After winning titles in the 50-meter breaststroke and 100 breast at this week’s U.S. National Championships, world champion Nic Fink announced he’s moving from Atlanta to Dallas to train with the Southern Methodist University men’s swim team under head coach Greg Rhodenbaugh.
Earlier this month, Fink’s wife, fellow Olympian and former University of Georgia teammate Melanie Margalis Fink, was announced as the new assistant coach for the SMU women’s swim team.
The 29-year-old Fink has trained at Georgia Tech with sprint coach Michael Norment since the Tokyo Olympics two summers ago. He surprised himself by putting up the best results of his career while going to graduate school for electrical and computer engineering, highlighted by individual world titles in the 50 breast and 100 breast at the 2021 Short Course World Championships as well as the 50 breast at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Norment left Georgia Tech in May to join the University of Georgia as an associate head men’s swim and dive coach after five seasons as an assistant with the Yellow Jackets.
“It’s going to be really exciting to try something new and do something a little different,” said Fink, who turns 30 next week. “I think what I’ve had going on with Mike (Norment) has been awesome and special, and hopefully we’ll keep that communication going and if I need a training trip out there, it’ll be fun to do something like that.
“It’ll be fun turning the page into a new chapter for Mela, I think that’s really exciting,” Fink continued. “I got to the point after ’21 where I was making major life decisions based on swimming. I had been doing that for so long, so often, I wanted life to get in the way more than swimming. I’m excited to try something new, Rhody seems great, and the guys are exciting to have me out there. So I think it’s going to be a great place for me.
Rhodenbaugh was a breaststroker himself at SMU in the 1980s who gained experience as an assistant at Arizona under Frank Busch. He mentored Olympic gold medalist Amanda Beard while coaching in Tucson. Rhodenbaugh has led the Mustang men to three American Athletic Conference (AAC) titles in a row, earning Coach of the Year honors on each occasion.
Last April, SMU broke ground on the $11 million Holt Hickman Outdoor Pool, making the school one of just a handful of colleges that have both an indoor and outdoor 50-meter long course pool in the same complex. The indoor facility, the Robson and Lindley Aquatic Center, was opened in 2017 after a $22 million fundraising campaign.
Coming off a huge 2022, Fink kept his momentum rolling at this week’s U.S. Nationals with victories in the 50 breast (26.74) and 100 breast (58.36) after placing fourth in the 200 breast (2:09.20) to kick off the meet in Indianapolis.
We won't tell @Nic_Fink's boss if you all don't 🤫#Phillips66Nats | 🎥: @peacock x @NBCOlympics https://t.co/Z8Tp268QDn
— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) June 30, 2023
And the SwimSwam comment section rejoices
THE PROPHECY HAS BEEN FULFILLED
Is this a joke 💀
The prophecy is true
Was SMU actually spoken into existence of being a power house in 5 years?
I still read the name Rodenbaugh & immediately think former backstroker (his brother Mark).
It is most certainly a tell of age, getting old.
Rooting for you, Nic Fink, the intrepid rocket scientist who also swims some on the side.
This cannot be real.
If it is, I’m getting absolutely hammered tonight. WELCOME FINKY to my Alma mater and my second home in Dallas, we’d love to have you!
Saw this coming