GREEN RIVER — After more than three decades on the pool deck, Green River High School swimming coach Colleen Seiloff is stepping away from the program she helped shape for a generation of athletes.
Seiloff is retiring after 31 years of coaching, including nearly three decades with the Green River boys and girls swimming teams. During that time, she built a program defined as much by relationships and athlete development as by championships and records.
“It’s just time,” Seiloff said of her decision to retire. “I wanna spend more time with the grandkids, start a new chapter in my life with some free time and travel more.”
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Seiloff began coaching in Green River in 1995 while also teaching at the high school. She started with the boys program and spent roughly a decade as an assistant coach, working alongside Randy Walker, Rick Barker and Jerry Slebiska.
In 2005, she took over as the boys head coach. Later, she assumed the girls head coaching role as well, around 2010.
Across her career, Seiloff was part of four state championship teams. As head coach of the Lady Wolves, she led Green River to state titles in 2020, 2021 and 2023. The 2021 championship was shared with Lander. Earlier in her career, she was an assistant coach for the Green River boys team that won the 2001 state title.
In addition to those championships, Seiloff was involved in 12 runner-up finishes between the boys and girls programs during her time as both an assistant and head coach.
Despite the success, Seiloff said the accolades were never the focus of her career.
When asked how many coach-of-the-year honors she had received over the years, she responded with characteristic humility.
“I honestly can’t remember,” Seiloff said. “I only ever won them because the team was good. I couldn’t have ever done it without the kids, and that is what was more important to me.”
That belief carried the culture she built in Green River. Seiloff ran a program that welcomed swimmers of all experience levels, from beginners learning their first strokes to athletes competing for state championships.
Her greatest accomplishment, she said, had nothing to do with trophies.
“It had nothing to do with the wins and the losses or the trophies,” Seiloff said. “It was about the relationships I built with my swimmers, my fellow coaches and my students.”
She added that she hopes she had a positive influence on the athletes she coached, both in the pool and in the classroom.
While retirement will bring new freedom, Seiloff said it may not mean a complete separation from the sport.
“I don’t know if I can completely walk away from it all,” she said. “I don’t want to do the bus rides anymore and the long weekends were getting harder and harder during the season. But I’d love to still be around the kids and maybe help out at a practice if I was asked.”
Seiloff said her favorite memories also have little to do with winning.
“I’ve been asked that a few times recently, and there are so many of them,” she said. “It’s not winning the state or anything like that for my favorite. It’s probably watching the kids be successful and do things they didn’t think they could do.”
She also said she considers herself fortunate to have formed friendships with coaches across the state and to have worked with supportive athletes, parents and families over the years.
“I’ve been very lucky,” she said.
In retirement, Seiloff plans to travel, camp and spend more time with her grandchildren. She is especially looking forward to watching her youngest granddaughter dance.
Though the championships and accolades mark an accomplished career, Seiloff’s lasting legacy in Green River may be the culture she built, one where swimmers of every level had a place and where encouragement could change a life.
