Thought I would make the obligatory thread, with the new position under Bultman opening up, do you think they'll go young and inexperienced or some one with experience to keep up the tradition of excellence that they are used to.

Also Duchac will be sorely missed I'm sure, best of luck to her in Arizona

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive...they weren't in her case.

Don't have a clue where they're going to pull the next assistant from...they might be in a better position now to get a more experienced assistant than they were when they hired Duchac. Probably, they're going to look at teams that are 10-15 in the country, from major conferences, and see who they can poach from there (moving up the ladder, so-to-speak).

I would hope you are right Blastoff...

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I would hope you are right Blastoff...

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THIS!!! because I can see multiple routes that I definitely don't think would be good directions to go in. Anyone who's been watching the program closely might get what I'm alluding to.

Not that they would be bad, but because I don't think they would be good in that setting, that's all.

I would love to see someone come in that perhaps specializes a bit more on the sprinting side of things...

[This message has been edited by Aquabullet (edited 5/19/2011 9:14a).]

Duchac was a sprinter herself at Purdue so she had real world experience.

I think many young coaches don't know enough about physiology and training and would normally do things as they were trained (which is often wrong). I imagine she learned a lot from Bultman.

I don't think our ability to train and develop sprinters is an issue. Maria Sommer is a great example, and Triin developed very nicely here. We just haven't recruited any top sprinters lately.

We saved $1M replacing Turgeon with BK. Maybe Byrne will spend just a bit of that on swimming. I can only hope.

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We saved $1M replacing Turgeon with BK. Maybe Byrne will spend just a bit of that on swimming. I can only hope.

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HAHAH I love swimming as much as the next guy, but no way this happens

@Spicewood - I don't think Triin developed to her full potential, or met her full potential at major meets. I realize I might step on a few toes saying that but it's my opinion.

That aside, developing 2 "true" sprinters over 6 years (I think that was the Triin/Sommer overlap) in a sport that rewards sprinting heavily (4 of your 5 NCAA relays are sprints) is (again, in my opinion) not nearly enough to get the women's team to where they are aiming.

soooo the 100 free isnt a sprint anymore?

Yeah, if you're going to call 400 relays sprint relays, then I think you have to call Julia Wilkinson a sprinter. And Alia was pretty quick in the sprints and versatile, even if her NC was in the 200 breast.

Our 200 medley was 5th at NCAA's with two freshmen and a sophomore. That's pretty good development.

I agree that our sprinting isn't good enough to win a team National Championship. But considering where some of these girls were when they got here...with stepped up recruiting, there's no reason it can't be.

Aqaubullet - I agree Triin didn't perform well at NCAAs. Yet she swam a 21.93 50, a damn good time. That would have been 3rd at NCAAs this year. As for developing fully - I really don't know because as a foreigner, I didn't really know what her history was before coming to A&M.

I still think we haven't recruited anyone in a while who was a national class sprinting star in high school. Marissa Jasek was a 5A champ in 2005 with a 23.34 and improved to 22.72 at A&M. Erica Dittmer swam a 23.31 improving to 22.92 this year. Kelsey Amundsen beat Dittmer at state in 2010 with a 23.29 and swam a 22.20 this year at tu.

It still chaps me that Maddie Locus went to Georgia. Her 22.85 would be 8th fastest ever at A&M.

No doubt our sprinting was not good this year. It took a 1:28 to medal in the 200 free relay at NCAAs this year - that means 4 girls swimming 22.0. We were nowhere near that.

The way swimming is going, especially in short course, it isn't even a stretch to call the 4x200 a sprint. 200 SC yards freestyle (to the NC finalists) is bordering on an all out sprint these days.
4x100? Yeah, that's a sprint...

With regards to Wilkinson, I would say that she was a very, very good swimmer. but was she a "true" sprinter? I think that's a very debatable topic...

This is why I used the term "true", yes those girls were very good, but like Blastoff said, our sprint group is not good enough to take relays to National Championships and I think we all agree that's where the women are aiming?

So, to get back to my original idea, I would like to see the new assistant coach be someone with a very strong, sprint specialist background because we will need a strong, "true" sprint group to contend for the title. and the right coach with the right rep will help bring in those recruits...

THIS X 10: 'But considering where some of these girls were when they got here...with stepped up recruiting, there's no reason it can't be.'

Wilkinson was anything and everything we needed her to be. Don't think for a second she wouldn't have been dropping sub-22 splits had they focused on solely her sprint free. She was basically right there anyway.

LOB - Wilkinson probably could have been an NCAA breaststroker if that's what she decided to be. That's how good she is and how well she did with our coaches.

But if we want girls that can flat start 22.50 or better, we need to recruit more girls that flat start 23 low in high school or better. If we sign four girls like Sommer, I bet only one improves like she did. Not because of coaching, but because most girls that are 24 in the 50 in high school just aren't that good.

Agreed Spicewood. There will be a few in this incoming class at least.

Now here's the question. Often times (not sure in our program, but in many) the assistants have a heavy hand in recruiting. Nothing personal to Duchac, but I don't think that she had much on her resume to draw big recruits (though, now that she's got Arizona, she might be able to).

For what it's worth...Augie Busch was just named the UH coach, and he was Arizona's recruiting coordinator. We've gotta hope to Jesus that he doesn't make that program relevant again...

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Also Duchac will be sorely missed I'm sure

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It's too bad the girls don't get on here very often...I'd love to hear the brutal truth from the inside on this "loss"...

Hmmm, are you implying that the team didn't like her?

Hate to say it, but Arizona is a better gig than us for a swim coach...it would confuse me if Arizona wants her and the A&M team doesn't. If such is true, then hard to blame her for leaving the second Hansen came calling.

[This message has been edited by AGBlastoff (edited 5/21/2011 10:09a).]

Busch was a great hire for the Coogs. They have great facilities and I expect they will improve dramatically. If gets involved in their USAS team I'll consider moving my kid.

Their USA-S team doesn't get to use their great facilities unfortunately...the University charges them too much to rent it. They practice at the old Mischener pool. Which has a hole in it. Literally.

I can assure you the team liked Tracy just fine and that Tracy likely did all she could to make us as good as we could be. We DID have one hell of a freshman class this past year and she had a large hand in that.

As was stated earlier, Arizona is simply a step up at this point in time. They are a top 5 program and have been for years and years; we are a top 10 program and have only been so for the last five. It is likely her final stop before grabbing the reins of a program herself. Not a bad resume to have your only two full-time assistant gigs at A&M and Arizona.

Houston hit a home run getting Augie. The guy is very personable and spent the last decade studying under as good of a collegiate coach as there is in the country in his pops. They may not get to where we are but they will be on the rise. I could see them getting to the LSU/SMU level (top 20-25) fairly quickly.

I think the one thing that's going to hurt Houston's program is the lack of a men's program. As we've discussed many times on here, regardless of whether they train together or have the same coaching staffs, all else equal, I think a high school recruit will choose a program with both men's and women's programs.

UH has a fine pool and very good record with divers. A good/great coach is important, but there are plenty of parents who won't let their kids go to UH. I wouldn't let mine.