This week on the GMM Podcast, I sit down with Texas A&M Director of Swimming and Diving Blaire Anderson, a coaching talent to watch in the coming years as she develops the Aggies in the new era. In just her first year running the combined Aggie program, Anderson has already left a mark, guiding the men’s team to a 5th-place finish at the 2026 SEC Championships and 12th at NCAA Championships, while the women’s squad placed 8th at SECs and 25th at the NCAA Championships.
Anderson’s journey has been anything but ordinary. A native of Gainesville, Georgia, she’s worked her way up the ranks with grit and vision starting at Brenau University, where she built the NAIA women’s program into a national contender, followed by assistant coaching stops at Dartmouth, Indiana, and Virginia under Todd DeSorbo’s powerhouse staff. After seven years in Charlottesville helping build the most dominant women’s team in NCAA history, she took the reins in College Station in 2024, the first time Texas A&M officially combined its men’s and women’s programs under a single head coach.
In this hour-plus podcast we cover a lot of ground. Here are few highlights:
- Her training philosophy and how it’s evolved from her days in the NAIA to her time at UVA and now leading an SEC program.
- The nuances of managing a combined team, balancing two high-performance programs under one culture.
- How she handled losing key athletes to the transfer portal, including Baylor Nelson, and what she learned about navigating the post-House era of college athletics.
- The Aggie men’s relays, which took a leap forward last season, and her strategy for rebuilding the women’s relays after losing most of her 2025 NCAA relay core to graduation.
- Her program goals for the coming seasons and how she measures success beyond just team placements.
Anderson’s a great interview, insightful, always with an emphasis on sharing how she’s played a role in developing and building programs. I think the most interesting part of this conversation is when she details what she’s learned on her journey from Brenau, Dartmouth, Indiana, UVA to Texas A&M. I hope you like this podcast. We will have Anderson back.
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This is a Gold Medal Media production presented by SwimOutlet.com. Host Gold Medal Mel Stewart is a 3-time Olympic medalist and the co-founder of SwimSwam.com, a Swimming News website.
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.
No one will truly know how BA is unless they are on the team.
Blaire Anderson is actively ruining swim careers right before our eyes. Look at their transfers such as Baylor Nelson. 6 months after leaving the program he’s the 7th fastest of all time? Same with Jacob Wimberly, fastest in the country. Can’t be a coincidence. BA is garbage
FACT CHECK:
A&M lifetime best rates this week: men 45%, women 38%.
Texas lifetime best rates this week: men 43%, women 33%
(Data per swimcloud)
Receipts
Maybe because half the A&M team is freshman. I’d like to see how the returners did in comparison to Texas’ returners. Kind of sad that Texas A&M only has slightly better drop rates when Texas is basically all Olympic level athletes.
Lazy take. Look at results from the Invite.
Not really fair to compare I’d say. Yes Blaire saw some decline in talented swimmers, but you’re actively comparing her to the literal GOAT coach. Jacob and Baylor were both top of their class (Baylor was #1 and Jacob was #5). That’s what Bob works with, talent. He doesn’t build up swimmers from the ground, he works with already extremely gifted swimmers, and that Baylor and Jacob (and honestly the rest of the team) are just that. Blaire didn’t know yet how to work with that talent, it was her first year as a head coach. Yes it was Bobs first year as well, but he had already been in a head coach role, whereas blaire was only an assistant.… Read more »
Mid team
She should have stayed at UVA
“What not to do at a stoplight.” -Spongebob
Jay had the men poised for their highest finish ever. Diving distorts how bad the programs are doing in swimming now in comparison.
I don’t think this is fair to say. If you read the “Reviewing first year D1 head coaches’ seasons” article from a couple months ago, literally every single new coach (besides bob bowman of course) saw a decline in their team’s performance. It’s just something that happens. New coach, new adjustments, it takes time. I would also disagree that the old coaches had them set up for success. Especially on the mens side, Jay had the team for almost 20 years, and they never placed higher than they did this past year (besides a 10th place finish with Shane Casas in 2021 who won 3 events). Not fair at all to say that Blaire is why this program hasn’t placed… Read more »
Considering Jays last year the program was ranked 5th at this point compared to the team being outside of the top 25. She’s an absolute joke of a hire
Ok but what kind of narrative are you trying to project? I don’t know Blair nor can I judge her abilities as a coach. But for anyone to think she has improved the program from its past accomplishments is definitely trying hard to spin some kind of story that is untrue. Swim swam please call it like it is, under Steve and a split team it was a better program on both men’s and women’s side. I hope the best for them in the future. It’s a wonderful school and has the potential for better then 5th and 8th at SEĆs let alone 12th and 25th at NCAA. Come on.
The program (especially the women) were on a steep decline even before the coaching change. I don’t know if Blair is going to save it, but it was time for Steve and Jay to step down. They did amazing things and had huge success, but the men’s team was falling short of its potential (though 12th is nothing to thumb your nose at) and Steve was just absolutely lost in recruiting.
Baylor was one foot out the door regardless.
Willing to see what happens when Blair gets a full team of her swimmers in there, then will judge (harshly).
gig em aggies!