By Joshua Koch
Public Communications
For 13 seasons, Lanny Landtroop and Russell Duin paced the side of the pool at Kingwood High School building one of the premiere swimming and diving programs in the State of Texas.
This coaching “dynamic duo” guided the Kingwood High School Swimming and Diving program to six UIL State Championships (3 girls, 3 boys), 3 National Championships and produced more than 140 All-American Swimmers. In 2004, Duin was elevated to head coach and went on to win an additional five State Championships (3 boys, 2 girls), one national title and produce 159 All-Americans in his 13 seasons as head coach.
On Saturday, January 3, a brief dedication ceremony was held at Kingwood High School to celebrate the naming of the Lanny Landtroop Natatorium and the Russell Duin Office Suite in honor of the two coaching legends.
“We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this place,” Duin said following the ceremony. “In my formative years, learning coaching from Coach Landtroop and then taking over the program was just fantastic. Carrying on the traditions and still having excellence come out of this pool and being one of the more storied programs in the state.”
Jason Landtroop, Lanny’s son, added: “It’s a fitting tribute to both my father and Coach Duin. A celebration of their legacy, a celebration of the excellence of Kingwood High School swimming.”
As a part of the ceremony, Jason spoke on behalf of his father, who passed away in 2021, and the Landtroop family and Duin delivered a short speech along with former athletes and current Kingwood swimming and diving coaches.
“I sure do miss Lanny. We did a lot of things together,” Duin said. “We went through a lot of things together. He was just the ultimate mentor for me. This is so well deserved for him. I’m just really happy that this happened in Humble ISD. His legacy will always be recognized for the great things he did here at Kingwood High School.”
In 1990, Duin was hired by Greg Joseph to be an Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach at Kingwood High School, a year later Lanny Landtroop was hired to take over the program.
Landtroop and Duin coached Kingwood Swimming and Diving to 25 District Championships, 20-plus Regional Championships along with the six State Championships and three National Championships.
As Duin reflected on their time together at Kingwood High School, the 1994 team is the one that stood above the rest. The same year the pool flooded and the team faced different challenges, they still overcame them and stood as champions.
“The 1994 group was just one that was just above and beyond,” Duin said. “The boys, nobody was going to stop them. The girls also won a championship as well. We had no idea they were going to sneak up in there and pull it off. We had pre-printed 1994 State Champion shirts for the boys, so when the girls won, all the boys took their shirts off to take pictures. The 1994 group was a special group.”
Lanny went on to be named the State Coach of the Year eight times in his career and in 2010 was inducted into the Texas Swimming Hall of Fame. He earned the NISCA Outstanding Service Award in 1995 and was inducted into the NISCA Hall of Fame in 2001. Other accolades include the David H. Robertson Excellence in Coaching Award and being a 2004 Collegiate - Scholastic Trophy Recipient.
Lanny coached at five high schools in his career, including Kingwood High School for 13 years, and finished with 543 dual meet victories.
“Lanny never liked to talk about his accomplishments,” Jason said. “When he passed away, one of his lifelong best friends and several members of our family were frankly shocked at the success that he’d had. The accomplishments, the awards, the championships. He never liked to talk about himself. He never tooted his own horn. It was very telling of the kind of man that he was, that he was more interested in other people’s success and celebrating other people’s accomplishments than his own.”
As Duin took over the program from Landtroop, he recalls a parent stating to him that he had “some big shoes to fill”, to which he responded that he just would “hope to walk the same path that he did”.
For him, Duin just took the lessons learned from Landtroop and continued to coach.
“How to get the best out of kids, getting to know the kids and getting them to work together as a team,” Duin said about the biggest lesson he learned from Lanny about coaching. “Teamwork was the most important thing. And helping them support each other and encourage each other and helping them get better as people. That was our ultimate goal, just making better people come out of this pool. And of course, swimming really fast.”
Duin went on to earn the State Coach of the Year honor six times in his career and add 21 District Championships, 17 Regional Championships, five State Championships and one national title to the record books.
“Jumping into that pool was fantastic up in Austin,” Duin said with a laugh.
As the program moves forward into the 2026 season, Duin believes the next group of Kingwood High School swimmers and divers will come in and continue to build on what’s come before them.
“We have the kids that come in and they look at the All-Americans, look at the scoreboard, the banners and know we have something special here and keep that big ball rolling. They are just a great group of swimmers and divers here at Kingwood High School.”
Since 1970, the Kingwood High School Swimming and Diving program has won 12 team State Championships.
The unveiling of the new signage on the exterior and interior of Kingwood High School will take place at a future on-campus ceremony. This ceremony only included artist renderings.