SAM KENDRICKS MEMORIAL ORANGE & WHITE CLASSIC
- September 29, 2023
- Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
- Final Scores
- White: 139
- Orange: 134
- Texas Press Release
- Full Results (PDF)
Texas head coach Eddie Reese is the winningest coach in college swimming history. After his men competed in their annual orange & white intrasquad, he spoke with SwimSwam about what he saw and how they will move through the rest of the season.
A calm perspective of someone who has come to the end — he knows it; we all know it.
I guess the only real question left is, do they go ‘in house’ for his replacement [I think not]
or do they swing for the rafters with lots of $$$$$ and a free hand to re-shape things [most likely].
PS: I suspect that a number of A-list coaches who are “not” available will suddenly “become available”
and would LOVE to be tempted to come to Austin – be ready for surprises.
Eddie is the King of Cool for sure. I agree with Mike in Dallas no way Texas goes “in house”. A swing for the rafters is a 5 year, $1,000,000 annual package. This record setting package will entice the best of the best A players with results similar to the Prime Time effect. The only proven players for this are; Holloway, Bowman, Nesty and Durden. A part of the package will probably include a consortium of donors who will offer an unprecedented NIL fund as the benchmark for swimming. Soon after UT puts it together, watch out in Palo Alto when the Stanford gang rallies a ten fold number for its’ NIL pool.
I’m a Texas fan, but I think it’s time for Eddie to retire and for Texas to select a new head coach ASAP. The incoming classes want to know who their long-term coach is going to be. With the uncertainty at Texas, it’s no surprise that recruits are picking coaches like Durden, Holloway, and Nesty who will be around for at least a handful of Olympic cycles to come.
Ok. Interesting the same coaches who will be around for a handful of Olympic cycles are also among the favorites to replace him. Although it’s unlikely they leave their successful programs, money talks and Texas’ no income tax talks even louder.
Yeah, Eddie Reese, the best swim coach in history and an awesome person doesn’t deserve to finish the season. Crazy take
Solution would have been for Texas to bring in a “head coach in waiting” before this season, have them learn the culture from Eddie, and have some continuity going into next year. Once the SEC dollars start rolling in they will be able to pay for whomever they want, though.
“I’ve not won Coach of the Day any day this month.” HA!
They need to go back to recruiting blue chip sprint free talent and quickly. Seriously when was the last time a blue chip sprint free guy chose Texas? Kibler/Krueger come to mind but that was damn near 7 years ago
You cannot be a top 5 team without considerable sprint free talent and texas is seriously lacking it. Incoming classes look thin too with sprint free
Agreed, but Germanprez, Taylor, and Modglin have the ability to sprint free. Germanprez and Modglin are sub 20 out of HS. That’s at least half of a relay coming in one class.
Probably Anthony Grimm 3 years ago. He didn’t do much before leaving Texas but 19.6/44.1 in freestyle with a 45.6 in the 100 back fits pretty well into the “blue chip sprint guy” category.
Pure sprint freestylers are pretty rare as recruits these days because lots of younger swimmers focus on versatility. The only high-profile guy I can really think of is David Curtiss, and we all saw how that turned out. I feel like schools would rather have a stroke/IM type who can be plugged into relays (think Destin Lasco) than a 50/100 specialist
Sure, ideally even your 50/100 freestyle guys will hopefully have a third event, but you still want a couple guys on the team who you know will swim, and be a threat to score in, the 50/100 free. Part of the issue with relying on guys like Modglin and Germonprez is that there’s a good chance they’re going to be needed elsewhere on the medley relays.
Over the last decade, Texas had guys like Murray, Ellis, Ringgold, Jackson, and Krueger who could focus on sprint freestyle, while the most versatile guys like Conger, Schooling, Shebat, Kibler, and Corbeau could throw down a mean sprint free relay leg.
Cal has had Stubblefield, Hoffer, and Alexy, along with the more… Read more »
john murray, seth stubblefield, justin lynch — those are some deep cuts these days
Can I get a Dax Hill? How about a Caleb Weir? Fabio Gimondi???
Just hit me that this about to be my 10th season of writing about NCAA swimming for SwimSwam (although I didn’t start until late in the 2014-2015 season).
Curtiss is a 50 swimmer almost exclusively, not a versatile sprinter as most of the 50/100 guys are very good at both freestyle distances and tend to have a 100 of stroke they can do very well too. Looking for really good 100/200 LCM swimmers and building up their speed is a much better option than trying to get a 50 guy to go up to the 200
This versatility of younger domestic swimmers likely has more proportional implications for Texas as well since they don’t recruit much internationally and thus it’s likely harder for them to find “pure” sprinter who will focus their training on sprinting. Only 4 domestic swimmers reached an A-final in either the 50 or 100 Free in the at D1 NCAAs.
All are fair points and totally forgot about Grimm ngl
Addressing above comments, yes it’s true Germonprez, Modglin and Taylor CAN swim a proficient 50/100 free, and likely will get the call in relays this year.
Those guys swim sprint free as 5th and 6th events. Texas needs a guy (kinda like Mikkel Lee or Seeliger) that swims 50/100 free and either 100 back/fly as a 3rd event
You need sprint freers to anchor down the relays and can supplement with versatile studs like Germonprez and Modglin
Texas rarely recruit drop-dead sprinters. Kibler was a 200/500 guy coming out of high school. Grimm is the most recent exception…
This is true lately, but not historically.
Eddie’s system needs kids coming in with a great aerobic base already not kids who’ve been doing a bunch of 25’s and 50’s. So many of Texas’ sprinters were mid-d and milers coming out of H.S.
Except for that year that Eddie had 6 of the top 8 in the A final of the 100 fly! First time I’ve ever seen an NCAA meet over after the 100 fly was completed!
In 2019 the best Texas 100 flyers placed 30th and 35th. In 2019 the meet was over for Texas after day one.
In 2020 – the year COVID canceled the meet – they would have won by 150 points…
Not sure if you’re exaggerating, but I think it would have been a lot closer than 150 points…
https://swimswam.com/scoring-out-the-2020-ncaa-mens-d1-pre-selection-psych-sheets/
Texas and Cal, narrow 1-2. Who’d a thunk.
It’s always fun to fact check the sometimes delusional Texas fan base
Delusional *Cal fan base. The 2020 Texas team was the greatest collegiate swim team, put it in the books
Now that’s funny
Nah Texas was gonna win that meet by a mile. Tons of talent and depth, great relays, peak diving. Cal was probably gonna get more individual points but they weren’t winning. Let’s not forget that they had a few major losses to their roster and still won the title a year later (without winning a single individual event)