American swimmer Michael Andrew has revealed that for the first time in his competitive swimming career, he will no longer train primarily with his father Peter Andrew as coach in the new quad.
On the latest episode of The Social Kick podcast, Andrew, 25, says that he knows who he’s going to train with but can’t reveal that yet – he’s waiting for some final approvals – and is currently training mostly by himself without a coach.
Peter Andrew has coached Michael since he was an age grouper in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where Peter was the coach of the Aberdeen Aquaholics, where the nuggets of the pair’s now-famous USRPT approach to training first developed while running continuous relay practices with young age groupers.
The family next moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where a two-lane pool that Peter built on the family’s property served as Andrew’s training ground until 2018. They then moved to Southern California, where they trained together out of various pools.
The two have become an iconic pair in swimming. While not the only parent-child coaching pair at the elite level of the sport, they had a rare combination where they were mostly training 1-on-1 or in small groups, and where Michael stayed with his dad instead of entering the NCAA system (ala Erin Gemmell).
Michael Andrew more recently posted on his social media accounts about moving to Huntington Beach, California, and now he has confirmed that he will no longer be training with his dad as his coach.
“I, over the couple of weeks post Trials, realized that I needed to do something different to get back to where I once was. My desire to change that didn’t come out of thinking my dad is not a good enough coach or that my dad is not capable of it, because we’ve achieved some pretty astronomical things together, which is really exciting, and something that…we will always have that platform and he’ll always be an incredible coach. But we now open up the avenue for both of us to learn in some different capacities.”
Among the USA Swimming Club Excellence program squads nearby Huntington Beach are Golden West Aquatics, Irvine Novaquatics, and SOCAL Aquatics Association. The Swim Team, which is attempting to reform a pro group around coach Brett Hawke after the resignation of Mark Schubert, is also not far away, though Hawke posted on social media on Saturday that he will not be coaching Andrew.
The pro training group at Mission Viejo is not far either, led by Jeff Julian, and those two likely have some sort of relationship from their time spent together as central figures to the ISL.
He says that he and his father still work together in clinics and as co-owners of the MA Swim Academy and in outreach for the USRPT programming. Michael says that he has anxiety about people perceiving that this move is him rejecting his family and USRPT, but that his father supports his decision.
He says that he’s most excited about the opportunities to lift consistently and train in a group of pros that are “at his level” and “pushing him day in and day out.”
Since becoming the youngest American to turn pro in swimming at age 13 in 2013, Andrew has had a storied career including one of the most-prolific age group record-setting runs the sport has ever seen, breaking records of behemoths of the sport like Michael Phelps.
Andrew’s career has included setting a World Record and winning Olympic gold as the breaststroke leg of the American men’s 400 medley relay at the Tokyo Olympics, 7 World Championship medals in long course, another 11 in short course, 4 World Junior Championship gold medals, and almost 100 medals on the Swimming World Cup tour. His 58.14 in the 100 breaststroke is the current American Record in the event.
His dad also served as the head coach, and his mom as the General Manager, of the New York Breakers team of the International Swimming League.
Michael Andrew didn’t qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Team. At the U.S. Trials, he finished 5th in the 50 free (21.81), 8th in the 100 breast (1:00.11 after a semis 59.65), and 16th in the 100 fly (52.98). All times were significantly slower than his bests.
In the clip, Andrew also says that he will race in the World Aquatics World Cup Series in the fall.
Update: added mention that Brett Hawke says he is not Michael Andrew’s new coach.
What shouldn’t be overlooked here is that the Social Kick guys have created a great podcast format that allow this kind of conversation to take place. Kudos to them for the interview and getting “the scoop” first!
Michael’s going to crush it. He notes that getting splits is one of the hard things about doing USRPT sets alone. I actually find the FORM goggles an enabler for doing USRPT sets alone. I can get pretty consistent splits from them even for 25s to the tenth or so, as you can see here: https://a.cl.ly/4guG2rgn
I think he’s going to Texas with Bowman.
Listen to the entire podcast. He mentioned someone who’s “followed his entire career”, someone who said a philosophical quote about “acclimation” of the body, someone who has adapted his own training include aspects of USRPT. MA also mentioned Leon multiple times, including his ability to be relatively fast in-season (this was in response to a question of how MA will assess if this new training is working given that he has historically been extremely fast in season).
The only person who fits is Bob. ASU/Herbie could fit, but this seems to be a much older coach, who was already established when MA turned professional. And the quotes! Who else writes inspirational/philosophical quotes… Read more »
He literally moved closer to his girlfriend so that he didn’t have to travel to visit her on weekends…
Or Salo. Salo is a good bridge, Bob would be a massive shock to the system, honestly might not be able to adapt to it
I’m thinking Salo, even if through Salo’s coaches He is training at Nova right now.
Herbie also talks about adaptation and the need to change a stimulus once the body has adapted. All coaches have probably followed MA their entire careers. And Tempe is much closer to CA…
What’s wild is that he admits he doesn’t know how to read a typical swimming workout/set. Like if you showed him a normal written set on a board he doesn’t know what it means. Wild
He could probably figure it out but it’s fascinating
He’s like the swimming version of Mowgli
This comment is gold. Bravo 👏
Peter Andrew is a hero and he should be treated as such! The man should be in the ASCA & ISCA Hall of Fames…
Why is he a hero? Serous question.
Peter Andrew is a really wonderful person. He has dedicated himself and so has his family to helping Michael succeed. When they lived in Lawrence he would help anyone who asked. At meets there were always coaches and kids following them both. They were always smiling and helpful to everyone. As a coach I have been at meets where coaches and swimmers hated being interrupted during a warmup of whatever they were doing.
The best are MA and Peter;
Ryan Lochte and
Gary Hall Jr
Loved their fans and always smiled, took the time to sign those autographs and to be kind!
Nice guy? Maybe.. hero? Hall of Fame? that feels a bit much of a guy that exclusively coached 1 person and the person being his son.
Kids today be like. Who is that
Based on the line of people waiting outside of Lucas Oil for his autograph, kids definitely know who he is.
He does a really great job on social media. Has 240,000 followers on Instagram.
That is worthy of great respect. In 2028 he will be 29, so this is really really really it for him to win individual gold. Glad to see he is affording himself the best chance for that to happen. He’s always had the ability.
Bryan’s face at 55:44 when everything dawns on him. 😂
lol! “Oh, this kid hasn’t done anything”
Right?! All he’s done for training year after year are 50s. It’s remarkable.
I think you have to complete an all out USRPT workout to understand what it feels like. It is not easy. And yes, other kinds of training are very hard too. Swim training has evolved over the decades, and it is still evolving. Don’t discount the benefits of any one kind of training.
If he made this decision two years ago, there is a very good chance he’d have an individual gold medal in the 100 breast.
After 2022 he seemed very checked out.
I agree with him leaving earlier. The signs were on the wall in Tokyo.
Making 3 individual finals in a 50m, 100m, and 200m race? Tokyo was a great Olympics, idk what people are going on about.
I’ve never agreed with doing USRPT exclusively but with that said he cooked in 2022.
21.41, 22.79 and a huge 100 fly split on the medley relay at worlds.
Would have been tough to make a change at that juncture.