5 Big Things From 2014 M. NCAA’s #2: Swimming’s New Rivalry

The rivalries in swimming tend to be biggest in extending beyond conference borders. Sure, the traditional collegiate rivalries exist – North Carolina/Virginia, Florida/Georgia/Auburn, Cal/Stanford.

But every few years, we roll into a new rivalry, a rivalry that steps outside of those intra-conference spats, and in the 2010’s, that rivalry is the Cal men vs. the Texas men.

And while in many college sports, especially football, those huge in-season rivalries are what drive the sport, in swimming, it’s the ones at the end of the year that accurately capture the mood.

In the 1930’s, the battle was Michigan vs. Ohio State. Then in the 1940’s, Yale joined to make that a three-way slug fest for the next 20 years or so.

In the 60’s, USC entered the battle, joined by a different Big Ten team, the Indiana Hoosiers (who with the likes of Mark Spitz won the title from 1968-1973, with USC placing as the runner-up for 4 of those 6 seasons).

In the later part of the 70’s, there wasn’t really a great rivalry, as USC dominated the scene for a few years, and then a rotating cast of the typical powerhouses cycled through from about 1978-1987, for a decade or so.

Then in the late 80’s, Eddie Reese and Texas rose to power, and for the next 10 years it was them and Stanford, until the late 90’s when Auburn showed they would be a force for some time to come, and then those three (Auburn, Texas, and Stanford) carried things up and through the supersuit era in 2009. Those years were quite bitter – Auburn was the “foreigners,” Texas was the “no-foreigners,” and Stanford just did its own thing out on the West coast.

Since then, Auburn and Stanford haven’t really been in the team title conversation, though both remain top 10 programs, and it’s become Cal vs. Texas.

This rivalry may have seen its peak last weekend in Austin, where the two teams were deadlocked at less than a 10 point margin going into the meet’s final day – after a couple of years of blowouts and runaways, there was some excitement in the final session for a change. That excitement is what was badly needed to show just how great this rivalry has become.

Statistically, the two teams are the dominant of this decade so far. They have owned the top two spots at NCAA’s every year since 2010 except for one (2013), with Texas winning one of those titles and Cal winning three.

The two teams were the overwhelming fan bases in attendance as well. Texas, as the host team, turned out great support not just from parents, but from young alumni and even the student body. Cal travels better than anybody in the country and complete with about a dozen grown men dressed as grizzly-bears, they matched Texas’ volume.

The result was a chamber of deafening noise throughout the meet, which brought alive the other parent groups. For anybody who had never been to an NCAA Championship meet before, this was about the finest example of what the event can bring.

Searching even deeper reveals more clues about what makes this rivalry so good. Texas has an unbelievable diving group, whereas Cal has none – but Cal has brought in a big freshman diver for next season, because they know that time is thin where they can compete with the Longhorns without one.

Texas men’s coach Eddie Reese is on the tail-end of his career. Longhorn fans never want to hear it, but at 72-years old, there’s only so much longer that he can remain at the helm of the warship that he’s built, be that 2 years, 6 years, through Rio, through Tokyo: at some point in the not-so-distant future, he will step back and find a different and less taxing way to be involved with swimming.

Dave Durden, on the other hand, is the ‘new kid on the block’ at Cal. When he got the Cal job, to be totally frank, there were a lot of vocal Cal alumni who didn’t get it, who didn’t like it. From 2005 through 2007 at Maryland, things were pretty lackluster. But Durden has more-than-proven his worth in 7 years at Cal, as the only coach in that period to win more than one NCAA title.

Both teams are built similarly – much depth everywhere, with some fragileness in their breaststroke groups. They build their seasons similarly two, as the two were the two programs which had the most improvements as compared to seed at NCAA’s – showing that the philosophy of ‘save it all for nationals’ rides in both programs.

Even on a macro-level, the two are a great matchup. Both are located in hipster paradises (Austin and Berkeley) and are academically two of the best public universities in the country.

Focusing in with a microscope, they got the two super-recruits in the high school class of 2013: Ryan Murphy and Jack Conger. Murphy got the upper-hand, both individually and in a team sense, in year one, but that rivalry has been on-going for years, and it’s fitting now that they swim for rival programs at the NCAA level.

At the end of the day, though, it’s exciting meets that builds the interest, and these two are doing that. With neither team having glaring weaknesses in their lineups, It’s hard for either team to build a lead early enough that the meet’s out-of-touch after the first day or two at NCAA’s.

