University of Florida swimmer Hayden Miller has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, indicating the intent to explore a transfer before next season.
Miller, a native of Houston, Texas, and one of the top distance recruits in the class of 2022, raced at the NCAA Championships two weeks ago as a freshman. She placed 47th in the 500 free (4:45.14) and 23rd in the 1650 free (16:07.61).
At SECs in February, she was 5th in the 1650 free (15:59.21) and 8th in the 500 free (4:41.15, after a 4:39.88 in prelims), both of which were personal best times by a large margin. She also finished 38th in prelims of the 200 free, though that wasn’t a best time.
Time Progression at Florida:
| Best Time in HS | Best Time at Florida | Add/Drop | |
| 200 free | 1:46.35 | 1:48.04 | +1.69 |
| 500 free | 4:40.66 | 4:39.88 | -.78 |
| 1650 free | 16:02.22 | 15:59.21 | -3.01 |
Miller leaves the program as the 8th-fastest miler in school history.
Miller was the #12 recruit in the class of 2022 and the top miler in the group. She is also a member of the 2022-2023 US Junior National Team in the 1500 free.
Miller traveled as a member of the US Junior Team that competed in the 2021 FINA World Cup Series, racing in Berlin and Budapest. She finished 4th in the 800 free at both meets.
Miller was also the 2022 Texas High School State Champion (6A – big schools) in both the 200 and 500 yard freestyles.
Entering the transfer portal doesn’t require an athlete to transfer; rather, it gives athletes the freedom to connect with coaches at other schools about transferring.
New rules this year limit the window in which a student-athlete can enter the transfer portal in swimming & diving to 60 days after NCAA Championship invites are announced. While we are less than halfway through that period so far, the new change seems to have had the impact of dampening the portal, as only a few high-profile D1 swimmers have entered the portal so far.
That window does not apply to swimmers seeking graduate transfers.
Steve Jungbluth was just removed last year and was known for abusive tantrums. The indication from many was that Nesty was trying to move the program away from the Gregg Troy “Tell the swimmers they suck to swim faster” method and use more positive reinforcement.
Now everyone is switching up because cause a few swimmers are in the portal. Maybe the swimmers entering the portal just don’t fit with Florida.
I’ll wait for further news if there’s any. I don’t see anything wrong in holding your swimmers to a high standard and demanding hard work day in day out and that’s all I’ve heard with Nesty.
The Troy mentality still exists, Steve was never belittling.
It took steve having a temper tantrum on deck and shattering a mug to have him removed. So I wouldn’t use that as a positive
What you didnt hear about Coach Steve was that he was actually one of the coaches that was actually supportive towards some of the (female) athletes that were having mental health/physical issues and genuinely concerned about their well being prior to his departure. Only his flaws were highlighted and reported. In summary, as long as you can stay health (physically and mentally), keep your mouth shut, and tow the line, you’ll do fine under the current regime. If not, plenty of other swimmers out there to cycle thru.
I’m a parent to a swimmer at UF. There is absolutely ZERO chance I would allow my child to be abused. The coaches have never been abusive or even overly harsh, to be honest.
From the minute my child stepped on deck he/she felt welcome and supported. It is hard training and the coaches have high expectations for sure but the coaches could not be nicer. In fact, they have gone above and beyond supporting the family unit and have strong family values. I am grateful for the daily lessons the coaches are giving my child.
Then clearly they do not swim for the women’s team.
My daughter swims for the women’s team, and I would 100% agree with Parent and Parent 2.
Yes, on the women’s team, and I think it’s pretty rotten to bad mouth an entire coaching staff and program for a few transfers or a couple unhappy swimmers. These are people’s livelihoods for goodness sakes.
Florida has removed all of the girls currently in the transfer portal from their roster. This includes Talia Bates who spent 4 years at the program. These girls were a part of the program all year just to be removed from the roster after the season has ended. That seems harshly wrong to me. Also, Freeman and Vargas have been removed from the men’s roster. In addition, UF has removed 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 season rosters from their website. Seems extremely strange to remove only those two years, unless they are trying to cover something up?
I want you to know that “I entered the transfer portal and they removed me from the roster” really doesn’t give a lot of credibility to your other comments claiming “abuse.”
Doesn’t mean you’re making the whole thing up, but if this is meant to somehow support your claims, it does make me weary to believe you when you use that term.
In my vocabulary, there’s a gap between “not being very nice” and “abusing,” but maybe in yours there isn’t. Can you clarify your stance on that?
