Dara Torres drops in on the SwimSwam Podcast to recap her first-year experience as head coach of Boston College.
If you followed swimming at any point between the late 1980s and the 2000s, the name Dara Torres likely meant one thing: dominance. The 12-time Olympic medalist was a generational athlete whose longevity and speed redefined what was possible in the sport. Now, Torres is proving that greatness doesn’t stop at the water’s edge.
In her first year as head coach at Boston College, Torres brought the same energy and drive to the Eagles’ program that defined her Olympic career. While the men’s team went 2-4 and the women posted a 2-3 dual meet record, Torres’ inaugural season wasn’t about win-loss columns—it was about laying the foundation for the future, and that foundation looks rock solid.
Boston College Swimmers Rewrote The Record Books
On the men’s side, senior Jack Doyle was a one-man highlight reel. The South Carolina native—already a bronze medalist in the 200 IM at the U.S. Open—torched the 800 free relay leadoff leg with a 1:37.30 and helped his team clock a new program-best 6:29.65. Then he took it up a notch. Doyle threw down a 1:44.62 in the 200 IM at ACCs to snag a second swim in finals and another school record. And just for good measure, he time-trialed the 100 breast in 53.77, rewriting that record too.
On the women’s side, senior Samantha Smith had a statement season of her own. She smashed the 100 fly record with a 54.64 in prelims and doubled up in the 200 fly, clocking a 1:58.55 to qualify for finals and reset the record books again. Her finals swim (1:59.42) capped a year of significant momentum for the program.
Yes, Boston College finished 13th (men) and 15th (women) at ACCs with 123 and 103 points, respectively—but that’s not the full story. Last year, they scored more points (158 and 162), but that was before the arrival of powerhouses like Cal and Stanford, who have fundamentally changed the competitive landscape of the ACC.
Here’s what matters: under Torres’ leadership, BC is trending up. Fast.
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.
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Spotify
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Podbean
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Google
- Click here to listen and subscribe on YouTube
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Listen Notes
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Stitcher
- Click here to listen and subscribe on iHeartRadio
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Amazon
- Click here to listen and subscribe on Pandora
Music: Otis McDonald
www.otismacmusic.com
Opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the interviewed guests do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the hosts, SwimSwam Partners, LLC and/or SwimSwam advertising partners.
I think there’s a reality that there likely weren’t a lot of coaches lining up for the job – the amount of negative press was insane for BC last year and who wants to walk into that. Talk about the high potential of limiting your future as a D1 swim coach if things got worse or even just stayed the same.
I do think she left out a lot of the great things she has done for a team that was really beat down starting the 24-25 season which resulted in numerous broken school records – which is impressive after not having a 23-24 season. However, bringing up the lack of ability in using a stopwatch – come on,… Read more »
Bruno should be the head coach
Someone please explain the hate towards her.
Mine is a very rudimentary take with little support info but I do know a couple people who know her, and half say she’s a sweetheart and the other half describe her in that she behaves like someone the way you’d expect a person to behave when they were raised with such affluence: pretentious and with an inflated ego
You can choose to believe her performances or you can look into when she visited an HGH dealer named Anthony Galea
Just wait a second. Didn’t she just eat well, train well, and take amino acids that were specifically related to performance? Didn’t Ronnie G. sell vitamins?
You can read all swimming world comments about her ca. 2000-2008
I think Dara had a solid first year. The swimmers did well but I don’t know if BC has a chance of getting better without financial support from the university. The ACC is arguably the fastest conference along with the SEC. How can a non-scholarship program ever find enough swimmers to be competitive? They might have a swimmer or two develop into a conference scorer but BC has minimal chance of climbing up in the rankings until the school commits scholarship dollars.
Recurring without scholarship isn’t that complicated. Find a high schooler who says -I want to go to this type of school, I won’t get in on grades alone but I’m fast enough to contribute to the program… we can make it happen. Works for IVY works for a lot of D3.
Keeping these kids beyond a year is hard. You also won’t get any scholarship only swimmers who frankly are majoring in swimming (you won’t land a Dressell) but if you play your cards right you might get a Dean Farris.
It works for Ivy Leagues because they have generous financial support for everyone, regardless of whether they play a sport. Swimmers also tell themselves, “I’m not on scholarship, but I’m getting a degree from an Ivy League school”, which is very easy to wrap your head around.
BC is a very good school, but I’m not sure they can consistently recruit D1 talent solely off of their academic clout like Harvard. There are plenty of schools who are on the same level as BC academically, but who also offer scholarships.
Another reason recruiting is challenging- not everyone is comfortable attending a Jesuit school because they may have not grown up with religion being a part of school. It’s not a fit for everyone despite the scholarship issue.
Is religion a part of this school? I see that it is a Jesuit school, but what does that mean in a college setting?
It’s not a particular religious school like Liberty or Brigham Young but it’s very culturally Catholic (a lot of Irish and Italian kids whose families have been going for generations).
I don’t think it’s a huge challenge for them recruiting-wise, but I have coached at least one swimmer who didn’t bother looking at either BC or Holy Cross, which I thought were both good fits for her swimming-wise and academically, because they were Catholic schools. So it’s definitely a factor for some.
Most people are not from New England and haven’t lived around a very Catholic setting. I think those people would be concerned that they might not fit in and be accepted at a school like this if they are not Catholic/christian/religious.
It will be interesting to see how she recruits. Ive coached at meets where she was a spectator and my swimmers would ask nicely for an autograph and she said no. The swimmers thought that she was rude. Anther example of D1 schools skipping over USA Swimming coaches that are fully qualified but not qualified enough to coach D1 and they hire someone with no experience swimming but lots of actual swimming experience.
Olympic athlete>anyone is USA swimmings motto clearly.
I’m sure they skipped over more than just usaswimming coaches. USA swimming coaches would struggle administratively and with recruiting at first as well, but yea I guess they could at least coach and use a stopwatch.
Sounds like those evals had some bite
Who doesn’t use touchpads for splits?
All I heard was she’s not prepared to be a head coach and shouldn’t be one. She’s doing everything she should to build herself into a good coach, which is great, but should be done before you get a head coaching position. Literally just proving that the hiring process is ridiculous, she didnt check off any boxes for any average head coaching position. She could be a great head coach some day, but she could have been a lot better if she learned from someone else who had the experience. Just a poor reflection of boston college and shows their lack of support for the program.