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2022 Oceanian Coach of the Year: Dean Boxall
Dean Boxall’s swimmers continued to pile up breakout performances in 2022, earning him the Oceanian Coach of the Year honor for the third time in the past four years.
Ariarne Titmus became the first swimmer to break one of Katie Ledecky’s world records with a 3:56.40 in the 400 freestyle at May’s Australian Championships, resulting in another viral reaction from Boxall on the pool deck. At that same meet, Mollie O’Callaghan (52.49) and Shayna Jack (52.60) threw down the two fastest 100 free times of the year. At June’s World Championships, Elijah Winnington bounced back from a disappointing Tokyo Olympics to triumph in the 400 free.
Boxall’s group St. Peters Western (SPW) swimmers put it all together during the Commonwealth Games held from late July to August in Birmingham, England. O’Callaghan finished only about a tenth of a second behind Titmus in a thrilling 200 free showdown between Boxall’s top pupils. Then they combined along with current SPW trainee Kiah Melverton and former SPW swimmer Madi Wilson to crush a world record in the 4×200 free relay.
By the time Short Course Worlds wrapped earlier this month, O’Callaghan had captured 20 medals across three major international meets this year (Worlds, Commonwealth Games, and SCW). She was a part of five world-record-breaking relays, tying Wilson for most world records currently held by a female swimmer.
Boxall is building a freestyle powerhouse in Brisbane as his swimmers finished with the top five times in the 100 free (between O’Callaghan and Jack), the top three times in the 200 free (between Titmus and O’Callaghan) and the top two times in the 400 free (thanks to Titmus).
Boxall also led his SPW club to the Australian and Queensland Open and Age Group Championships, continuing the squad’s run as the top program in the country and one of the best in the entire world.
Notably, Boxall’s swimmers reached new heights this year even while taking a long-term approach focused on the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“The main thing now is the Paris Games in 2024,” Boxall said in an interview this summer. “Nothing else matters. The athletes that I’ve got, I believe, can do magnificent things in Paris, and I need to make sure I’ve given them enough tools so they will thrive.”
Honorable Mentions:
- Vince Raleigh, Australia – Vince Raleigh guided Zac Stubblety-Cook to a world-record 2:05.95 in the 200 breast at the Australian Championships in May. Stubblety-Cook, the 23-year-old reigning Olympic champion, has been training with Raleigh at the Chandler Aquatic Center in Brisbane since 2017. He also won the 200 breast at Worlds and Commonwealth Games, though he was slightly slower than his world record each time.
- Michael Bohl, Australia – Emma McKeon took a three-month break from the sport at the beginning of the year as she contemplated whether to commit to another grueling Olympic cycle. But when the 28-year-old sprint specialist finally returned to competition at the Commonwealth Games, she came back with a vengeance. With the help of longtime coach Michael Bohl, she wasted no time returning to form by defending her Olympic titles in the 50 free and 100 free while adding a third individual victory in the 50 fly. McKeon also fired off a slew of standout relay performances, including three different splits at Short Course Worlds that rank as the fastest of all time. Oceanian Female Swimmer of the Year Kaylee McKeown also trains under Bohl.
Previous Winners:
- 2015: Simon Cusack
- 2016: Peter Bishop
- 2017: Simon Cusack
- 2018: Dean Boxall
- 2019: Dean Boxall
- 2020: Chris Mooney
- 2021: Dean Boxall
Man this guy is overrated.
I have mixed feelings on this..or maybe that’s the Stockholm syndrome talking.
Oceanic *?
“Oceanian” means “relating to Oceania”.
“Oceanic” means “relating to the Ocean”.
So Oceanian is correct. Although people tend to use them interchangeably so it’s not really a big deal either way.
The title originally said Oceanic (see the URL which is based on the original title).
Kaylee McKeown, the Oceanian female of the year, also trains under Bohl, which is probably relevant. Although he also has Mack and Brendon Smith who both had pretty off years.
I would say the fact he also trains Pallister is highly relevant too, Boxall’s squad overall has had a much better year though and the fact that Cartwright wasn’t even mentioned despite being another one of Boxall’s swimmers with a WR this year says a lot. Bishop probably should of got an honourable mention considering Madi was on all 5 of the same WR relays with Mollie, Kyle with 2 relay WR’s and Temple with 1
Harris (LC Worlds ind bronze plus truckload of LC/SC relay medals) also part of Bishop’s squad. Agree that he probably should’ve made the list.
yes I forgot to mention Meg, I had remembered she was training with him but with all the wr’s at sc worlds I somehow forgot that the 4×1 free was one of them and that she was on it and for the sake of simplifying everyones achievements I was only listing those that set wr’s this year
Given how many top swimmers Bohl coaches and how consistently successful they are I’m really surprised not to see his name on the list of past winners.
Agree Bohle sentiments. Didn’t Boxall serve his “apprenticeship” under Bohle, I thought it was Bohle that set the SPW squad in motion before.Boxall took the reins? Many of the Griffith Squad were in SPW under Bohle before they made the move with their coach a few years back now.
🤷 Might be wrong.
Correct. Bohl built up SPW into a powerhouse squad over 14 years before moving over to head up the Griffith Uni elite program in 2017. Boxall was one of his main subordinates.