Swimming Blogs - Garrett McCaffrey

I'm not a collegiate swimmer, nor a coach - but for some reason - I find this video extremely compelling. You really get a sense for the importance of what they're talking about.

Garret, we all missed you at Ynats this year! Swimnetwork.com did a terrible job. keep the quality coming

What ever happened to the video you filmed of the IU monday morning workout after you attended the IU/Michigan/Tennessee meet?

Garrett: I attended the informal session this afternoon in Georgetown, TX. You volunteered your time and energy and gas money to come and talk to our age group swimmers about taking their skills to the college level. I don't have a kid that swims, I'm just an Old Master that loves our team (Aquatics Georgetown Masters) and our club swimmers (Texas Gold). I just wanted you to know what an impressive a young man you are and what a great job you did in encouraging those age groupers and all of the swimmers in the room. One person asked a question that was related to how do you know what you are, a Div I, II, or III swimmer. Your answer demonstrated wisdom beyond your years. You told those young people to never be afraid to pursue their highest ambition, not sell themselves short. That was the most refreshing answer I have ever heard someone give a young swimmer. You have done great, revolutionary things for our entire swimming community and our sport. I look forward to the day when you are given the honor of being inducted into our Hall of Fame. Again, I appreciated EVERY thoughtful word you shared. I am a fan for life.

Just because a program gets funding together to extend activity for the next year, does not mean the AD has made the status permanent.
Coaches need to look forward and longterm in their plans.

All hands on deck to support the head coach!

Is arizona state going to cut the swim program again?

http://tinyurl.com/swimspin
How to Spin NCAA Sponsorship and Participation Statistics

nope not seeing it

Nova Southeastern just announced a new men and women's D2 program and new aquatics center. So much for Fox News fearmongers! Support student/college/athletes!

He graduated?

like tobias work swimming for the Univ. of Florida club team at college club swimming nationals...what happened to him?

This is why ASA U (American Swimming Association University League) is growing so well. With so many programs being cut, more and more talented swimmers who just want to swim have been attending the Club National meet. Like NCAAs, most of the ASA U records were broken this year. Unlike NCAAs, it wasn't due to the suits.
http://www.americanswimmingassociation.com/asau

These swimmers aren't supported by their schools more than a few thousand dollars per year. They fund raise, practice, and pay for trips on their own. They're student run, and it's remarkable what some of them have done.

Every program in need of support at any level should have a thriving masters team connected to it. And a good relationship with the masters coach who drives the communication within the team.

I hope our coaches can see that masters clubs offer not only revenue support, but valuable contacts and resources within their communities.
Many of the masters swimmers are former club or collegiate athletes. They care about the future of the sport.
And they care especially for the future of the programs that supported them as young swimmers.
The discussion on this clip hits the nail on the head. Thanks for re-posting it Floswimming.

When I was diving, our head swim coach refused to get a sponsor. Aside from personal pride, I think the idea behind this was that if we started being supported from outside sources too much, the university would start slowly cutting the money because it wouldn't be 'necessary'.

This year he also wouldn't let the swimmers wear anything more than FS Pro leggings, even if they were going to buy the suits themselves. The school paid for FS Pro jammers for anyone who wanted one. Think about it like a slippery slope, if the kids start buying their own championship suits, the University would be more likely to cut championship suits from the budget completely.
"If you don't like the jammers we bought you, fine--buy your own suits from now on"

when are you visiting kenyon?

I also believe that organized masters swim groups at universities can help also. Some college coaches "sponsor" master programs and use it as a way to provide extra income for assistant coaches. A hidden benefit, in my experience, is that many of the masters are grad students, professors and adminstrators. There is always some kind of informal contact between masters and university students, often the practices overlap in part to acccomodate the asst coaches schedules. Its a way to build lots of good will in the university community.
Harvard did a study a few years ago, I will try to get the reference, that looked how athletes contributed to the athletic community. The measured academic performance (superior to the general community) and involement in alumni activity (also more involved and bigger financial contributors).
I'm sure the various coaches organization are putting together more current data on this topic.

They raised enough money to fully compete for several seasons, and are working to get enough money donated to set up an endowment that will keep the program going off of annual interest. Two problems with this are lower interest rates, and inflation.

I still consider this one of the best, most public success stories. They utilized Facebook and other social media, and established an official non-profit org to take donations.
I really like the whole notion of a lot of people each giving a little, it really adds up! Just think if everyone in the swimming community skipped their regular $6 Starbucks coffee one morning and donated to a single program!

