished fourth, third and third, respectively.
Nic BairdBaird is the reigning College Sailor of the Year and will begin his coaching career at Stanford after an All-American career at Yale.
"I'm excited to work with the Stanford team," Baird said. "Brian and Chris shaped many classes of top level competitors and sportsmen at the Coast Guard Academy, and the Stanford sailors are all incredibly talented. It's a good set up for a successful year, and I can't wait to be a part of it."
Baird's award-winning senior season included a first-place finish at the LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship, a fourth-place showing at the LaserPerformance Men's Singlehanded National Championship, a silver medal at this Gill Coed Championship, and victories at several other intersectional and team race regattas throughout the regular season. Behind his efforts, Yale claimed the coveted Fowle Trophy in 2018-19.
Baird was a four-time ICSA Coed All-America skipper. As a freshman, he was the NEISA Rookie of the Year and finished first at the Team Race National Championships. The following season, he was third at the singlehanded nationals and second in the B division at the Gill Coed National Championships. The St. Petersburg, Florida, native won the singles and team race conference titles as a junior and was also the runner-up in the A division at the conference coed championship.
Baird graduated from Yale in 2019 with a double major in political science and history.