While in Bloomington, SwimSwam sat down with IU head coach Ray Looze to ask about how IU will integrate their new coaches into the already successful culture. Ray explained that with assistant Cory Chitwood, they will be using him in a myriad of areas around the pool deck, not just as a distance coach. Distance training is what Chitwood’s been known for, most notably as Olympic medalist Leah Smith’s primary coach.
Previously reported by Torrey Hart.
Soon after we learned that a third Indiana University coach would be departing the program, as Caitlin Hamilton was named the new head coach at Illinois State, the Hoosiers’ staff is reloading in a big way.
SwimSwam reported last week that coaching veteran Jonty Skinner is expected to fill the void left by associate head sprint coach Coley Stickels (who is the new head coach at Alabama), and now, head coach Ray Looze is adding former Arizona associate head coach Cory Chitwood, known primarily as a distance coach, to his staff. Indiana assistant sprint coach Kirk Grand also left IU in April, potentially leaving one more assistant spot open.
A 2012 Arizona graduate and swim team captain, Chitwood was an assistant under current Arizona head coach Augie Busch at the University of Virginia and made the move back to Arizona with him in July 2017. At Virginia, the now-30-year-old Chitwood was the primary coach for Olympic medalist Leah Smith during her NCAA career. Smith followed him to Arizona after taking bronze in the 400 free in Rio, and has recently hit her stride in the 800, going a best time at the Richmond Pro Swim Series early in April.
Chitwood, along with Indiana’s Looze and Louisville’s Arthur Albiero, was an assistant to Greg Meehan on the Team USA women’s staff of the 2017 FINA World Championships.
Chitwood and fellow Arizona assistant Beth Botsford, as reported by SwimSwam, parted ways with the program last month. Chitwood’s major Worlds appointment, coupled with his NCAA assistant coaching success, put him in the conversation as a potential candidate for one of the many open NCAA head coaching positions.
Haha Oh great Corey wants to be a head coach 🙄Hope he does some growing up before that opportunity comes.
This is What Rowdy Gaines Thinks of You:
https://twitter.com/rowdygaines/status/1132837849059995648?s=21
“It also could be some 400-pound guy lying in his bed, OK?”
Probably just mad everyone on here hates his commentating
Wonder if Leah Smith will follow him to IN now??
What about Beth? Where is she headed?
The holier-than-thou tone in these comments is nauseating. You guys are saying you’ve never made a mistake and got a second chance?
Glad you’re not the admin at AZ. Ask his wife about second chances. He obviously did wrong in someone’s eyes to be asked to leave. This was not an aberration, it went on for a long time. No- I don’t live in my parent’s basement. I am a parent of soon- to-be college students. It’s hard enough letting your kids go. You want them to be somewhere with good people who set good examples. Kids spend a lot of time around coaches at the D1 level, usually room with teammates, and often stay in the summer to train. So that’s why this was such as bad situation. This was far from a mistake, it was a repeated pattern of voluntary… Read more »
The only people who believe that only one person in a failed relationship holds culpability are 1) the partner who didn’t cheat, 2) their friends, and 3) people who falsely believe they’re too good of a person to ever cheat.
Ask any marital counselor worth their salt, and they’ll explain to you that it always takes two to tango: both partners share responsibility for failed relationships. You won’t believe them, but it is what they’ll tell you.
So what people are saying is they would not want their kids around JFK?
Sundayfunday: placing blame on his wife is the move of a shameful basement-dweller.
Actually, in this case, it was three in the tango.
So he should be disqualified from coaching forever? I don’t get it. Also, he’s a swim coach – not a marriage counselor. I wouldn’t want my kids to be taking dating advice from him, but he’s a swim coach – and a really good one, too. His troubled past doesn’t mean he can’t be a leader on the pool deck.
Wait you’re a parent of soon to be college students yet you know the ins and outs of cory and Ellyns marriage?
Chitwood’s personal life is non of our business… but man, I lost my respect for Cory and Ray. I know it’s all about winning but… where does integrity rank on Ray’s book? Hard for me to trust both coaches. Call me an old school, but that’s just my perspective.
