I will be the first to say I have been very skeptical of this coaching staff and the way they get things done, but lets be honest... they get things done! I just want to says congrats to the 12th best team in the nation! I think they could have been even better too, while the girls having a great season they did drop 4 places, the guys keep getting better! with this recruiting class coming in it is a great time to be an Aggie swim fan! go
Ags!

That's great to hear. How does our facility compare with others in the country? Is it top 10? I know it's good enough to host a NC, but I imagine there must be a slew of great facilities in California, Austin, Florida...

We've easily got a top 5 facility

The A&M pool is one of the best pools in the USA. The pool in Austin is much older, with more seating, but very noisy and poor spectator position for diving. The tu pool has bulkheads that lift into the ceiling when they are not required. The tu pool has no natural light so the lighting is a bit harsh.

The A&M pool is not as deep as some of the best - it tapers from 7 ft at the ends to 9 ft. in the center. A&M's bulkheads seem to be a bit of a problem at times. I really like watching meets at A&M because the seating is great and it is easy to hear the sound system.

UofH has a very nice pool. It has simple concrete seating though.

I think Tennessee has one of the newest and best pools.

Missouri has a new pool and it is very good.

I don't know about pools in Florida.

I have been to the pools at Stanford - they have two outdoor 50 meter pools, an outdoor stadium style 25 SCY pool, and a separate outdoor diving well. Tons of swimming capacity but they are all outdoors and the 50 meter pools aren't the quality of A&M or Texas.

Pretty much agree with everything Spicewood said. It partially depends on whether or not you're swimming or watching.

Texas' pool has more seating, but the diving is further away, which sucks, but for the divers, it puts them further away from the crowd (less distraction?) The setup of Texas' pool also seems to leave a little more deck room and makes it a little easier to get around the deck, whereas here there are many spots where you have to squeeze by walking sideways. Even though our pool isn't all that deep, it's notoriously fast. Without trying to pour any salt in anyone's wounds, we've obviously had trouble with our bulkheads, but that's more the fault of the staff than the facility itself.


Houston's facility is new, and obviously nice, but the lack of seats can be vexing at meets like NCAA. Not bad if it's not all that crowded and you can kinda lounge around on them. Cool looking diving boards.


California/Arizona pools are cool, but they're almost all outside, and thus will never host any big NCAA meets (since the season is in the winter). They often have kinda strange set-ups as well. They do have multiple 50 meter pools, though, for their water polo teams, which is a nice feature to have.

Florida doesn't have a separate diving well, and is only 5 feet deep at one end, limited seating, but is in the same building as the basketball arena, which is kinda fun.

Obviously Auburn has a nice facility. They just put in a full-size outdoor pool as well.

Minnesota actually has a really, really cool facility, probably my personal favorite. Only 8 feet deep (could be a little deeper), but has the largest video display of any aquatics facility in the country, seating on both sides, crystal clear sound system, skylights running the length, can seat up to 2,500. They were the other team to host Men's and women's in the same year, I believe.

Michigan's pool is kinda cool, because an entire wall at one end can be lifted to add seating for big meets.


These days, outside of NCAA pools, the nicest pools are...anywhere! With all of the technology with these instant pools like they do for the trials makes any building into a potential top notch swimming facility.

Just to add a few more points on facilities:

- Indianapolis is an old facility (early 1980's??), but still remains one of the best in the world in my opinion. Great seating on both sides of the pool, adjustable depth, multiple indoor 50m.
- Atlanta Olympic pool (Georgia Tech) isn't all that impressive. It was originally outdoor with a roof. I know they planned to enclose it, but not sure if they ever did.
- I love the AZ and CA facilities for both water polo and swim meets, but as people said, because they are outdoors they will never hold major meets.
- The insta-pool is definitely the wave of the future (no pun intended). 2004 trials were basically in a parking lot in Long Beach, CA; 2008 trials were in a convention center in Omaha; world cup meets are often set up in indoor arenas (eg NBA venues).
- Someone mentioned FL pools; my only experience is playing polo in them and I really liked UF pool b/c it is right next to the football stadium and can be set up for a full 30m course. I don't think their indoor competition pool was very impressive, but didn't actually swim in it.
- I haven't been to the Michigan pool in about 15 years, but if it's the same one I remember it being good to train in, but not particularly great for spectators. I guess that removable wall thing solves that problem.

All that said, A&M definitely has a top facility. Pools are sometimes known for their reputation more than anything else. A&M does not have the history of UT or others, but has been arround long enough and held enough big meets to have developed a reputation as a fast pool.

Oooh forgot about the first 2. Indianapolis is certainly still one of the fastest pools in the world. I believe it's IUPUI's home pool, right? Funny that such a small program gets such a sweet pool. Too bad they couldn't market that to get a good swimming program.

I believe Michigan's current competition pool is newer than that.

UF's indoor pool is cool for the same reason that it's outdoor pool is: because it's in the shadow of the basketball arena.