Stanford Hires Scott Armstrong as Men’s Assistant

After a long wait, the Stanford Cardinal have announced the hiring of their men’s assistant coach in the form of Scott Armstrong, sources who asked to remain anonymous have told us. The decision was announced to the team on Tuesday afternoon. Armstrong has previously held many roles within the North Baltimore Aquatic Club program, best known as the homes of superstars Michael Phelps, Allison Schmitt, and their coach Bob Bowman.

Armstrong’s is not a name immediately recognizable to many casual swim fans, but he’s well-known within the core of the community. He has served on several Junior National coaching staffs, including as the women’s head coach of the 2010 Junior Pan Pac team. Working heavily with high-school swimmers, he was the coach of record for Junior National Team swimmers like Drew Cosgarea, who will be a sophomore next year at Stanford, and Bryan Offutt who will be a junior next season for the Cardinal.

Much of his work of late has been developing distance swimmers, but prior to joining the staff at NBAC, he was the sprint coach for his alma mater John’s Hopkins. Armstrong himself was a star distance swimmer at John’s Hopkins from 1999-2003, and at one point held the Division III NCAA Record in the 1650 free.

Armstrong will take over the spot vacated when Ted Knapp was promoted to the head coach of the men’s team after the retirement of long-time head coach Skip Kenney.

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joeb
11 years ago

So has anyone heard of anyone being interviewed for the women’s position at Stanford?

Tony Hicks
11 years ago

Why does everyone hate on Stanford?

Tom
Reply to  Tony Hicks
11 years ago

No one likes to think its possible to get a top-knotch education and have a top swim program at the same time.

duckduckgoose
Reply to  Tom
11 years ago

It’s depressing to read some of the posts here on Stanford, Nolan, Missy, etc…There’s nothing wrong with using your athletic ability to be admitted to a school which denies more than 90% of its applicants. It’s a lot more difficult to build a world class university than it is to build a strong collegiate swimming program.

Tom
11 years ago

I hear Stanford is considering hiring Skip Kenney for the women’s position. I guess he grew tired of coaching men and decided he wanted to coach women.

TomTheRealOG
Reply to  Tom
11 years ago

Really? I doubt it. I heard some huge names being dropped as far as who is being considered for the women’s team, so there is a good chance that their squad will undergo huge changes as well in the coming years.

Scarface
Reply to  TomTheRealOG
11 years ago

TOMTHEREALOG, I hope the above comment was a joke.

If not,

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sarcasm

TomTheRealOG
Reply to  Scarface
11 years ago

You obviously didn’t get what I was saying. Kenney is not being considered as an option for the women’s team as far as I know. Other names, bigger names, are. For that reason, these newer coaches that are being considered will likely change the women’s program, and hopefully for the better.

WHOKNOWS
Reply to  TomTheRealOG
11 years ago

I am tired of watching talented swimmers out of high school not improving to the next level. .Stanford does great at PAC 12 Championships but fall short at NCAA!

Reply to  TomTheRealOG
11 years ago

And if they blow off PAC-12s, when do you propose they qualify for NCAAs? They assemble a month after most schools, so I’m not sure they even have time to train/taper for a mid-year meet like many others do. We’ll see how Knapp handles that. Bring them in a month early, or just qualify at PAC-12s like usual? Or even take the elite squad to the Texas Invite. There are workarounds, but what will Knapp consider practical and/or beneficial?

And also bear in mind that these kids, along with a few other unlucky students, are taking final exams right before (or sometimes during) NCAAs. Maybe the pressures of school will perennially detract from their performance at the big dance? Even… Read more »

sarcasm
Reply to  TomTheRealOG
11 years ago

Pretty sure that was sarcasm. Take into account his history, http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/news/1996_Jul_26.KENNEY.html, and he probably isn’t on the top of many lists to coach women.

thepunisher
Reply to  Tom
11 years ago

That’s false. I am almost positive it is Austin Staab.

CalBearFan
11 years ago

As far as Ted/Skip goes, the big question is…. does Ted feel the need to keep “the streak” alive?? If the answer is no, it will free the team up to have their best performances at ncaas. If they continue to shave 95% of their team for Pac12, the results will be similar to where they have been in the last 10 years.

Lenny
Reply to  CalBearFan
11 years ago

You do realize it is possible to rest for a meet like Pac-12’s which is 3 to 4 weeks before NC’s and still be at peak form for NC’s? Resting for a meet does not mean you can’t swim fast 3-4 weeks later. Obviously, this means you have to have an excellent plan and I think this may have been the short comings of past Stanford teams, not a great plan in the time between Pac-12’s and NC’s. Whether Ted and Scott decide to keep the streak is irrelevant assuming they have a strong game plan.

SoCalMamba
Reply to  Lenny
11 years ago

Wait? You can rest for PAC-12 and still do well 4 weeks later?!? That’s great news for Team USA!! I thought the fact that they rested for Olympic Trials was a huge mistake, but if they can do well at the Games as well, then maybe you’re on to something.

allanjurovich
Reply to  SoCalMamba
11 years ago

As long as you build a big enough of a aerobic base, you can do whatever you want.

