Coaching Staff

Kim Easterday, Head Coach
410-857-2717
keasterd@mcdaniel.edu

The Dean of Coaches at McDaniel, Kim Easterday is entering her 31st season with the same enthusiasm that has been her trademark since taking over the program in 1976.

Easterday’s experience restored her squad’s presence at the NCAA National Championship meet in 2002 after a seven-year absence.

Success is nothing new to Easterday. Under her leadership, eight different Green Terror swimmers have attained All-America status, including Denise Frech, who earned the honor 15 times between 1980 and 1983. Easterday still guides Centennial Conference (CC) champions with regularity, several of which are poised to become All-Americans this season.

Easterday also serves as the Aquatics Coordinator, and is a lecturer in the McDaniel College Exercise Science and Physical Education Department. Her understanding of the importance of academics is one of the many reasons she annually produces swimmers for the CC Academic Honor Roll, as well as Academic and Scholar All-American teams.

A graduate of Denison University, Easterday has worked alongside Maryland’s top swimmers for more than a quarter-century. She was also the Green Terror women’s lacrosse coach for two decades before stepping down to focus solely on swimming in 1999.

Extending the McDaniel family with her own, Kim’s husband Steve is a 1972 graduate of the college and is a former soccer and golf coach on the Hill. Steve and Kim are the proud parents of Matt, Mary, and Catie. Matt and Mary both swam for the Terror before graduating a year ago.

Jeff Hiestand, Assistant Coach
410-386-4616
coach_jef@hotmail.com

Hiestand enters his seventh season with the Green Terror swim teams. A native of Reading, Pa., he attended the University of Maryland-Baltimore County (UMBC), where he was a four-year letterwinner and earned a degree in English.

Hiestand brings over a decade's worth of coaching experience to McDaniel. He has seen success at every level he has coached, from age-group National Champions to high school All-Americans to collegiate national qualifiers.

In his previous six years with the McDaniel teams, Hiestand has coached five individual conference champions in eight events, and pushed swimmers to no fewer than 30 program records.

In addition to his duties with the McDaniel swim teams, Hiestand also serves as the head coach of the Green Terror Aquatic Club, a USA Swimming program. Under his direction, the club has produced two Olympic Trials qualifiers (2004, 2008), six national age-group records and numerous USA Senior and Junior National qualifiers. The club has recently been named a Silver Medal club in USA Swimming's prestigious Club Excellence Program for the fourth consecutive year.

Heistand has garnered individual awards, as well. He has been named the Maryland Swimming Age Group Coach of the Year three consecutive seasons and has been selected as an assistant coach for both USA Swimming's Regional and National Select Camps in 2007. 

Hiestand, who also oversees the College's popular swim lesson program, resides in the area with his wife Shannon, and their four children, Tristin, Tanner, Gabrielle and Scarlett.