2023 Swammy Awards: U.S. Coach of the Year – Bob Bowman (ASU/Sun Devil Swimming)

See all of our 2023 Swammy Awards here.

U.S. COACH OF THE YEAR: BOB BOWMAN (ARIZONA STATE/SUN DEVIL SWIMMING)

Bob Bowman led his athletes to numerous successes across 2023 both internationally and collegiately, earning him U.S. Coach of the Year honors.

The rise of the Arizona State men’s NCAA team continued during the 2022-23 season, culminating with them giving the Cal men a good run for the national title in March.

During Bowman’s first year as head coach of the Sun Devils, the men’s team finished 44th—tied for last among teams that scored—at the NCAA Championships in 2016. Seven years later, the team was in the hunt for the NCAA title before the Golden Bears pulled away on the final day, with ASU ultimately placing second in the team race, 52 points shy of Cal.

Bowman led sophomore Leon Marchand to the best single-meet performance in NCAA history, as the Frenchman shattered NCAA and U.S. Open Records in the 200 breast (1:46.91), 200 IM (1:36.34) and 400 IM (3:28.82) while delivering some scintillating splits on the ASU relays. Although they didn’t win any titles, the team’s relays were phenomenal, placing inside the top-three in four of the five events.

A few weeks prior to NCAAs, Bowman led the Sun Devils to their first Pac-12 title in program history.

Following the conclusion of the NCAA season, Bowman and ASU associate Herbie Behm led a large contingent of swimmers to the 2023 World Championships, including U.S. team members Regan Smith, Olivia Smoliga, Lindsay Looney, Chase Kalisz and Ryan Held.

Smith was on fire throughout the long course season, including breaking the super-suited American Record in the women’s 200 fly in early June (2:03.87) and notching the fourth-fastest 200 back swim of all-time (2:03.80) at U.S. Nationals at the end of the month.

At the World Championships, Bowman was the head coach of the U.S. men’s team, but his work with his international swimmers was on full display.

In the men’s 400 IM, Marchand broke Michael Phelps‘ 15-year-old world record, clocking 4:02.50 on the opening night of competition to erase the mark of 4:03.84 established by Phelps—who was coached by Bowman for his entire career—at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The swim ended a run of more than 20 years in which Phelps had held the record in the event.

Marchand went on to win two more golds in the men’s 200 IM (1:54.82) and 200 fly (1:52.43), the two other events Phelps dominated throughout his career, in personal best fashion. The 200 IM swim marked a new European Record and made Marchand just the third swimmer sub-1:55 in the event, joining Phelps and Ryan Lochte (Wang Shun has since joined them).

Hubert Kos, a Hungarian who had an impressive freshman year at ASU that included a third-place finish in the men’s 200 back at NCAAs, was also on fire at the World Championships, highlighted by his upset victory in the 200 back.

Kos, who entered 2023 with a lifetime best of 1:57.64, got all the way down to 1:54.14 in the Fukuoka final, upending defending champion Ryan Murphy. Kos also made the final of the 100 back, placing seventh in a Hungarian Record of 53.11.

Among the Americans, Smith led the way among Bowman swimmers with four individual medals and five total, winning gold on the U.S. women’s medley relay and earning a trio of silvers in the backstroke events behind Australian Kaylee McKeown, including an American Record in the 50 back (27.10). Smith also won bronze in the 200 fly.

Held won bronze after leading off the U.S. men’s 400 free relay, while Smoliga picked up a pair of silver medals on the women’s and mixed free relays. Kalisz placed fourth in the men’s 400 IM, and Looney took eighth in the women’s 200 fly.

Success for Bowman’s swimmers continued throughout the back half of the year, including breakout sprinter Jonny Kulow winning six medals at the Pan Am Games in November, including a pair of individual silvers in the men’s 50 and 100 free. Another ASU swimmer, pro Jay Litherland, won gold in the men’s 400 IM.

Paige Madden, who announced that she had joined the ASU pro group in September, also had notable swims at the Games, earning triple gold in the women’s 400 free, 800 free and 800 free relay.

