How Are First-Year Head Coaches Faring With Their New Programs?

There was no shortage of coaching turnover in the NCAA offseason, and now that the vast majority of teams have wrapped up their midseason invitationals, we’ve gotten a glimpse into how teams are faring under their new coaches.

With some 33 NCAA Division I swim & dive programs changing head coaches between March and September, we’ll focus on swim teams in the Power conferences for the purposes of this article.

The most high profile coaching move made in the offseason was the University of Texas appointing Bob Bowman as its new Director of Swimming and head coach of the men’s team. With Bowman moving on from Arizona State, his associate coach Herbie Behm was promoted to head coach, and it’s fair to say both men have found success so far this season.

TEXAS MEN ON FIRE UNDER BOWMAN

Relative to their lofty standards, the Texas men had been in a bit of a slump prior to Bowman’s hiring, and it’s clear the appointment of the decorated coach, along with all of the swimmers who have joined the team since, has rejuvenated the program.

At the Texas Hall of Fame Invite, the Longhorns lit it up with sophomore Rex Maurer leading the charge, setting a new American Record in the 500 free (4:04.49), breaking the hour-old record established by Texas post-grad Carson Foster at the same meet (4:05.81).

Maurer also broke Luke Hobson‘s Texas Record of 4:06.93 and ranks #1 in the country this season by five seconds, with teammate David Johnston (4:09.41) sitting 2nd.

Maurer, who spent his freshman year at Stanford before transferring to Texas, also posted nation-leading and lifetime best times en route to wins in the 1650 free (14:30.47) and 400 IM (3:34.19), with both performances ranking him #2 in school history. The sophomore also set PBs in the 200 free (1:31.59), 100 back (45.36) and 200 back (1:38.27). The 500 free, 1650 free, 200 back and 400 IM all earned him NCAA ‘A’ cuts as well.

Other standouts for Texas included homegrown sophomores Will Modglin and Nate Germonprez, who both set program records in stroke 100 events.

Modglin became the 11th swimmer in history to break 44 seconds in the 100 back, clocking 43.91 in the final to lower his school record of 43.98 set in the prelims (coming in, he held the mark at 44.20 from last season). He leads the NCAA by more than a second in the 100 back, and he also set a nation-leading (and PB) time in the 200 back of 1:37.84. On top of that, he set bests in the 100 free (42.08) and 200 IM (1:40.97), the latter ranking him 3rd in the country.

Germonprez broke the Texas Record in the 100 breast, firing off a time of 50.39 to rank #7 all-time, and he also set a best time of 1:52.25 in the 200 breast. In the 100 breast, Germonprez ranks #2 in the nation, while teammate Will Scholtz sits 3rd.

Other success stories through the first portion of the season for Texas are Logan Walker, who has been a breakout performer in the 200 fly, freshman Cooper Lucas, who set bests in the 200 fly and 400 IM at the invite, and sophomore Camden Taylor, who notched PBs in the 50, 100 and 200 free.

The Longhorns also hit NCAA ‘A’ cuts in four of the relays, only missing out in the 200 free relay.

No one was questioning Bowman’s ability to bring Texas back into championship contention, but few would’ve expected it would happen this quickly. And all of this came with a relatively quiet performance from Olympic champion Hubert Kos, who came over from ASU with Bowman. Kos still leads the NCAA in the 200 IM despite being just “OK” by his standards at last week’s invite.

ASU DOESN’T MISS A STEP UNDER BEHM

After winning the men’s NCAA title last season, Arizona State wasn’t expected to take a step back necessarily due to Bowman moving on and Behm being the new coach, it was because of the swimmers lost in the shuffle.

The Sun Devil men lost their top four scorers from the 2024 NCAAs, and yet, they don’t seem to have missed a beat so far this season.

