All-American distance freestyler Nicholas Caldwell has parted ways with the Florida Gators swimming program, he confirmed this week, leaving head coach Gregg Troy without the centerpiece of a very strong sophomore class.
Caldwell took his exit shortly before the recent Ohio State Invite, and says that he’s going to take the break to weigh his options with his family before deciding to move forward. We reached out to Florida for comment, but received no response.
Caldwell was the #6-rated recruit in the high school class of 2011, coming from the big-time distance program at the Sarasota YMCA. In his year-and-a-half with the Gators, he battled several injuries including a bad back problem coming out of high school; for the first part of this season, he was swimming in a cast as well (there’s been no official reveal about what the nature of that injury was).
Despite the adversity, however, Caldwell showed how dangerous he can be when he’s healthy. He swam a 15:15 in the mile and a 4:21.0 in the 500 free: two events where training interruptions can be hugely difficult to recover from. He also split a 1:36.3 as a member of Florida’s 7th-place 800 free relay at last year’s NCAA Championships.
Caldwell, if he chooses to continue his career, will be a hot-ticket for a possible mid-year transfer, if not for next season. He has a ton of potential, and one of his former Florida teammates that we spoke with described him as both being “really serious about working hard” and “a genius”. He should have no shortage of offers if he chooses to transfer.
This is the second such situation we’ve seen this year that will have a big impact on the top-10 of the men’s race at NCAA’s; Texas’ All-American breaststroker/IM’er Nick D’Innocenzo, the 2012 Most Outstanding Swimmer from the Big 12 Championships, left that program this semester as well.
There was a piece on outside the lines on Espn about these college coaches torturing athletes unfortunately they only covered football. They should know there are others in other sports.
it is a shame how many are run out of the florida program. i personally know several swimmers who attended UF and who have left because of abuse. there were only 5 or 6 girls to graduate last year and there were 19 who began in that recruiting class as freshman. and even more boys quit. what a shame. something should be done about these coaching problems. there is more to proper coaching than taking praise for ryan lochte’s success.
Sorry, I have been away on a family vacation and should have responded earlier to one comment. I can assure you that what I said in quotes was indeed said to a swimmer. It was more than four years ago, so the current swimmer was obviously not on the deck or in the pool when it happened.
As to Troy’s success; he has clearly had some fantastic swimmers and results over his years at both Florida and Bolles. However, after much consideration I am personally in the camp that his results are well below average.
I come to that conclusion by looking at the results based on the dollars invested and competitive advantages that the Florida program has… Read more »
Just an FYI on the Florida Bright Futures scholarship awards. Each year the award have diminished. As of this years graduating class, the awards are as follows:
2 levels of award available
Fl Academic Scholars 3.5 GPA 1280 SAT Minimum V/M or 28 Min ACT and 100 hours community service equals 100.00 per academic hour.
Fl Medallion Scholars 3.0 GPA 1020 SAT Minimum V/M or 22 min ACT and
75 hours community service equals 75.00 per academic hour.
So someone taking 15 credit hours a semester would have either 3000.00 a year or 2250.00 a year in award amount.
Florida instate costs:
Tuition 6170 yr
books 1080 yr
room 5240 yr
food… Read more »
Amen brother. Totally agree
And the only title was won thanks to the divers
Yeah, because managing to get 12 girls to score points out of the 14 you brought (12 swimmers, 2 divers), winning the 200 FR and finishing top 3 in every other relay and having what was probably the best final day of any NCAA meet of any team in recent history by not only getting every girl into a night swim but also having every single one of them either improve or equal their placements from prelims to finals had NOTHING to do with it.
