Arizona State hires ‘program builder’, former Olympic coach to lead swimming
Apr 24, 2015, 9:53 PM | Updated: 10:18 pm
TEMPE, Ariz. — In the pool, there is no bigger name than Michael Phelps.
The man behind the 18-time Olympic champion is now the man in front of Arizona State swimming.
Bob Bowman, one of the most accomplished coaches in the sport, is bringing his acclaimed resume and skilled instruction onto the Sun Devil campus.
“I think to some people this may be somewhat of a surprise; and in many ways, I might be the most surprised,” he said Friday.
“When I looked seriously at the potential of this program and this university, it’s clear that this can be such a great story, not just for the program here or for ASU, but for collegiate swimming, collegiate Olympic sports. It could be a model for others to follow.”
At a press conference held at ASU Karsten Golf Course, Bowman made it clear he intended to elevate a program that was once dropped briefly for financial reasons only to be saved by boosters.
“This is going to be a long-term project for me at ASU,” he said. “We’re going to lay a foundation. We’re going to recruit aggressively. We’re going to bring in the right student-athletes, and we’re going to build over time, step-by-step-by-step.”
Bowman is the fifth head coach hired by athletic director Ray Anderson.
“He’s a visionary. He’s passionate about teaching and developing world-class swimmers who are serious students and superb athletes,” Anderson said of Bowman. “He’s a program-builder. That’s what we’re bringing to ASU. We’re bringing people who want to bring the game that makes us elite programs.”
A six-time USA Swimming Coach of the Year, Bowman was the U.S. head coach at the 2007, 2009 and 2013 World Championships and has served as an assistant coach in three different Olympics, including 2008 when Phelps won a record eight gold medals in Beijing.
Swimmers coached by Bowman have set 43 world records and more than 50 American records.
Bowman will remain Phelps’ head coach — a commitment Bowman says will remain through this year’s world championships and next summer’s Olympic Games. With Phelps’ training moving from Baltimore to Tempe, it should serve as a huge benefit for Sun Devil swimmers.
“One of the things we want to do is energize what’s going on here,” Bowman said. “Bring a higher level of thinking, a higher level of training, a higher level of expectation and there’s no better way to do that than by exposing our athletes to those level of athletes.”
Bowman admitted it will be a “challenge” wearing, in his words, two different hats, but the opportunity he saw at ASU was too good to pass up. He missed the college atmosphere.
Bowman twice won Big Ten Coach of the Year honors while he was the head coach for the men’s swimming and diving program at Michigan from 2005-08.
“If I ever had an opportunity to go back to university and sort of kind of get back to that environment that I wanted to take it; and just wanted it to be at a place where something special could happen,” he said.
ASU is that place, according to Bowman.
“This ticked all the boxes. It had facilities. It had good weather — you don’t know how excited I am not to mention the word ‘snow’ in recruiting,” he said, smiling. “They have a strong diving program. They have an array of academic choices. So, everything that I would want in a school is here.
“It just felt right.”