As a caveat to my comments, I competed and lettered in two non-revenue NCAA Division I sports during college (both added for conference reasons during my sopre year) and so my comments are colored by these experiences.

College swimming is similar to a number of what athletic administrations refer to as “non-revenue” sports (or “Olympic” sports during Olympic years– and yes, I know golf, bowling, cross-country etc. are not in the Olympics, but they are included in this category). Swimming and these other sports have the constant pressure of demonstrating their value beyond financial. In this, I think the coaches in the above video hit the nail on the head. How does swimming ---men’s swimming especially--- demonstrate its value to an athletic department, but more importantly to the university as a whole? Is there any way that non-revenue sports at an institution can work together? What is wrestling, gymnastics, water polo doing?
Having thought about this over the weekend, I think there are several issues:
1. The institution is blessed to have these folks as students.
Athletics, especially non-revenue sports, bring students into the university who can select to attend other institutions. Many of these student-athletes are not on athletic scholarships. They pay their way through tuition, student aid, work study, outside employment (although much more challenging due to NCAA regulations than previously), and academic scholarships. These are men and women universities should want as students. They have learned hard work and are a population of individuals who can choose to attend elsewhere. We need to emphasize their importance as student-athletes to their institution.
2. Non-revenue sport student-athletes are good students.
Non-revenue student-athletes often have higher graduation rates than the institution at large ---and often than the revenue athletes. They are consistently the ones that win the highest GPA for the department (Cal women for example). A program that gets very little press otherwise often gets the press release about the highest GPA in the conference.
As I get older, I have realized the academic success of non-revenue sports readily gives us an ally----the faculty and department deans. Many of these folks are sports fans---abetted some are closeted. How to use the teachers and deans? Have your swimmers invited their teachers to a meet? (This would work at any level---grade school, high school, college).
Granted many of these folks have family, teaching, lab, clinical, and grant commitments so they may not be able to attend. Probably best to give them times that correspond to the first event of a meet or an estimated time for the athlete’s swim. Or even have “teacher discount” at a local meet.
You may be surprised how many of these folks swim for exercise already. Even if they don’t attend, the invitation illustrates how important they are to a student-athlete’s overall success.
3. Mentorship
We all need mentors. These are parents, teachers, coaches, and peers. No one person can encompass all the necessary personality traits and experiences to be any other person’s only mentor. How do we as swimmers and swim team members mentor our community?
Is this through peer-tutoring, community service, or just being good examples? Swimmers often can be role-models to those younger and yes, to those older, in terms of behavior, goal-setting, response to success and response to failure. How do you bring this to your surrounding community? How do you integrate into the community such that your absence would be noticed?
And yes, this can result in positive press, probably not as much as the basketball team at the homeless shelter, but… More important than the press in my mind, is a consistent commitment to community, it will be remembered.
4. Alums
How do I reach my alums? How many age group programs have kept track of their alums—not just the ones with further success in the sport, but all of them? How do college programs keep track of their alums? Who are swimming alums in my area that may not have attended my program or club? (I would check the Master’s programs and advertise during open swim at the pool---you might be surprised by who appears).
As an alum, have you called, emailed, or written the coach at your program in the last year to say hello, provide support or just to update them on your life? Where and what are your former teammates doing now?
The internet and social networking sites have opened a new avenue to communicate with people who have had similar experiences. It is a matter of locating them if you have lost track. Some of the older alumni are often willing and eager to provide assistance, both of time, experience, and sometimes, yes, money. Some of the more recent graduates may not have the time or money, but they do have the shared experience of the sport. In most cases, they will appreciate the contact and in the long run all will benefit.
I would enjoy hearing your opinions about ideas, and solutions.

W&M;is a hot program,great coach,excellent team, outstanding school and everyone graduates.The majors could learn from the Tribe!No mercenaries!

how about charlottesville/uva..they must be doing something right

Take a trip down to William and Mary to see a great mid major program, with a three time NCAA qualifier, coached by an alum, sponsored by an alumni endowment that started over 20 years ago.

Garrett...take a trip to Clarion University and see the program. They have a long history of acheivements and is set to take off again with this years recruiting class and the coaches are fantastic.

for me, it would be a dream come true to be an assistant under one of these 5 coaches. 5 of the most elite (and smartest) coaches in the sport period

Most college teams have some sort of discount-contract-sponsorship relationship with a manufacturer.

are you going to be covering ynats?