Bullddoze
11 years ago

I don’t know why everyone is expecting massive changes at Stanford. Ted is a continuation of Skip (he worked for the guy for 30 years), and the new asst coach is a relative unknown, new to college coaching (comparatively), and will get little autonomy. Stanford will continue to draw the top recruits bc the school, facilities, and quality of life are awesome. My prediction is that they will continue to be as good as they are now (3-6th at NCAA’s in any given year).

shooters
Reply to  Bullddoze
11 years ago

I think it would be foolish to call Ted a continuation of Skip. While he has worked under/with Skip for a number of years, I think he is very much his own coach. There were a lot of things that Skip did really well, and I think Ted will adopt some of those strategies. However, I don’t think that Ted has saved all the practices from the last 30 years and is going to just keep on doing the same old same old. Ted is extremely intelligent and takes a very precise yet creative approach to swimming. I think Ted and Scott will learn a lot from each other and that it will have a profound, positive affect on the… Read more »

Jeremy Lin
Reply to  shooters
11 years ago

Bulldoze’s comments are accurate. A number of people I know close to the program who were ex-swimmers and are current important donors have all told me that Ted has basically been the on-deck coach for the men for the past decade plus. The team you saw in the water since Stanford’s last NCAA championship run was a Skip recruited team and a Ted coached team.

What you will see in years to come is more of the same. Stanford is a great school – likely the best all around in the country – but it is not a mecca for world class high school recruits to get faster while swimming in college. Stanford will continue to win their beloved PAC… Read more »

John Cena
Reply to  Jeremy Lin
11 years ago

While it is valid that Cal remains a world class University, the question becomes whether or not it will continue to be so. With the current economic state of California, it is not unreasonable to say that that quality of it’s public universities is going to go down (or tuition is going to go up…again) in coming years.

Not trying to say that Cal’s program will do anything other than continue to be one of the nations best. Durden is a great coach, and the swimmers there really seem to believe in him. I merely wonder what effect this could have on recruiting in coming years, particularly that between Cal and Stanford (the two best all around packages as far… Read more »

Bossanova
Reply to  John Cena
11 years ago

John Cena:

Finally someone with some sense on this board! You’re right to be concerned about the future of the economic state of California and it’s effect on the universities. Hopefully America doesn’t choose to elect another member of the party that got California into this mess in the first place for president. Barry will raise tuition rates and lower the quality of public universities. Do your research, people, it’s all there!!

Derek From South Lake
Reply to  Jeremy Lin
11 years ago

Lin, as someone who considers himself incredibly close to the program, I can assure you that the first paragraph of your above statement is false.

Perderperderp
Reply to  Derek From South Lake
11 years ago

“A Skip recruited team and a Ted coached team…”? In fact, a number of people I know close to the program who were ex-swimmers and are current important donors have all told me the exact opposite.

Moderator Edit: please keep the discussion civil.

notchoosingsides
Reply to  Jeremy Lin
11 years ago

I have to agree with Derek from South Lake. Ted was the coach responsible for recruiting. Skip was responsible for coaching.

However, I do agree with Jeremy Lin that world class high school recruits don’t go to Stanford to make it big on the international scene, they go to Stanford for the education. There are very few exceptions to this in their history: Pablo Morales, Jeff Rouse, Bryan Retterer, etc.. Also, I agree that Cal is a dynasty. It will be near impossible for any team to compete with them at NCAAs in the foreseeable future. It would be quite interesting to see what Jack Conger and Ryan Murphy could do from an individual standpoint, let alone from the team… Read more »

notchoosingsides
Reply to  shooters
11 years ago

Be wary of the language on the video.

Just Sayin
Reply to  shooters
11 years ago

Now, I’m no scholar, but I get the feeling that Not Choosing Sides may or may not have chosen a side.

Reply to  Bullddoze
11 years ago

Bulldoze,

I agree with you that some of the people here are expecting changes greater than what will come around, unless the swimmers themselves do something big. Coaches don’t just win competitions for their athletes…that being said, a breath of fresh air could definitely change the team atmosphere for the better. Too many variables to jump to any conclusions. We’ll have to wait and see.

About Knapp’s continuing what Kenney did, I expect more changes than that. If the posts above are any indicator, some of the kids on the team are particularly hopeful that he won’t follow in Kenney’s footsteps. (Don’t think we can’t pick you out just because we “choose to go to Auburn…”) Though I predict… Read more »

Jimmy
Reply to  Bullddoze
11 years ago

Pretty sure Stanford hasn’t finished below 4th at NCAA’s in a reallllly long time,…(like 25+ years maybe?)..

CanadianWedding
11 years ago

I am interested to see how this will affect Stanford’s recruiting class this year- while change in a program always has the potential of bringing negative effects, I have to imagine the stability that Ted provides with the addition of a fun young guy to the program may reap the rewards for Stanford come signing day.

SoCalMamba
11 years ago

This hire has already invigorated the social media world. It was made public before Stanford could announce it, it sparked several comments on this board and it resulted in several tweets from big names in the swimming world. If the rest of the swimming world is already talking about this move with this significant amount of excitement, I can only imagine how fired up the guys in Palo Alto are/will be when they get back to campus. That said, the biggest change will be the environmental change in the locker room. Ted can handle sprinters, especially with full control of the program(he was on the 08 Olympic team with Wildman-Tobriner). I’m assuming this guy is smart, although Johns Hopkins isn’t… Read more »

ADunne
Reply to  SoCalMamba
11 years ago

So exciting, I should blog about this on my blog!

Swimfan
Reply to  SoCalMamba
11 years ago

Scott will be able to tap into the pipeline of NBAC swimmers for sure. Maybe after this Olympics, Michael Phelps can come to Stanford to be volunteer assistant coach! 🙂

Swimmer 2
11 years ago

Wasn’t Armstrong a sprint coach at Johns Hopkins (a pretty good D3 swimming school) before going to NBAC? He’s got some sprint coaching background. That, and the Stanford guys might actually have a beneficial dryland program this year.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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