It’s like your first clause was one thing, and then the rest of your comment was the total opposite thing. I’m not sure which part of that we’re supposed to believe.
You don’t get to have your cake and eat it too. Either admit that you’re making his personal life your business, or don’t. But, I don’t think you get to score points for saying “none of our business” AND for morally pontificating about the decision.
I’m just happy someone used pontificate in a sentence today
Plus Braden did that whole “clause” thing. Impressive.
I took 3 showers after watching this video. Gross!
Chitwood is a talented coach, whose personal life is none of our business. All the best to him at IU.
Lol it is the business if it gets in the life of his swimmers
Guess it’s ok if integrity is not important to you and you’re ok with your child being around such a person. You obviously have no idea what a distraction the situation in Tucson caused. That’s only on the swimming side. Then you consider what his wife is STILL going through as he happily bolts to IU. There are plenty of great coaches around with much more integrity than Corey. I don’t care how “successful” he has been. He made a bad choice that no one forced him to make and let it go on for a long time. I’d much rather have my child spend four years around someone who models integrity and maturity. Kids are still very impressionable at… Read more »
Now do Augie Busch. Or just cut & paste any of the UVa alum rants about Augie. Same story, different town.
Well just because he cheated he’s done?? Maybe he can help IU cheat!
Personal life is a reflection of who your kid will be learning and growing from in a very important time of their life. 99% of swimmers will not be making a career off their talent, I would want someone who can be a roll model for every aspect of life outside the water.
I guess my question would be is the reported behavior at Az a pattern of behavior or an aberration. Sometimes life happens, we make wrong decisions that snowball and hurt others as well as ourselves. Is a role model only someone that always made the right decisions and can say hey do it this way it worked for me or is there value in observable second chances and redemption?
Uh, Phelps had DUIs (including a felony DUI arrest), and he got to carry the flag at the opening ceremonies at Rio. So there’s that.
There is something to be said for paying for your mistakes though. And it seems like the only one hurt in this is his ex wife.
personally I prefer a jelly roll model
“There are a number ways Cory can integrate into our programme. We have a several female staff, any of whom he could integrate with.
Alternatively, he could just do what everyone else is and move to Alabama”.
Ray Looze continues to be one of the top coaches in the country and the fact that his staff is being hired away from him is an indication of success. People continue to make comments like this about IU, but the reality is we are fortunate to have a coach like Ray Looze in college swimming. He continues to be one of the best coaches in the country at developing talent in the pool as well as on his coaching staff.
Rowdy Gaines recently tweeted about the commenters on SwimSwam being people who live in their parents basement pandering to the lowest common denominator. Let’s try to prove him wrong by not making comments like this one.
Are you okay with chitwood’s behavior? Would you want him to be a roll model for your swimmer? I think it is fair to question Ray’s integrity based off a hire who clearly has none.
I don’t know anything about Chitwood other than what I have read on the comments section of SwimSwam. Do you know him? I’m sure that Ray has done his homework on this hire and feels that this person deserves a second chance.
I do know Ray is a man of integrity and would love for him to be a mentor to my own children. I’m glad he has decided to take a broken person under his wing and help. I could name tons of coaches and athletes who have made this mistake in the personal life, they don’t all deserve to be run out of the sport. Chitwood lost his job at his alma mater due to this situation, now… Read more »
Quote from another D1 head coach “Looze would sell the gold out of his grandmother’s teeth to win”. You decide if that’s good or bad, or if you want that attitude coaching your children, excuse me, coaching young impressionable adults.
Please source this and put your name on the byline.
TBH thats like 90% of D1 head coaches
Rowdy’s just mad that we all talk trash about his commentating. Hate to say it but I know a lot of non swimswam commenters that also can’t stand Rowdy.
—message sent from mom’s basement
It was a joke about college swimming, this seems the obvious place for it. As a swim fans, we should be able to joke about the sport.
It’s going round in a circle in water as fast as possible, if’s not actually that important.
If Rowdy wants to think that about me, good luck to him.
What’s wrong with living in your parents’ basement?
The good thing is my parents only breathe to their right, so they haven’t noticed I’ve been living in their basement.
lmfoa