Colgate University Athletics

Kim Keenan-Kirkpatrick was named Associate Head Cross Country Coach and Assistant Track Coach in February of 2022. Keenan-Kirkpatrick, who most recently served on the 2021 US Olympic staff in Tokyo, Japan, joins the staff after a 27 year tenure in college administration and coaching.

Keenan-Kirkpatrick, who spent the bulk of her career in administration, returns to collegiate coaching after a long hiatus. Most recently, Keenan-Kirkpatrick was the Deputy Director of Athletics at Syracuse University where she oversaw multiple sport programs, including but not limited to track and cross country. In her first year in that role, the Syracuse men’s team won the National Championship in cross country as well as an Indoor ACC Championship. The Orange also won the ACC Men’s Cross Country Championship four of the last six years. Keenan-Kirkpatrick also was an integral member of the ACC Cross Country and Track Sport Committee throughout her tenure at Syracuse.

Prior to Syracuse, Keenan-Kirkpatrick spent nine years at her graduate alma mater, Seton Hall, where she also oversaw track and field and served as the seeding committee chair for the Big East for nine years. 

Stops at Lafayette College and Kutztown University allowed Keenan-Kirkpatrick to grow in her administrative role but yet at each stop she was very involved in supporting and developing the track and cross country programs. 

Her collegiate coaching career began at Drew University where she was the Head Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Coach and Track Club Coach. While in law School, Keenan-Kirkpatrick coached high school and had very successful teams.

A collegiate athlete herself at Kent State University, where at one time she held three individual school records and one relay, Keenan-Kirkpatrick never strayed far from the sport. When she left coaching to enter collegiate administration, she became very involved with USATF and was selected to be the Assistant Coach for women’s distance events for the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki Finland and for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Keenan-Kirkpatrick later served international assignments as the Head Team Manager of the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara Mexico and Assistant Manager of the Pan Am Games in 2015 in Toronto, Canada. During the summer of 2021, she was the manager for the Olympic marathoners and race walkers and was part of the support staff that helped American Molly Seidel bring home the bronze medal in the marathon. 

Keenan-Kirkpatrick resides in Fayetteville, N.Y. with her husband Brian and daughters Libbie and Madison.