Associate head coach Roric Fink is no longer part of the Texas women’s swimming & diving program. Fink’s name no longer appears on the team’s roster and the position is listed as open on Texas’s employment site. Fink confirmed to SwimSwam that he was leaving the program.
Fink had been coaching the Texas women’s program for eight seasons. He was an assistant coach from 2012 to 2017 before being promoted to associate head coach for the 2017-2018 season. Fink had previously coached at Missouri (two seasons as associate head coach) and Arizona (seven seasons as an assistant coach).
The current Texas roster shows only two full-time coaches: head coach Carol Capitani and diving coach Matt Scoggin. Meanwhile the University of Texas posted a job listing yesterday for an assistant coach on the women’s swimming & diving staff. Per public records, Fink’s salary was $82,000 last year, plus any supplemental money from things like swim camps.
Fink had been Capitani’s top assistant every year since she took the Texas job in 2012. In 2019, the Longhorns had their best NCAA finish of the Capitani/Fink era, placing 5th nationally. The team had six top-10 finishes under that staff in seven NCAA Championships.
In 2020, Texas had 5 female swimmers qualify for the NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships, which was the lowest count of the Carol Capitani era (which previously was 8 qualifiers in 2015).
We’ve asked the school for comment on Fink’s departure, but have not yet received a response.
Update: Texas confirmed that Fink is no longer part of the program, but had no comment on his departure.
Roric was one of the most devoted, charismatic, knowledgeable and inspiring coaches on the deck at all times.
Brackin was forced out by the swimmers themselves for more reasons beyond poor performance. The performance factor wouldn’t have been enough to get her out after 6 years.
I imagine carol will be there for a while longer, despite the fact that roric was the only one who’s athletes were truly performing well in the first place.
Roric and I started out in coaching together and he is a truly gifted coach and one of the finest humans I have ever known. All the best Roric. I look forward to seeing what comes next!
One of the best coaches & humans I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.
I am sad to hear of this. Roric was a great guy and instrumental in the recruiting process for Texas. I hope he left on his on accord for a Head Coaching job elsewhere.
Everyone I know likes Roric. I know Roric well enough to know I like him, don’t know him well enough to have an opinion that matters.
But, we also must look at the reality: the Texas women are struggling. Carol Capitani is having the same struggles that Kim Brackin had: some great in-season swims, failing to get it done in March, and then eventually the wheels fall off. Carol got a little lucky this season, I think, because it’s not as obvious that the wheels have fallen off without NCAAs, but through the grapevine I hear things are pretty ugly in Austin rn.
Texas didn’t give Kim Brackin that long to figure it out, so I imagine Carol won’t get… Read more »
This is a genuine question on my part, and I’m not trying to knock swimming when I ask it: Realistically, how much does UT really care about its women’s swim team? If you look at end of season rankings, the women’s swim team has outperformed the football team by far, and for most athletic departments, as long as the swim team doesn’t go over budget or cause any distractions (ie hazing issues, etc), athletic departments aren’t that interested in swimming. Again, as an honest question, does the athletic department really care that the Texas girls sometimes miss their taper at NCAAs?
If they didn’t care all that much then Kim Brackin would still be there.
I thought Kim’s issue was a group of parents who complained and eventually got their way with the AD. I didn’t think it was a performance issue.
Yes, that was part of the issue, but not the only one.
My read is that many schools don’t care – teams can chalk up dual meet wins and CSCAA rankings and keep their AD happy.
At some schools, like Texas, I think they care more. Texas pays their swim coaches very well, for example, so in that regard it matters. They replaced Kim Brackin after 6 years following a season where Texas finished 9th at NCAAs.
Certain schools historically have cared more about Olympic sports than others. Texas, for a long time, has been a part of that group. I sense a small shift (generally, not swimming) in the athletic department attitude there, but I still think they care more than most. Stanford would fit in that category too. Texas A&M… Read more »
Swimming matters at Texas, men’s and women’s. The women have won 7 titles, but the last nearly 30 years ago. At Texas, that’s not acceptable. There is no reason why they shouldn’t be top 3-4 every year.
Roric is a great person, coach, and mentor for swimmers. I wish him all the best and have a feeling the best is yet to come for him!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Carol’s job is on the line, too. But Texas may give her more time given everything going on. She hasn’t produced in her time time at Texas and hasn’t done much with the recruits she brings in. Anyone know who the candidates are for Roric’s role?
Deserved or not she will probably get a pass for another year what with there being no end of season way to judge her team’s progress (their conference meet isn’t a thing for them).
He impressed me when I was an AZ swim kid myself . He is well respected everywhere he would go.
100% on rotten tomatoes is a rare feat
I coached Roric when he was in high school and have followed his progression ever since. Just like all these positive posts, I have nothing but positive things to say about him. My only “complaint” has been that I hoped he would move forward and be a program head coach. I’ve been trying to encourage him along those lines for over a decade. Maybe that will happen now. It would be well deserved.