The Tulane women’s swimming and diving program is back in the Reily Student Recreation Center natatorium again after more than three years without access to a facility on campus.
The Green Wave haven’t been able to use Reily Natatorium since March of 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic initially cited as the reason for its closure. But when the majority of the Reily Student Recreation Center reopened in July of 2020 with COVID-19 protocols in place, the pool remained closed due to “scheduled maintenance.
There were no updates until this past March, when Tulane announced impending upgrades including a new pool, pool deck, diving platforms, Myrtha liner system, air and water filtration systems, revamped locker rooms, and movable bulkheads that allow for SCY, SCM, and LCM training. The Green Wave enjoyed their first practice in the new facility on Saturday with Tulane president Mike Fitts and athletic director Troy Dannen in attendance.
Check out the new home of @GreenWaveSwim!#RollWave pic.twitter.com/L6BXMUe7G9
— Tulane Swim & Dive (@GreenWaveSwim) August 19, 2023
Naturally, the lack of an on-campus aquatic facility has created problems for the Green Wave over the past few years. All-American Lilly Byrne and AAC runner-up Christiana Williams transferred out of the program last year, then former head coach Leah Stancil resigned a day before the 2022 fall semester started to take an assistant coaching job an hour up the road at LSU. More recently, Tulane freshman Bella Lojewski announced her transfer to Houston in May.
The Green Wave are led by second-year head coach Amanda Caldwell, who came to New Orleans last September after a stint as head women’s coach at Georgia Southern.
A one! A two! A Helluva Hullabaloo! #RollWave pic.twitter.com/um4DS58l0Y
— Amanda (@Amanda_RaeC) August 19, 2023
The new pool had nothing to do with Coach Caldwell and her ability to post pictures has no relevance with her ability to coach
Coach Caldwell and the Tulane staff have done an amazing job of posting the progress on social media. I almost feel like I built the pool with them. Keeping updated of the progress will remind people that Tulane is still invested in swim and the recruits will come. Great job and enjoy the new facility!
“Scheduled maintenance” for three years?
To re-open the pool after it closed in 2020 the pool had to be “up to code.” It was grossly below code so the repairs had to be made in order to reopen.
Yeah well, maybe you tell your recruits about the pool closing for two years in advance of their coming, instead of not mentioning the known situation when the recruit visits. Resulting in 1 1/2 to 2 hours of drive time on a daily basis to crappy pools. And Troy was less than honest in his emails and conversations, repeatedly lying about when the repairs would be done.
Still can’t understand why a power 5 school (Michigan St) can’t compete in swimming. They have the money but not the administration’s will. No excuses, if Tulane can do it, Michigan St can.
Agree. And equally frustrating is why doesn’t UMD compete in swimming when they are in the BIG, have great local swimming and one of the nicest swimming facilities in the country.
The swim team couldn’t afford the rental fees for the pool was one of the major reasons if I remember correctly
They had to build a 78 million dollar football facility. While keep changing the fundraising goal to bring back swimming.
Even more frustrating is Eastern Michigan. Still don’t understand why Peter Linn was (is) not vocal about it.
What happened to the lawsuit against the head coach?
what happened
What does that have to do with the pool reopening?
I think you have the wrong school.
Nice! Now add men swimming.
They did have a fairly competitive men’s program back in the day
Do they have home meets? Where do spectators sit?
They did previously and I have no doubt they will again. Typically there are bleachers on the sides of the pool for spectators.
Facility looks great! No reason the Green Wave can’t be a power player in the Mid-Major ranks in the upcoming years!