There will be other title winners. There always has been, even through the years of the big rivalries, and the existence of the big rivalries around them is what makes those one-off or two-off winners more exciting. Michigan last year, Michigan in 1995, Cal won a couple in 1979 & 1980, and those titles  become highlights.

But for now, college swimming is riding the Texas-Cal rivalry, and if the meets continue to be anything like the one we saw last week in Austin, who knows: maybe they’ll even be able to get Indy rocking again in 2017 when the men’s and women’s meets go back there after some pretty lackluster crowds (and results) in 2013.

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Patrick Brundage
9 years ago

Braden,

You are usually such a great reporter and with great insights, but this slander about Eddie retiring has got to stop

Reply to  Patrick Brundage
9 years ago

…slander? All they said that he is going to retire at some point. He’s 72. It isn’t a stretch statement. Lighten up.

Reply to  Braden Keith
9 years ago

Sorry, Braden, I guess I need to remember that sarcasm doesn’t always translate!

Count me as one of those Longhorn fans who don’t want to hear about Eddie’s retirement … of course, I know he has to and will retire and that your timeframes (2 years and 6 years) are likely timeframes.

THIS WAS A GREAT ARTICLE … sorry for the mis-communique. #mybad

Justin Pollard
9 years ago

This certainly has been the rivalry of the 2010s so far! I wouldn’t say Cal has a fragile breaststroke group though … 2 A-finalists in the 200, and 1 in the 100? If that’s fragile, what do you consider strong?!

Neptune
9 years ago

Hard to fill sits especially for prelims when the meet is Thursday, Friday, Saturday and people have to work and go to school. The huge majority of spectators are family and swimming alum and will always be. Look at the regional games for the basketball tourney and those seats are only a quarter to a half full. In reality single session passes are not that expensive if local club kids parents want to bring them. I am guessing the NCAA is just not promoting to them and if not USA Swimming should help promote it so kids are aware and exposed to a great meet.

Patrick Brundage
Reply to  Neptune
9 years ago

Agreed. Why not make it at least a Friday to Sunday meet?

MarkB
Reply to  Patrick Brundage
9 years ago

Some schools can’t swim on Sunday.

PsychoDad
9 years ago

There were a lot of empty seats, especially in prelims. Why didn’t they give those seats at good discount to local age group swimmers?

Reply to  PsychoDad
9 years ago

Because the NCAA is football/basketball centric and in those sports the bowl and tournament games are almost always poorly attended and it doesn’t matter since the TV contracts are fat. So they never have to think of ways to put butts in the seats and probably don’t have policies for doing something logical like letting kids in cheap.

liquid4TheBears
9 years ago

Thanks, great article. Glad to hear the atmosphere was a barn-burner and props to all the Cal fans that traveled to Austin. Especially the ones in the crazy bear costumes. Hope they can make it to Indy next year too.

But for the last 5 years, it’s virtually been only a swimming rivalry, so I’m glad to hear that Cal is bringing in a top diver to hopefully make it more of a swimming/diving rivalry rather than virtually forfeiting 3 events. They will need any of those potential points badly, as Texas is up and coming, and has more returning points overall next year.

PAC12BACKER
Reply to  liquid4TheBears
9 years ago

Sure, you and the Cal bear costumed fans can all just mosey on over to Indy next year. Tell me how the meet is over there, because I might just be a couple states west of y’all. :).

duckduckgoose
Reply to  liquid4TheBears
9 years ago

Bill Powers, the UT President, is a former Cal frat boy. He was bummed he wasn’t wearing one of the bear suits…

Coach Chackett
Reply to  liquid4TheBears
9 years ago

Bears: head to Iowa if you want to see your team swim in 2015. http://swimswam.com/iowa-greensboro-host-2015-ncaa-championships-future-hosts-selected-2018/

Divedove
Reply to  liquid4TheBears
9 years ago

Cal is not bringing in a top tier diver in Finn Scribbick. If he makes NCAAs his freshman year I’ll be very surprised. He finished 8th on 1 meter and failed to final (top 12) on 3 meter and platform at this past junior nationals. Considering the results of this years freshman class, a far superior freshman class in comparison, nobody scored more than 5 points except Hixon. Scribbick is not a game changer for the bears. Just some diving insight for anyone interested…slightly doubtful haha.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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