What IS the deal with sponsors and college swim teams? It seems like teams pick one brand of suits and stick with them. Do the teams have contracts with the companies? Or do they at least get really good discounts?

would it be possible for sponsers to help out college teams. I feel like speedo, tyr, and blueseventy are all getting a lot of there income from these schools. It would be nice if they would get involved

So what is the current situation for ASU?

awesome video. Some of the greatest college coaches of our time in one discussion. Way to go Garrett.

Great vlog. Thanks for sharing. GO Devils!!!

Develop a lessons learned forum either on Floswimming or a separate website where those college programs that have effectively fought off elimination provide other college coaches tips on steps they can take right now. There are alot of good opinions out there but they need to be organized, prioritized, and available to those who could use techniques that work. This single known spot on the internet would gather and disseminate good ideas on this subject!

you need to come to ynats

Around 7 minutes, Frank Busch hit it right on the head. As a club coach in the state I swam two years before I got cut (Nebraska) the lack of college team has made it very hard to keep guys in the sport. There is so much work required to be good at this sport and stay in it, having nothing local to look up to makes it very difficult to see the fruits of your labor (especially in a football state). Also, we don't see or communicate the success stories of local swimmers making to any level at college, which needs to change to get kids to stay with it. It is up to us as club coaches to sell the idea of being a swimmer and it being okay to be a swimmer. In my experience I have seen and heard from kids in the Midwest the last 5 years that leave the door open and don't commit because of the possibility of not reaching those dreams, i.e. failure. They will only know in retrospect that if they had gone for it and failed, it is better than living a life with a big WHAT IF. It is up to us to change that mentality.

It's also really important to mention that there are going to be major cuts to big-conference programs in terms of scholarship numbers and budgets. It's already happened to two that I know of (going from fully funded to 50% or 70% funded). And budgets across the country are getting cut. This is even harder to avoid, and as difficult a situation for many swimmers.

invite your atheltic director or assistant atheltic director to your training trip, usually the ad is required to evaluate the coachs performance at some event anyway, mine as well be at the point in the season when he can see the team working the hardest.

hey Garrett, what about a nation wide tour, do a crazy journey and hit the lower 48 and visit a few teams from each state, that'd be a pretty cool thing to see!

Another idea: Start saving money to endow your program now. Mike Chasson and Arizona State had to do this in reaction, but coaches like Wally Morton are already getting a head start:

http://www.collegeswimming.com/news/2009/mar/31/outside-lanelines-scary-spring/

I'm back 4 cup of coffee and plenty of time, I am a teacher. But a teacher talking about monetary issues is like a chicken talking about recipes for chicken soup. Of course I have an idea. I've been talking to coaches both Div 1 and 111, cause my kids would like to swim in college, as they have been for 10 years. No they're not olympians but they are New England champs. Both males and female. Anyway, each coach we spoke with is most proud of the ACADEMIC accomplishments of their squads. We know that swimmers are also the most tight knit group on their campuses, just because of the nature of their training.Just like the alumni at Dartmouth, the swimming alumni have got to get it together and standup vocally and monetarily for their teams. Parents and grandparents, also.Don't make those donations to the general slush fund, It'll probably end up in the pocket of.... That's where it starts. So what does this have to do with Mike Phelps? The boy was just doing what your average college STUDENT does once and a while, have a brewski and bonger! Thank God for Obama! If I said this a few years ago the brain police would be knocking on my door tonight. Not that George W.didn't tip a few or inhale,sorry that was Bill! Mike just missed the collegiate experience and chose the professional world. So what about all those professional student athletes American and International, male and female? How many, I won't mention Ariz,Au... I recently heard that some coaches have taken swimmer from Europe in the middle of the season because the semester timing was just right so they could swim for their teamand because they were fast, but do they attend classes, cut classes, do real HW,take tests,graduate, are integral parts of their college teams for more than a year or two, party, attend chapel( I'm not biased). Or is it just win at all cost or simiarly, what can you do for me today, how much is our profit for this quarter? AIG,BOA LB,CITI? It all the same issue. "Take the money and run,"Woody Allen. to be continued...

The 2008 and 2009 ASCA fellows program were / are being tasked with taking on this issue...can we hear some of the results from their 2008 study?

Can't do anything without a plan. Who will be the point and when do we get started. I am sure people would flood Floswimming or a non profit organization created for this purpose with money for this issue if they knew it went directly to fixing the above problem. Maybe its an attack on a variety of fronts. Local by instittutions as noted above and more global through a third party like Floswimming or some non profit organization with a bankroll from fans of the sport. This is about organization and an air tight strategy! Plus there needs to be a face that would have to be patient enough to answer a lot of questions.

