College swimming is starting to suffer from what I like to refer to as “NBA syndrome”. Athletes are foregoing college eligibility to instead turn their sights on professional dreams.
In addition to notable female standouts Chloe Sutton and Dagny Knutson, Tyler Clary is the latest star to give up his college eligibility.
There had not been much public indication that Clary had been considering such a thing, but a spectacular performance at the Pan-Pac Championships may have cemented his decision. Clary won 3 silver medals (200 back, 200 IM, 400 IM), and ranks in the top three in the world this season in all 3 events, behind only Ryan Lochte (200 IM, 400 IM, backstroke) and Michael Phelps (200 IM).
Clary, the 2009 NCAA Swimmer of the Year, will now turn his sights towards the 2012 Olympics, where he has a great opportunity to medal after training full-time and entering USA-Swimming’s recently revamped professional swimming program. He will head west to swim for legendary former Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek at FAST in Fullerton, California. FAST is one of USA-Swimming’s post-graduate professional training centers that allows swimmers to continue top-level training after college.
Michigan head coach Mike Bottom was very supportive of the move.
“Financially, it is unbelievable,” Bottom said. “I had a chance to talk to the head coach of USA Swimming, who gave me his word that Tyler will get a scholarship to continue his education at Michigan, most likely after the 2012 Olympics. Tyler is committed to doing that and is still committed to supporting the team at Michigan.”
Clary is majoring in computer science at Michigan.
This is a bit of a blow to the national-title hopes of Michigan, who finished 7th at last year’s NCAA. Bottom has brought in a very capable future replacement for Clary in the form of prep-star Kyle Whitaker, who set the National High School record in the 200 IM as both a junior and senior at Chesterton High in Indiana.
