World Champion Hubert Kos has announced he will transfer from Arizona State to Texas in the wake of head coach Bob Bowman moving from the Sun Devils to the Longhorns.
Kos just finished up his sophomore season with Arizona State and scored 48 individual points at the 2024 NCAA Championships. Kos was 2nd in the 200 back, 3rd in the 200 IM, and 4th in the 100 back. Kos also helped the team to an NCAA title in the 400 medley relay as well as a 2nd place finish (behind Cal) in the 800 free relay.
At the 2024 Pac-12 Championships, Kos broke Ryan Murphy‘s 200 backstroke NCAA record as he swam a 1:35.69.
Kos switched up his NCAA lineup from his freshman to sophomore year as he swam the 400 IM, instead of the 100 back, as a freshman where he finished 4th. He also was 3rd in the 200 back and 11th in the 200 IM as a freshman.
Last summer, Kos won the 2023 World title in the 200 backstroke swimming a 1:54.14 in Fukuoka. Kos has already been training with Bowman since the coaching change was announced on April 1st.
The arrival of Kos helps fill some of the gaps that the Longhorns had this past season. The team’s only finalist in either backstroke events was freshman Will Modglin who was 9th in the 100 and 16th in the 200. Although Kos did not swim the 400 IM as a sophomore, Texas had zero entries in the event at 2024 NCAAs.
The Texas men finished 7th at 2024 NCAAs with 189 points and were led by rising senior Luke Hobson who had 43 individual points. Kos could potentially team up with Hobson on the 800 free relay as Kos split a 1:32.20, about half a second faster than one of the splits for Texas.
Bit of diversity in Texas can’t be bad
Can we just stop with the drama? Bob hasn’t even begun to coach a season at Texas yet and people are acting like he is undoing everything Ed built. No matter who Texas hired, there is almost certainty that a few of that coach’s swimmers were going to follow them to Texas. Guess what? Ed coached a few foreigners. Ed coached a few transfers. I believe Ed was even the coach of Singapore at one of the recent Olympics because it allowed him to coach his swimmers without the grind of the US training camp. Yes, the timing of the hire was difficult and it sucked for everyone. If you needed a reason to hate Bob, I guess you can… Read more »
Also, it’snot like Bob doesnt want Americans, he just wasn’t able to recruit the top US talent at ASU. That will most definitely be a different story at Texas. Kos transferring is not a big indication he plans still on recruiting very heavily internationally like he was at ASU.
Shocked, I say.
This is gonna do wonders For Will.
Mark my words in this post if you look at his backstroke time progression over the years if he continues at the same pace, he will win NCAA next year and we’ll go 43.6 or better. Now with Bowman and the new backstop training partner, it’s not out of question to say he goes 43 loan next year
I think Modglin is a great swimmer and super talented, but I don’t understand why people act like his potential and performances are unheard of. He’s not the best backstroker in his class, Jonny Marshall beat him in both events at NCs and was significantly faster in the 200. Marshall also had bigger drops this year going from 46.3/1:41.9 to 44.1/1:36.6 vs 45.0/1:40.5 to 44.2/1:38.8 for Modglin.
Why would people pick Modglin over Marshall to win next year when Marshall beat him this year and has a better improvement curve? People were making the same comments during NCs as he got beat by Marshall. Kos, McDonald, Lasco (betting he takes a 5th year), and Luca (if he competes this)… Read more »
I personally believe that he messed up his taper first year with Texas- he was slower than his mid season and B12 performances in several of his swims and barely faster in others. For a guy who historically drops like crazy at taper, it’s hard to believe that is his potential.
how easy is for athletes to just transfer like that? Like do they ever get rejected by the school they’re trying to transfer to?
I can’t imagine Texas not wanting him.
When they are an NCAA champ? No
Arizona State University men’s swimming
Departures (exhausted eligibility)
Colson – 5th year
Dolan – 5th year
Hill – 5th year
Anyone coming back for a fifth year?
Does Schlicht have any more eligibility? They’re taking a huge hit next year but still pretty good… maybe like this year’s Texas? Kharun (if he stays) & Kulow… People seem to think Sarkany is gone. They still have a few guys who made B-finals (Sammon, Matheson, 1 or 2 others?). They’ve got a few good recruits coming in. Would be nice to see them have a good year and rebound.
I don’t have a clue about Schlicht’s status or intentions.
Schlicht swam at NCAAs at 2019, 21, 22, 23, 24, so he have used up all 5 years I would think.
I don’t think Schlicht has eligibility left. They are taking a much bigger hit than I’ve originally anticipated because a number of 5th years are also leaving. The swimmers of substance remaining are Kulow, Kharun(?), Sammon, Martter (although I don’t see why he would stay aside from personal reasons) and Matheson. Maybe Sarkany doesn’t transfer but he entered the portal, so that’s unlikely.
What’s the current tally of departures from the Arizona State University men’s swimming program?
Kos – University of Texas
Marchand – turning professional
McDonald – Indiana University