2024 SEC Champion Macguire McDuff will not compete for the University of Florida this NCAA season. McDuff, who was a rising senior on the Gator men’s team, confirmed to SwimSwam that he is not “not competing at all anymore” and declined further comment.
The departure comes in contrast with an interview with the Parkersburg News and Sentinel after competing at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, where he shared “This is my final season, my one last ride. I look forward to it being a fun one. It’s been a special thing being part of the team for so long.”
Last season, after winning the 200 freestyle at the 2024 SEC Championships and helping the Gators extend their conference title streak to 12, McDuff contributed to Florida’s 3rd-place finish at the 2024 NCAA Championships. He scored eight points individually but it was the relays where his impact was most strongly felt. He swam on all five, including Florida’s NCAA title-winning 200-medley relay—which set an NCAA record to open the meet—and 200-freestyle relay, where the Gators defended their 2023 title.
McDuff also played a large role in the Gators’ relay successes at the 2023 NCAA Championships; it was that meet where he solidified his role as the Gators’ go-to anchor as he swam that relay leg on the title-winning 200 freestyle relay, 400 medley relay, and 400 freestyle relay, all of which set NCAA records.
Before McDuff departed from the roster, Florida had returned all twenty of its 2024 NCAA relay legs. Now, they need to find someone else to step in as the anchor.
McDuff was also a member of the 2023-2024 USA Swimming National Team and qualified for the final of the men’s 100 free at the 2024 US Olympic Trials, ultimately placing 8th and missing the Olympic Team by two spots.
i have been margires friend for a lomng time so sad to see him leave @margiremcduff good luck buddy
me too buddy, for lonmg time! i loved him. so sad he wont be with us anymore…
This guy is a relay hero. Had so much fun watching him step up when the pressure was on time and time again. At NC’s at Minnesota and then once again this year — he is built for the moment.
Florida will miss him, and swim fans every where, including myself, will certainly miss him as well. Thanks for the memories, MM! God Speed, keep chasing the moment and make it yours.
NO! Such a talented swimmer! I hope Florida starts to turn things around if this is in fact due to the program 🙁 Sad to see him go!
NOOOOOOOOOOOO
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What’s going on in Gainesville?
From Bella publicly calling out the coaching staff, to Vargas dipping out, and now Macguire McChoke (in individual events) being done competing in this bizarre stream of events…
This is not normal
UF’s reputation gets boosted by their pro group. Their college team is a little bit of a mess right now. However, people will see Ledecky, Finke, Kieran, etc. and think everything is amazing.
Liendo had great NCAAs/olympics tho. Wonder if that’s just cuz he can go head2head with Caeleb everyday?
On one of the SS interviews with Caeleb, he mentioned he had not been swimming against Josh. Katie Ledecky did mention how much MM and Caeleb go head to head and really push each other.
Maybe also by 11 straight conference titles for the men and 2 for the women (after a change in leadership). Men’s team has been consistently top 5 with a good amount of 3rd place finishes too. But sure, in addition to that they have a top notch pro group.
Yes, they’re obviously performing well, but they have their fair share of strange situations, like this one. Just a mixed bag.
Not really, but I can see how, as a UGA fan you want that to be true
But the UF college teams are kinda great too. Both teams were 3rd at NCAAs – that’s literally the best combined results of any school in the NCAA. That’s an extremely high-performing “mess” eh?
Can you reference the publicly calling out uf
SS podcast
Which podcast? Her interview post Trials?
Yes
Looks like nestys ways see the departure once again of a young top swimmer at there peak,waiting for him to join his compatriot Steve Yungbluth hopefully sooner rather than later
Maybe his final goal to make the Olympics, and since he wasn’t able to do that, he’s decided to hang it up. Strange though that he wouldn’t try 4 more years if that were the truth, because he’s only, what, 21? Definitely something else going on, maybe an injury we haven’t heard about or conflicts with the team.
He might only be 21 but three years as a pro swimmer, when he’s not likely to be earning much money as a non-Olympian, is a long grind. Also, if he has a career aspirations which involve grad school (law, medicine etc) then he’s looking at not earning any serious wage until his late 20s for a shot at a relay spot which will probably be no more likely than it was this time.
Hopefully goes to his home state program of WVU
His response made it pretty clear that as of right now, he’s not planning on competing any more.
Difficult to speak ill of Florida with all of the success (M&W) they’ve had as of late, but seems as if there may be a concerning trend of poor retention in Gainesville. Kevin Vargas’ departure from the team was a little alarming, and now this makes one think what’s really going on on deck at UF. More on the individual or something to do with the team? Really not trying to make any assumptions but 2 relatively high profile departures from a very successful team can’t go unnoticed
We never heard any more following Jungbluth being fired in the middle of a season either.
And what do you think that implies?
I honestly don’t think it implies anything. Just think transparency is better when possible. Obviously there are potential league issues if they speak to a firing.
McDuff’s statement and declining to further comment sounds like we won’t hear more and a program won’t publicly comment on why someone is leaving without the consent of that person. It’s just a highly unusual situation and the closest comparison I can think of from recent history is a U of M swimmer choosing to not swim at NCs after B1Gs, but even that is very different.
Also Bella Sims basically calling out the coaches at UF on the SS podcast and saying that she needed to get her technique back when she returned to Sandpipers. There’s a bunch of good but some bad too.
I’m curious about this, too. The rumors of bad culture and the disregard for Vargas’ mental health could explain the attrition from such a successful program. Team culture matters- these are student-athletes, not robots.
Not to mention they had lots of women enter the transfer portal last year.
Check out Jessica Strong’s recommitment instagram post. Makes it pretty clear that the environment may not be suitable…
This does not explain McDuff, but when a team has 40-45 swimmers on each team (men & women) you might not get to race/compete much or at all if you are not top 30. Keep training for a year or more and not get to race might not be as much fun. That can explain some transfers, but McDuff does not fall into that category.