Reported by Braden Keith.
University of Louisville head coach Arthur Albiero and Indiana University head coach Ray Loozehave been named the U.S. head coaches for this summer’s Pan Pac Championships that will take place from August 9th-13th in Tokyo, Japan. Albiero will lead the women’s team while Looze will lead the men’s team. Both coaches had both their men’s and women’s collegiate teams place in the top 9 at the 2018 NCAA Championships.
Looze’s men’s and women’s teams are both exploding on the collegaite scene, including his men’s team, who had a chance at pulling off one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Championship history this year all the way until the meet’s last few events. His collegiate and pro teams at Indiana include Olympic gold medalists Lilly King, Cody Miller, and Blake Pieroni, along with U.S. National Team members Ian Finnerty and Zane Grothe. Grothe, part of one of the biggest pro groups in the country, broke the American Records in the 500 and 1650 yard freestyles in December.
Looze’s appointment is his 6 as a U.S. National Team coach. His other appointments:
- 2017 World Championships – women’s assistant (alongside Albiero)
- 2016 Olympic Games – women’s assistant
- 2015 World University Games women’s head coach
- 2014 Short Course World Championships – women’s head coach
- 2011 Duel in the Pool – men’s assistant coach
- 2009 World University Games – assistant men’s coach
At the Pro Swim in Mesa this weekend, Looze spoke with SwimSwam about the recent appointment as the leader of Team USA this summer. He talked us through his strategies of how to manage the team and keep the ball rolling after a monumental 2016 and 2017 for Team USA internationally. Looze mentioned that he is a big walker, and invites both coaches and athletes to walk and converse with him so he is able to get to know them and vice versa. He claims he is proud to say that he has converted both Gregg Troy and Bob Bowman to walkers.
Awesome coach! Go USA!!!!