Hamilton Returns as Associate Head Coach

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – An All-American and Big Ten medalist as a student-athlete, alumna Caitlin Hamilton is returning to campus with an extensive coaching résumé as she rejoins Purdue Women’s Swimming & Diving as the program’s associate head coach.

Hamilton teams up again with Purdue head coach John Klinge, who she swam for from 2019-13 during Klinge’s early years as the leader of the Boilermakers.

Since earning bachelor’s degrees in movement and sports sciences and public health from Purdue, Hamilton has served as the head coach at Illinois State (2020-23) as well as an associate coach at Kentucky (2023-25) and assistant at Indiana (2017-19), IUPUI (2015-17) and Wyoming (2014-15). She brought her Illinois State team to the Purdue Invitational in the fall of 2021 and 2022.

“I’m thrilled to have Caitlin return to campus and rejoin our team, working alongside me and everyone at the Burke Aquatic Center,” Klinge said. “She was an All-American and Big Ten medalist at our pool and has enjoyed an impactful coaching career since graduating from Purdue. She gained valuable experience as a head coach, and as an assistant –both here in the state of Indiana and in the SEC. Caitlin was the obvious choice and I’m grateful she’s back.”

At Illinois State, Hamilton’s swimmers won 10 individual Missouri Valley Conference titles. The Redbirds finished second at the MVC Championships in 2022, their best showing since 2014. A year later, the team broke 12 school records, including all five relay marks. Kiersten Farley-Sepe (2020) and Madyson Morse (2023) were both MVC Swimmer of the Year standouts. Morse was also the conference’s two-time Scholar-Athlete of the Year for swimming.

“I would like to express my gratitude to John Klinge and senior associate athletics director Ed Howat for the opportunity to return home to Purdue,” Hamilton said. “Their excitement for the future of Purdue Swimming is undeniable, and I am deeply thankful for their trust in me to be a part of it. Having the opportunity to work alongside the head coach I swam for is something truly special. Boiler Nation, I am ever grateful. Boiler Up!”

Kentucky head coach Bret Lundgaard brought Hamilton to Lexington after he took over the program in the summer of 2023. The UK women had multiple swimmers qualify for the NCAA Championships both years Hamilton was part of the coaching staff. The Kentucky men finished 20th at NCAAs this year.

Indiana won three Big Ten titles (two men, one women) over Hamilton’s two seasons as part of Ray Looze’s coaching staff in Bloomington, including sweeping the men’s and women’s championships (for the first time) in 2019. Ian Finnerty and Lilly King headlined IU’s NCAA Championships while Hamilton was part of the coaching staff. As a team at NCAAs, the IU men were top three and the women top 10 both years.

As a recruiting coordinator for the women’s team at IUPUI, Hamilton assembled a group of signees in 2017 that was the highest-ranked class in program history. The Jaguars eclipsed 37 team records altogether across the two genders while she was on staff.

As a student-athlete at Purdue, Hamilton was a distance freestyle standout that set program records in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyle. Her team freshman records in the in 1,000 and 1,650 free still stand, enjoying the longest lifespan of any active first-year benchmarks in the record book. She continues to rank second overall in the 1,000 and 1,650 free, with only All-American and World University Games medalist Kaersten Meitz eclipsing Hamilton’s records.

An All-American as a top-eight finisher in the 1,650 free as a freshman at the 2010 NCAA Championships, Hamilton accounted for the top finish by a Purdue swimmer as the Boilermaker Aquatic Center hosted the national championship meet. Purdue finished 16th nationally in 2010 for the program’s best-ever showing. She returned to NCAAs the following season, scoring again in the mile (11th overall) as an honorable mention All-American. She also qualified for NCAAs in the 500 both years.

At the Big Ten Championships, Hamilton won a silver medal in the mile each of her underclassman years to be a two-time second-team All-Big Ten honoree.

Hamilton served as an undergraduate assistant coach with the Boilermakers and also worked for the John Purdue Club before moving out to Wyoming for the 2014-15 school year. The Cowboys had four conference champions and an NCAA qualifier during her year in Laramie.

She was a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree at Purdue.

Hamilton and her husband, Josh Kolbus, became parents in February, welcoming daughter Addison to the family.