Ilya Kharun has continued to excel in his sophomore year, currently leading the NCAA in the 200 fly (1:38.74), re-lowering his ASU Record in the 100 fly (43.85) to rank 2nd in the country, and he’s also set new bests in the 50 free (18.51) and 100 free (41.56), ranking 2nd and 4th in the country, respectively.

Perhaps the team’s most impressive swim at last week’s Wolfpack Elite Invite came in the 200 free relay, where Kharun teamed up with Tommy Palmer, Patrick Sammon and Jonny Kulow to clock 1:13.93, breaking the School Record and ranking #1 in the country.

Kulow has hit another gear early this season, breaking 41 seconds for the first time in the 100 free (40.97), while Palmer and Sammon have managed to step in and be more of the “go-to” guys on relays after all of the departures.

Perhaps more impressively, the ASU women’s team has been off to a hot start under Behm.

Virginia Tech transfer Caroline Bentz set four new school records in the 50 free (21.80), 100 free (48.16), 100 back (52.39) and 200 back (1:52.10), with both freestyle times also marking new PBs.

Bentz played a crucial role in ASU setting school records in the 200 free and 200 medley relays, both hitting ‘A’ cuts, and we also saw a program record fall at the hands of freshman Julia Ullmann in the 100 fly (51.65).

Other swimmers hitting best times included Alexa Reyna, Charli Brown, Sonia Vaishnani and Emma Gehlert.

ARIZONA, BOSTON COLLEGE FIND SUCCESS AFTER HITTING RESET BUTTON

The University of Arizona and Boston College needed fresh starts after last season, and both teams have looked good thus far under their new coaches in 2024-25.

The Wildcats hired Ben Loorz to take over as head coach in May after moving on from Augie Busch, who found little success and had a revolving door of assistants working under him during his tenure in Tucson.

At the Wolfpack Elite Invite, Arizona showed progress with junior Haakon Naughton and sophomore Will Meyers leading the way.

Naughton set personal best times in the men’s 100 fly (45.27) and 200 fly (1:40.55), earning podium finishes at the meet and moving to #4 and #2 all-time in school history, respectively. Meyers set PBs in the men’s 100 back (46.50) and 200 back (1:41.15), with his 200 back showing ranking #5 in program history.

The men’s team also hit ‘A’ cuts in the 400 and 800 free relays, recording times in both races faster than they went over the entirety of last year.

Tanver Wisdom (200 breast), Joel Nace (100 fly, 200 fly) and Ralph Daldein (200 free, 100 back) were a few other men’s team members who hit new bests last week.

For the women, Arizona’s team is a still bit thin and there weren’t as many best times from their top swimmers to report, though junior Julia Wozniak shone with personal bests in the 50 (22.40), 100 (49.35) and 200 free (1:49.09), and she also dropped a 21.93 split on the 200 free relay, which was the women’s best relay showing, placing 3rd in Greensboro.

For Boston College, the team had a complete overhaul following the program’s season-long suspension last year for hazing. Decorated Olympian Dara Torres took over as head coach, and things have been positive for the Eagles thus far.

A total of five BC records were broken at the Terrier Invite, including two apiece from senior Samantha Smith on the women’s side and senior Jack Doyle for the men, and a total of 38 personal bests were recorded.

Smith set new BC records in the women’s 100 back (54.17) and 200 fly (2:00.42), and added best times in the 200 back (1:57.51) and 100 fly (54.80), winning the three former races at the meet.

Doyle set new program records in the men’s 200 fly (1:45.15) and 200 IM (1:45.32), winning both races, and he also won the 100 breast and 400 IM at the meet while setting additional best times in the 50 and 200 free on relay lead-offs.

Eagles junior Ben Huffman added a school record of his own in the 500 free, dropping three seconds to clock 4:23.99, one of two wins as he also topped the 1650 free.

With Doyle leading the way with 96 individual points, the BC men won the invite, while the women were fourth. The last time the team competed here, they both came out on top, so while the men’s team has found plenty of success and there have been individual standouts, the women’s team is a step behind where they were previously after losing some key members.

