Todd DeSorbo is fresh off serving as Team USA’s head women’s coach for swimming at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The UVA head coach reflects on training camp, the Olympic Village, and the Games themselves, happy with the overall performance of the team and himself. DeSorbo also discusses the NCAA realm, including how he’s navigating recruiting in the new NIL landscape and what the Virginia team has in store for this fall.
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In the SwimSwam Podcast dive deeper into the sport you love with insider conversations about swimming. Hosted by Coleman Hodges and Gold Medal Mel Stewart, SwimSwam welcomes both the biggest names in swimming that you already know, and rising stars that you need to get to know, as we break down the past, present, and future of aquatic sports.
Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com
“We had the right personnel on every single relay”…I feel like there was an opportunity for probing into some of the decisions for prelim relays that was missed here.
Such as?
Why was regan used on prelim mixed when she was racing world record holder in 200 bk that night. Same question for Dressel on prelim mixed
Those were the two I was thinking of. A lot of folks find these decisions questionable. Maybe the Dressel decision could be better explained by Nesty, who hopefully agrees to come on the podcast. But since Desorbo emphasized how collaborative the coaching process was, it’s still fair game for him. I remember Berkoff from her podcast interview saying she was sick after the 100 back final but afraid to tell anyone…maybe she eventually did tell the coaching staff and that’s why they didn’t use her on the mixed prelims. But they’d have to talk about that for anyone on the outside to know. Desorbo said how stressful the relay selection process is. Hearing the specifics from this Olympics would’ve been… Read more »
I wonder how many more years the UVA women will stay dominant. 5? 10? Maybe even 15?
I bet it will not be as long as you think. Teams can fall down the rankings pretty easily with just a few roster changes.
it’s true – Stanford was the most dominant team in history in 2019 and then fell off just three years later
That was a unique situation, but yes, teams can fall quicker than you’d think. I believe right before Stanford was really dominant in 2019, CAL was really dominant then fell off a bit.
1968 Indiana Men’s Team has entered the chat
We need to see what a Walshless UVA looks like. This past season was their first title that was won by less than 100 points, likely because they didn’t have Douglass. Alex and Gretchen are both done after this year and are worth 120 points individually, not to mention their relay value. UVA still has a mountain of talent, but Douglass, Walsh and Walsh have been a huge part of their success
It’s funny about dynasties in college swimming. They feel like a runaway train…and yet inevitably they all end. Except maybe the Texas men.
What is hard to account for is the ways in which college swimming is going to change in the next 5, 10, or 15 years. If money becomes the queen-maker that most expect it to be, can Virginia keep up with the resources of places like Texas, Ohio State, A&M, Michigan? Or does the lack of scholarship limits mean that one team can amass most of the top 10 recruits just by being the hot hand?
Todd DeSorbo (and staff) are probably the best coaches of women’s swimmers in the country right now. It’s probably not even… Read more »
However the current dynasty has benefited from extra years of eligibility that no other dynasty had.
Yes, different eras of college sports play under different rules. The Texas dynasty in the 1980s didn’t have the 20 hour rule, for example. The next dynasty probably won’t have scholarship limits.
But in all cases, their opponents also play by the same rules (at least on paper). The Texas women have more 5th years this season than the Virginia women do (5 to 4), for example.
Coleman hits another home run with DeSorbo (mixing my sports metaphors there)!
I agree with them that both the Olympics and US Olympic Trials are TOO long. Seven days should be more than sufficient — like in 1996. No semifinals for 200s would be a very good start!
I would go further and argue to abolish semi-finals completely.
Agreed. I’m not a fan of semis. Prelims mean nothing and is just a time filler with zero benefit.