The University of Texas has parted ways with head women’s swim coach Kim Brackin after another disappointing NCAA Championship season.
The move surprises few who have followed the program since Brackin took over. Her tribulations began when National Teamer Kathleen Hersey left the collegiate program to train with men’s coach Eddie Reese after a disappointing first two seasons in Austin, and continued on to year-after-year of huge recruiting classes but sub-par NCAA Championship performances. That includes the past year, where the team finished in 9th place overall.
In most sports, it sounds rough to finish in 9th-place and lose one’s position, but with the types of recruiting classes that have come through Texas in the last few years, and the lack of development by those swimmers, the administration decided that it was time for a change. The frustration within the team grew to a head this past season after heated post-conference-championship meetings. It was becoming obvious to recruits that there were problems in Austin, after a massive dropoff in recruiting this season without a single swimmer rated by collegeswimming.com in the top 50 in the class.
There were reports out of Austin that massive transfer-defections were imminent, and it’s not clear how this latest news will affect that. The current team was heaped with much of the blame for the poor recruiting class, and the discontentment left the administration with no choice but to make the switch.
The dominoes are continuing to fall with this move, and despite the problems in this program over the last few years, it will still become one of the top 10 women’s coaching positions in the country, and there will be plenty of top-notch candidates.
Brackin made her name as an assistant at Auburn, where she worked with, among others, Zimbabwean Olympic champion Kirsty Coventry. Coventry recently returned to Austin to resume training with Brackin, and it will be interesting to see how this move affects her, as moving would result in her 4th training stop in the last 2 years.
The full statement from UTSports.com is below.
The University of Texas Women’s Athletics Department today announced a leadership change in its women’s swimming program. Effective immediately, Kim Brackin is no longer head coach. Matt Scoggin continues as men’s and women’s diving coach. Women’s associate head coach Jim Henry continues his annual appointment until a new head coach is in place and future staff is determined. The search for a new head coach commences immediately.
I never said Eddie would take the women’s job. You on the other hand said you wouldn’t be surprised if he was on the verge of stepping down. That …. is simply not the case.
Where is your assessment of the GA assistant coach?
I think the reasoning is that Eddie is getting old and doubling his workload probably isn’t a good idea, especially in light of his recent health issues.
Keith….. are you qualified to be writing this kind of an article? Eddie Reese re-upped his contract a while back through 2016. He’s at the top of his game, and I’ll tell you this………. he will have one HELL of a recruiting year this Fall. Bank on it…. 🙂
Calbear…. Put the joint down you are smokin’. Schubert burned his Austin “bridge” a long with his USA Swimming “bridge”. He isn’t going back to Austin.
Predicta – you have to understand that 4 years is a blink in a non-revenue sport. The Athletic Departmenr isn’t going to say “oh well we’ve got Reese for four more years, let’s restructure the program for four more years.” They want a solution that’s going to last them 30 years so they don’t have to deal with it again.
If anything, you’ve proven the point. The point isn’t that Reese is anything less than among the top-3 coaches in the NCAA. Reese has the best job in college swimming, period, and he doesn’t have to add the women’s team to have the best job in college swimming. If he thought he needed to run the women’s team to prove… Read more »
I’m calling it now- they hire Schubert.
I don’t know if Texas would bring him back for another shot at the gig.
Full exploration of coaching possibilities:
http://swimswam.com/2012/04/top-candidates-for-texas-alabama-coaching-gigs/
Why doesn’t Eddie just take over? And who do you think will apply for it? I’m think Cals assistant Kristen Cunnane would be a great candidate. Teri has obviously been a tremendous mentor but she could easily take on head coaching responsibilities on her own.
Um .. I know nothing. But Cal Assistant? That’s not happening.
I don’t think there’s many coaches who would be off-limits at this point, especially assistants. This is a HUGE job that comes with a ton of resources and exposure. Eddie is a great coach – but his success hasn’t come without a lot of backing from the UT Athletic Department. Besides which, being a part of the UT Swim Camp in the summers means that I would guess that this job is one of the highest-paid women’s coaching positions in the country, all-inclusive.
Reese won’t take over. I don’t think it’s what he’s interested in at this point of his career, especially with the health issues he’s had. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was on the verge of stepping… Read more »
I think the pay probably scales with years of experience, so a starting coach wouldn’t make close to what Brackin made. For some scale, in 2010 Cunnane (assistant women’s at Cal) was paid 78k and Mckeever around 238k.
If I remember correctly, Durden was an assistant coach with Marsh at the same time as Brackin, and the two of them have turned out so … differently.