This is a surprise. She is a transfer from tu. When was the last time we had a transfer from Austin?

Is this another sign of trouble brewing for the horns? McElhany was an oustanding Texas 4A swimmer. 2009 4A champ in 200 IM and 100 fly. 4A state record holder in both events.

Can she compete this year or does she have to sit out?

Some things must be going well for Brackin. She just got a commit from Gretchen Jaques - 1:00.03 100 breaststroke and a Swimming World magazine 6 star recruit.

I believe she's been on the lineup since they updated it for this season. If Hersey doesn't leave, I think the damage has been done regardless. Brackin's gotta show something big time this year or I think she's gone, and beating an A&M squad that's in a serious rebuilding year isn't going to be good enough.

I was suprised they got such a big commit so early when there's so much uncertainty in Austin...Brackin lives up to her billing as a top recruiter. Got 'em sippin' the orange Koolaid.

Hit the nail on the head with sipping the kool-aid. Hell I hope she stays for the simple fact that she seems to do less with more. No sense in them getting rid of her and putting someone in there who knows what they're doing. They're always going to get recruits just because they are Texas. Better them do it with a less-than-perfect coach.

I can't ever remember an A&M or Texas kid swapping schools in recent memory -- men or women. If Bultman works his magic with McElhaney, there's little reason the Ags should ever lose a recruiting battle with Brackin again. I see this situation as a great potential opportunity for Bultman and the A&M program.

Spicewood - Yes it is possible for McElhaney to compete this season provided Brackin signed off on her release.

[This message has been edited by Look Out Below (edited 10/8/2010 11:09p).]

Maybe McElhaney was caught up in Cole Cragin (also from Friendswood) going to tu to swim for Eddie.

Hopefully Bultman turns her into a 1:58 IMer and a 52 flyer.

Isn't it sad that the Texas women will always get the best recruits, so long as the men are really good and the football team is good? I wonder how often Eddie Reese drops in on KB's recruits when they're visiting campus. I think there's been little doubt over the past few years who is doing a better job at developing swimmers between KB and SB...

I have no idea if Eddie helps the women's team in any way other than by reputation.

It sometimes shocks me how good of a recruiter Brackin is.

I think it is too bad collegeswimming.com is such a wimpy site. It is so heavily moderated that there is no sense of "underground" chatter about various swim programs. Maybe if it were more free spirited the Ags rep would be better and tu's (women) would be lower.

I actually think the collegeswimming.com forums aren't moderated well enough as opposed to too moderated...they get spammed a lot for one...I'm friends with the owner and he's told me he is literally the only person he allows to moderate them.

I think there do tend to be some fairly heated threads on there...unfortunately there seem to be more Texas hawks on there than A&M ones -- though I do see the tide changing some in recent years which is nice to see.

Saddest thing about that site is it is run by a very small number of people that have very busy full-time jobs that can't pay as much attention to the site as they would like to...The site isn't bad but it could be so much better...I know the owner would love to have more original content...It's tough for them to compete against say Swimming World who employs a number of full-time staff (though they do cover more than just college). As proof, there's even a thread on the Division I forum put there by the editor looking for people to help chip in stories.

Yeah, like you said, I could go for some more original content from CS...right now it's basically an aggregation of press releases, and they got lucky that their forum took off like it did. Unfortunately, marketing departments aren't going to pay as much to copy and paste press releases as they are to write original content. It is what it is. Some very knowledgeable posters over there, though.

The real problem is that swimming is such a relatively tight-knit community, that everyone who posts there seems to know an insider that told them this and that, but you never get sources, and the rumors seem to be about 50/50. For example, the Hersey rumor...yet she's still on the roster. If she was really taking off, one would imagine that the AD would have addressed it immediately and removed her.

But yeah, A&M does get a small share over there, especially the coaches. My real wonder is how many of the recruits spend enough time on those forums to where they matter. Most of the top-level recruits that I've been around at the very least didn't make it obvious that they were on collegeswimming, until they get to school at least. I've seen a few verified posts by male recruits on various sites (Jameson Hill, for one), but not too much from the ladies.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 10/11/2010 6:39a).]

I think CS.com is less interesting since their redesign. It has very low activity overall. Even less since everyone quit arguing about swim suits.

I do agree there used to be too much smack talk, but now there is almost none. There is no fun at all.

So, one player tranferring signifies problems at Texas, huh?

I recall some folks (on other boards) saying there must be a problem with Brackin because Mary Beck de-committed a couple of years ago. Well, Beck later signs with UC-Berkeley, then transfers to LSU after one season, and now isn't even on the Tigers' roster. So, clearly that was all Brackin's fault.

FYI -- 5-star Kelsey LeNeave of Conroe just committed to Texas.

Getting 6-star Jaques out of California is quite the coup for Kim for 2011; let's see if she can land fellow 6-stars Rebecca Rainer and Amber McDermott, as well, before we start digging her grave.

[This message has been edited by QuitetObserver (edited 10/12/2010 7:44a).]

QO, this transfer isn't the only problem that Brackin has had. Check out the results from NCAA's...12th place finish? With that talent? The DQ's? Etc. Etc.

Also, the rumor swirling around is that Hersey is leaving the team. At the very least, I've heard that she's EXTREMELY unhappy there, and the only reason she'd stick around is out of loyalty to her teammates (and the ability to train with Eddie in the summers).

Mcelhany's transfer is not the only thing going down in Austin....