Most recently, the Sun Devils have been lighting up the NCAA throughout the first half of the 2023-24 season, including nation-leading performances from Kos and breakout freshman Ilya Kharun.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

• Dave Durden (Cal Berkeley/California Aquatics) – Durden led his stable of swimmers to an incredible 2023, which kicked off with a second consecutive men’s NCAA championship title. Cal was an absolute force despite winning just one event at the meet, with Destin Lasco repeating as the 200 back champion. The Bears had numerous runner-up finishes, including going under the 200 and 400 free relay all-time records coming into the meet despite placing second to Florida. Where Durden’s swimmers really showed out, however, was in the summer, when he put six swimmers on the U.S. World Championship team, including massive long course breakouts from Lasco, Jack Alexy and Dare Rose. At the World Championships, Cal backstroke showed out as expected, as Ryan Murphy won gold in the men’s 100 back and took silver in the 200 back, while Hunter Armstrong won gold in the men’s 50 back and bronze in the 100 back. Alexy’s breakout performance at U.S. Nationals proved to only be a warm-up for what he did in Fukuoka, as the 20-year-old emerged as the best U.S. sprinter at present with a pair of individual silver medals in the 50 free (21.57) and 100 free (47.31), both big lifetime bests. He also won five relay medals. The same went for Rose, as he roared to bronze in the men’s 100 fly (50.46). Murphy, Rose and Alexy made the victorious U.S. men’s medley relay a squad made up of 75% Cal team, joined by Nic Fink as they set a new Championship Record. Lasco also collected a relay bronze on the men’s free relay, while another Cal swimmer, Abbey Weitzeil, won four relay medals and performed well individually (fourth in the women’s 50 free, sixth in the 100 free).
• Todd DeSorbo (Virginia/Cavalier Aquatics) – Like Durden, DeSorbo continued his run of NCAA success to start off 2023, winning a third consecutive women’s national title for the University of Virginia. The Cavaliers were absolutely dominant at the meet, sweeping all five relays and winning six individual events, including a three-for-three sweep from outgoing senior Kate Douglass—all in record fashion. Gretchen Walsh also set a new all-time record in the 100 back. At U.S. Nationals, DeSorbo put Douglass, G. Walsh, Alex Walsh and Maxine Parker on the World Championship team, with Douglass showing phenomenal form with a new U.S. Open Record in the 200 IM (2:07.09) and new lifetime bests in the 100 free (52.57) and 200 breast (2:21.22) en route to qualification. G. Walsh also hit best times to qualify in the 50 free, 50 fly, 100 fly and 400 free relay, while A. Walsh had a breakthrough swim in the 400 IM to add that event to her schedule alongside the 200 IM. At the World Championships, Douglass went 1-2 with A. Walsh in the 200 IM and added a silver in the 200 breast, while G. Walsh won bronze in the 50 fly. Douglass, G. Walsh and Parker also combined to win seven relay medals, with Douglass factoring into four of the U.S. relay teams.
• Anthony Nesty (Florida/Gator Swim Club) – Nesty led Katie Ledecky, Bobby Finke and Canadian Josh Liendo to strong showing at the World Championships, which came after he guided the University of Florida to successful finishes of the 2022-23 collegiate season. The Florida women won the SEC title for the first time since 2009 in February, while the men’s team set three all-time relay records at the NCAA Championships, including one that had been on the books since 2008. Liendo, who played a prominent role on those relays, also won the 100 free as a freshman to rank #2 all-time in the event. Nesty then put four swimmers on the U.S. Worlds team, with Jake Mitchell and Kieran Smith joining Ledecky and Finke. Ledecky continued her history-making career with repeat titles in the women’s 800 and 1500 free, also earning silver in the 400 free and on the women’s 800 free relay, while Finke dropped one of the best performances among American swimmers this year in the men’s 1500 free, taking a close runner-up to Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui with the third-fastest swim ever (14:31.59). Finke also set an American Record to earn bronze in the 800 free (7:38.67), while Mitchell and Smith factored on the men’s 800 free relay which won silver. Liendo set a new Canadian Record en route to winning silver in the men’s 100 fly (50.34).

PREVIOUS WINNERS

• 2022: Anthony Nesty (Florida/Gator Swim Club)
• 2021: Todd DeSorbo (Virginia)
• 2020: Ray Looze (Indiana Swim Club/Indiana)
• 2019: Greg Meehan (Alto Swim Club/Stanford)
• 2018: Dave Durden (California Aquatics/Cal)
• 2017: Greg Meehan (Alto Swim Club/Stanford)
• 2016: Dave Durden (California Aquatics/Cal)
• 2015: David Marsh (SwimMAC Carolina)