There were two big coaching announcements today, as the University of Missouri learned who their next head coach would be, and Auburn went on the market for a new assistant.
Missouri has been looking for a new head coach ever since Brian Hoffer, who lead the program for 18 years, resigned at the end of the season. The decision caught many off-guard, as the Missouri program has been on the rise over the past few seasons, including the men jumping Texas A&M for second at the 2009 Big 12 Championships.
The program will be in good hands, however, as his replacement is Greg Rhodenbaugh, who has served as an assistant for the last 11 years under legendary coach Frank Busch at Arizona for the last 11 years. In addition to his coaching pedigree, Rhodenbaugh also has great in-the-water credentials and breeding. He was a 5-time all-american at SMU, and comes from one of the United States’ great swimming families, that includes sister Kim who was a 1984 Olympian.
In many other collegiate sports, a coach of this stature would have gotten a shot at running his own top-level program years ago. I don’t know if he simply turned them down because he enjoyed working with Olympians every day, but with the outstanding facility combined with Rhodenbaugh’s leadership, the Missouri program should continue, if not accelerate, it’s rise in the swimming world.
The other big announcement was that Auburn assistant Paul Yetter would be leaving the program to head his own club team in Naples, Florida, called T2 Aquatics. Yetter is one of the young stars of the coaching world, and was formerly a top assistant at the NBAC, where he put up simply staggering results. His swimmers have set over 75 National Age Group records, and he sent 13 athletes to the 2008 Olympic Trials, including Elizabeth Pelton and Katie Hoff.
T2 aquatics, which Yetter will co-own in addition to being the head coach, is a brand new program that will no doubt make plenty of noise in the club-swimming without much delay.