As mentioned before, Nick is an excellent student. I wouldn’t put it past him transferring to an Ivy. Some of the Ivy’s have excellent distance programs.
good luck to nick caldwell in his new adventures.
as for the “issues” at u of fla, etc… swimmers looking to go to any school have the opportunity to talk to current and former members of the school/team. recruits can develop their own picture and make their decision.
but, if the recruit is going to a school because of the “glamour” of the school without doing research, there lies the problem.
not every coach is for every swimmer. not every program is for every swimmer. some kids thrive on coaches who are vocal (dont confuse this with derogatory), animated and throw out some pretty kick-ass workouts. i dont know or have ever met beisel or the coaching staff at u… Read more »
Great advice! And…..there is no shame in making changes ! People have to take care of themselves first even if they love the school and are invested in their teammates. Listen carefully to what those in authority say…..show respect, but filter carefully what is being directed at you. Evaluate what is true (carefully) and discount the rest…..whether its a swim coach, a boss, a teammate or a friend…..if you know you are doing you have good values, and you believe in yourself….don’t let anyone cause you to internalize malicious or habitually harmful messages about you. This is how you truly teach people how to treat you. We cannot control what other people do. I just pray there is more support… Read more »
I can tell you that’s absolutely incorrect. It wasn’t that long ago that Florida had the highest GPA of any team in the top 10, men or women, and with kids majoring in things like Aeronautical Engineering and Pre-Med, that doesn’t happen without serious work outside of the pool. Academics are taken very seriously.
The program isn’t made for everyone, but then again, no program is a fit for everyone. It has, however, produced a number of swimmers who have gone on to do fantastic things at the NCAA and international levels.
-Stephanie Proud and Gemma Spofforth were pretty much written off by British Swimming as has-beens before coming to Florida. Look at what they were able to do… Read more »
Thank you josh!!!!
and that’s that.
I mean, that’s all well and good. I don’t think anyone can argue Coach Troy hasn’t developed some fantastic swimmers; he clearly has. But what the other side is arguing is that when it doesn’t work, it just destroys people. (I’ve got no insider info here or anything, I’m just taking these people at their word. It could be pure BS for all I know, and honestly, I’m not particularly invested either way.)
Basically, listen to Alec Baldwin here. One person in that room might turn into the greatest salesman of all time after sitting through that. Another might just cry for weeks and never sell anything ever again. So this argument boils down to,… Read more »
Best choice for Caldwell: Bloomington, IN will mend his body and soul. Go IU.! Worst Choice: Michigan.
ok, guess i’ll add my 2 cents……most, if not all swimmers know what they are getting into if they attend u f, especially the florida kids. unfortunately, sometimes it’s even harder then anticipated. my son, who was a top 10 n a g swimmer and state champ, went on an offical visit and came back not wanting any part of u f. it’s not for everyone. i was told by a swim parent of a heavily recruited swimmer……..troy said he wasn’t interested in the development of the person, only the swimmer. needless to say, this swimmer is going elsewhere. do you think most coaches feel this way? was it a slip by troy? what is the coaches responsibility? any opinions… Read more »
Amen, Coach T. Your son is right on the money and that wasn’t a slip by Troy. Actions speak louder than words. Its too bad that others aren’t more perceptive. When ASCA and USA Swimming is telling everyone that a certain coach is great, people that don’t know the real story make mistakes. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of great options for college swimming in Florida right now except on the women’s side with Randy Horner at FIU.
Water board–again what does your personal vendetta stem from with troy? Clearly you can’t keep your emotions out of this and look at his accomplishments from his teams and athletes thru the years. I truly have no dog in the fight on this one, but come on……….randy horner at FIU? Really? Really? Looks like you may have started your new years celebration a little early.
You cannot separate the two, the personality and the results, just like you can’t separate the actions outside the pool from results. IF the allegations of his behavior are true, you cannot take that away and call him a great coach.
Do we have to bring up Rick Curl?
This is the kind of thought process allowed child molesters to stay in the sport, looking the other way, the meet results justifying the behavior.
Not sure what you have against FIU or FSU either. Lesser programs without a history don’t necessarily make them bad or not worthy. Some of the best college coaches in the nation are at Mid-Major DI, DII, DIII and NAIA schools.