Go BIG GREEN! Dartmouth and Deerfield, New England Prep Champs 2008 and 2009!

from The Higher Ed watch blog - url to full story below

Beyond UNC, the other top seeds wouldn't be booking any tickets to Detroit. Louisville may be the overall number one seed in the tournament, but its 40 percent graduation rate wouldn't get it past the Elite Eight. That's at least better than the University of Connecticut and its dismal 25 percent graduation rate, or Pittsburgh, which has a respectable 58 percent graduation rate, but is just below Xavier's 60 percent mark.
The Academic Sweet Sixteen is a higher-stakes competition. Every year, over half of the basketball players in Division I leave college without a degree. While a select handful of these players will move on the NBA, the vast majority of those that do not graduate will be left with little academic training, minimal career options, and only the fading glory of college hoops as compensation. And the schools these players "studied" at won't shed any tears -- having already made millions of dollars off of their talents.
This bracket tries to expose these stark realities that are never part of the tournament's "One Shining Moment" highlight reel.
The Academic Sweet Sixteen bracket evaluates academic performance based on the federal graduation rate of each of the remaining teams in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament. The most recent data available look at the average graduation rate of the four classes that entered school between 1998 and 2001 and graduated within six years of initial enrollment.
Graduation rates are not the ideal measure of academic success. Just because a student-athlete graduates doesn't take into account whether that student was funneled into a less rigorous "jock major" that provides few workplace-ready skills. Unfortunately, these are the best data publicly available from the NCAA, and until the NCAA provides more transparency on academic outcomes -- for example, courses, majors, average GPAs -- this is what we have to use.
http://www.newamerica.net/blog/higher-ed-watch/2009/third-annual-academic-march-madness-10753

Thanks swimdadfan. The Dartmouth team continues to work hard to improve as well as to give our athletes the best possible collegiate experience. We appreciate the shoutout!

What about the Golden Bears?

Illiterate gorilla, really?

the scary thing is for example what is the grad rate of UConn Bball or BC football. These are academic institutions and should not be money making side shows for the NBA and the NFL, and ...all they can produce is an illiterate gorilla in these programs. So bottom line is to create a demand for college swimming. Thank goodness for the military academies they require everyone to do a sport be it intercollegiate or intermural.

Hey Garrett and Chris. I want to thank you guys for bringing swimming up to the forefront of amateur athletics.It not just about Michael Phelps doing a doobie at a college party. I'll get back to that later. Floswimming is amazing! Swim fans finally have a voice and a place to go for info and scintillating chatter. ESPN will catch up with us someday! I'm confused aboutall this talk about International swimmers taking scholarships from American swimmers and now more possible program cuts? I am a teacher/coach of 25 years and a swim dad for 10. I've spent the 48 years of my 56 in school,no wonder my view is a bit askew. But I thought college is about learning stuff, about oneself,the world, life, and maybe even skills for getting a job? When other sports programs e.g. football,basketball,hockey get the majority ,by far, of scholarships, that sort of leaves swimmer out in the cold, even with a Lazer or Blue Seventy that's major shrinkage factor! But, it has nothing to do with Title IX. Every athlete , male or female has the right to an great educational opportunity, in any sport,and the rich sports like basketball should pay for the less financially successful sports. They all represent the same university or college. UConn just released the finances about their BB team. they made something like $6,000,000 last year. Coach Calhoun is the HIGHEST paid employee of the state of Connecticut. BC gives 85 scholarships to the football team, 6 to the Women's Swim Team,ZERO to the Men's team. No these are not just financial issues anymore than cutting programs is a financial decision. Money can be found at all of these schools if they want to find it.Several years ago Dartmouth threatened to eliminate the swim program,alumni revolted and paradoxically their pool was renovated during the last couple of years and the swim program is stronger than ever. Alumni have got more power than they realize at colleges, swimmers are among the most successful graduates , because they all graduate as opposed to FB,BB or H players and especially females! I'm running out of energy...to be continued...

Such a great interview..should be required viewing for all coaches and AD's, maybe you could send out videos to all the programs
The current economic conditions provide the perfect excuse/rational for cutting mens programs right now and I fear that their are AD'ds out there that having been looking for an opportunity to slash programs and now feel like they can do so with impunity because of the economic climate.
Again Garrett, you are one step ahead of the competition..keep doing the great job you have been.

pepperdine girls got cut yesterday i think