I would probably remove y’all too – given the stuff you’re saying on the internet, I don’t think I’d want you affiliated with my program either.
Current Florida swimmer who is in transfer portal here: Not gonna say too much, other that you either are in with Nesty or you are not.
There are a ton of swimmers at Florida with a combined program carrying large rosters and a bunch of pros. Not counting divers, there were 27 women before they removed the 6 in the portal, and a whopping 36 men. I could see some swimmers feeling as if they are getting lost in the crowd.
Poor take considering mid majors get it done with 2 coaches on staff and similar numbers. Unless all coaches and volunteers are only focused on the top half of the team I find this unlikely.
No offense, but swimmers at the mid major schools generally have not been on either the Jr National or National teams and are unlikely to be hoping to improve enough to step up to potentially making a National Team trip. If that is your goal and the Head coach (no matter how good they are) and assistants are already trying to get 25 other top swimmers everything they need, you’re probably going to feel a bit neglected. We all know coaches are going to write practices with the stars on the team in mind, not the second tier swimmers, and certainly not the masses in the slow lanes.
My mistake, I didn’t realize that swimmers only wanted to improve if they thought they had a shot at making a National team, or were already on a Jr national team. How silly of me to assume that mid major kids also want to improve, or D2/D3 kids.
Coaches most certainly write practices with the stars in mind, but if you’re so far off that you can’t improve while swimming with the stars then you probably made a poor choice in your commitment. To think that there are “masses” in slow lanes at a place like Florida with the pool space, resources, and number of coaches is comical, if that’s the case then they’re doing a terrible job with their… Read more »
To add to that, it may be true that some walk-ons don’t get the attention, but someone like Hayden, who was on the SEC and NCAA roster is not someone that would be “lost in the crowd”. I’d be more likely to believe poor treatment over lack of attention due to roster numbers
Hayden Miller is not only an incredible swimmer but also an amazing person, I’m confident that she has put a lot of time and thought into this and is going to end up with a program where she absolutely blossoms into the phenomenal swimmer/person she is meant to be. Best of luck haykmillies;)
Popcorn chatter and allegations are unhealthy for all concerned. Perhaps leave it that Coach Nesty is amazing and 18-24 yo student-athletes are fortunate to have opportunities to stay or leave.
There is a bigger story going on at Florida. What other program has 6+ girls in the portal? It makes me sick thinking of all the people who defend this program without knowing what goes on behind the scenes. Many girls within the UF program face verbal abuse on the daily. Coach Nesty has all of the accolades that many of the greatest coaches do. But what separates Nesty from the rest is that he abuses his athletes to get those accolades. When athletes approach Coach Nesty with mental health concerns, begging for help, he preaches that mental health is not real and that the athlete created the problem for themselves. I beg for a change in ways from Coach… Read more »
any thoughts on who the new assistant coach will be?
Are there UF men in the portal, too? Is he selectively abusive to the women?
Freeman, Vargas gone maybe?
Freeman retired in the fall – https://swimswam.com/2022-world-champion-current-florida-senior-trey-freeman-announces-retirement/
Vargas is a Sr. this year
Sounds like Teri McKeever. Contact Scott Reid at the OC register he will look into it.
“Please help” What you are saying 100% valid and correct.
Folks are also forgetting the other girls that were forced or encouraged to medically retire or leave the team earlier in the year. That adds to the total number of girls who have left the team
I’m not sure why you think it is okay to bash a program that you so pridefully left. Why try to ruin a team you aren’t even on? There are other swimmers that are fine with the program and the coaches. If you don’t like it that’s fine, but don’t try and ruin a program AFTER you have left. I have never been treated badly or felt uncomfortable with these coaches. So would you please give it a rest and leave UF alone. At least for the sake of the women that were nice to you while you were here.
This is just an insane post. UF goes out of its way to encourage its swimmers to see mental health professionals and they are encouraged to talk to someone regularly if they need or want to. My swimmer even told me that Nesty encouraged the whole team to go talk to someone and mine talks to someone afflicted with the team regularly to manage the stress of balancing school and athletics. Nesty holds people to high standards and expects honestly, hard work, and no complaining. If you do those three things, then your good. Many programs have had 6+ kids in the portal… Indiana, Alabama and USC come to mind… Clearly “please help” is a swimmer on the team who… Read more »
Come back to Texas! UT is much closer to home.