The American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) awarded Anthony Nesty the 2024 George Haines Coach of the Year title at the ASCA World Clinic in Orlando, Florida.
The George Haines Coach of the Year award is given annually to the coach “whose effectiveness has contributed the most towards American swimming excellence at the world level.” Nesty has won this honor two out of the last three times it has been awarded. He won in 2022, and Dave Durden claimed the prize in 2023. Durden was nominated again this year, as was Texas’ Bob Bowman, Virginia’s Todd DeSorbo, and Stanford’s Greg Meehan.
In March, Nesty led the Florida women’s team to a third-place finish at the 2024 Women’s NCAA Championships, the team’s best finish in 14 years. The men’s team finished third at their NCAA Championships a week later, led by Josh Liendo going three-for-three in his individual events. The double 3rd place trophies made Florida the best combined program in the nation during the 2023-24 season.
As the focus turned toward the 2024 Olympic Games, Nesty continued to help his Gators find success. He put five current Florida-based swimmers on the U.S. Olympic team, including Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, Bobby Finke, Emma Weyant, and Kieran Smith. While Ledecky qualified for her fourth Olympics, Dressel completed his comeback to the sport by qualifying for his third Games, while Finke, Weyant, and Smith all made their second Olympic team.
He traveled with them to Paris as the head coach of the U.S. Men’s Olympic team. There, he watched as Ledecky became the first woman to win the same individual Olympic event four consecutive times as she claimed gold in the women’s 800 freestyle, becoming the most decorated female Olympic swimmer. Ledecky also repeated as the 1500 freestyle Olympic champion, won bronze in the 400 freestyle, and helped the U.S. women’s 4×200 freestyle relay to silver.
All of the Gators on the U.S. Olympic team earned medals in Paris. Dressel helped the American men to gold in the 4×100 freestyle relay on the opening night of finals, Weyant got back on the 400 IM Olympic podium for the second-straight Games with bronze, and Smith anchored the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay’s Olympic redemption as the team won silver after missing the medals in Tokyo.
The American men struggled to find the top step of the podium in Paris. It was Florida-based Finke who played the hero for the American men’s team, saving their century-old streak of winning at least one individual Olympic gold. Earlier in the meet, Finke claimed silver in the 800 freestyle, but he saved his best for the 1500 freestyle—the last individual men’s event of the meet. There, he put together the swim of his life, breaking from his usual style and setting the pace early. He held and defended his Olympic crown in the event, swimming a blistering 14:30.67 and wiping Sun Yang’s world record from 2012 off the books.
With Finke’s win on the last day of the meet, both he and Ledecky repeated as the 1500 freestyle Olympic champion, having both won the race in Tokyo.
ASCA also honored Abi Liu with Impact Coach of the Year, which recognizes “coaches who have committed extraordinary time and energy to positively impact the lives of others through their dedication, hard work, and service. The organization also inducted Princeton’s Robb Orr, Oakland’s Pete Hovland, and Kenyon’s Jim Steen into the ASCA Hall of Fame.
I’ll give Nesty a lot of credit for Bobby Finke’s career progression. He’s gotten significantly faster every year for at least the last 5 years.
But the rest of the US men’s team significantly underperformed in Paris, and as the head coach of the US men’s team in Paris, he has to take some of the blame. Did he really deserve the award for being the coach “whose effectiveness has contributed the most towards American swimming excellence at the world level”? I’d say no.
Wow..talk about politically motivated..there is no question who should have gotten this award..the man who won NCAAs, and the man whose swimmers won 13? Medals in Paris!