Senior Liza Murtagh was another notable performer for the women, setting best times en route to wins in the 200 breast (2:17.49), 200 IM (2:03.77) and placing third in the 100 breast with another PB (1:03.85 in prelims).

OTHER POWER CONFERENCE FIRST-YEAR HEAD COACHES

• John Ames, Georgia Tech (Interim) – Georgia Tech’s longtime diving coach, Ames is serving as the swim & dive program’s head coach on an interim basis following Courtney Shealy Hart‘s resignation in August. The Yellow Jackets performed extremely well at their home invite, with the women’s team setting three school relay records and the men adding two (tying one). Individually, Nina Stanisavljevic, Phoebe Wright, Leandro Odorici and Lukas Vetkoetter impressed with numerous best times, with Stanisavljevic (W 50 free), Wright (W 200 bk) and Odorici (M 50 free) also posting #2 times in school history.
• Matt Leach, Iowa State – Relative to some of these other schools that had record-breaking meets, the Iowa State women didn’t have any particularly notable results under Leach at the Hawkeye Invitational. Mallory Miller, Grace Swoboda and Abbi Crum were top performers in terms of best times, but it was the divers that led the way for the Hawkeyes. With a few teams joining the invitational field, including San Diego State, Arkansas and Illinois, Iowa State placed eighth (out of nine teams) after taking fourth in 2023.
• Tamber McAllister, BYU – BYU had several standout swims at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite under McAllister, who took over as head coach in May. Mackenzie Miller set a new school record in the women’s 200 breast, the women’s 400 medley relay came within six-tenths of the school record, and Tanner Nelson, Luigi Riva, Jacob Ballard, Lucy Warnick and Jasmine Anderson all produced times that rank between #2 and #4 all-time in BYU history.
•  Blaire Bachman, Texas A&M – Racing against lesser competition, Texas A&M cruised to victories at their home Art Adamson Invitational. Kaitlyn Owens was impressive in the sprints for the women, setting new best times and winning the 50 free (22.18) and 100 back (51.79), while Hannah O’Leary notched lifetime bests in both IMs and Olivia Theall moved to #6 in school history in the 200 fly (1:54.09). For the men, Baylor Nelson was quick in sweeping the IMs and set a best time in the 200 breast, while Munzy Kabbara and Robert Bonilla Flores also hit lifetime bests. Connor Foote was just shy of best times but led the men’s team with three individual wins in the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly.
• Hollie Bonewit-Cron, Penn State – Penn State was another team finding plenty of success under their new head coach last week, competing at the Ohio State Invitational. The Nittany Lions saw a new school record fall at the hands of Alex Karhalis in the men’s 200 IM, with his time of 1:44.60 putting him three seconds under his best time entering the season. A number of other key swimmers set best times including Margaret Markvardt, Catherine Meisner and Mac Sullivan for the women, and Cooper Morley, Tylor Kim, Matthew Bittner and Jack Harvey for the men.
• Brent MacDonald, WVU – Competing at their home WVU Invitational, the Mountaineer men’s team repeated as the runners-up behind Navy, while the women fell to fourth place after winning in 2023 (a big factor in that is losing their top scorer, Mia Cheatwood, who transferred to Louisville). The two most notable performers in terms of best times, however, came for the women, with Delaney Cox setting four lifetime bests, including climbing to #6 in school history in the 200 back, while Maddie Smutny moved to #5 in WVU history in the 200 fly and also set bests in the 500 free and 100 fly. She was notably eight seconds slower in the 200 fly at this meet last year. On the men’s side, there weren’t as many personal bests to report, with Danny Berlitz leading the way with an IM sweep and a runner-up finish in the 200 breast. He was faster in the 200 breast, but a bit slower in both medley races, compared to the 2023 invite. The men were faster in three of the five relays, however, which is a bright spot for McDonald’s squad.