Swim coaches often have to ‘lay down the law’ with their athletes when it comes to grades, behavior, practice attendance, or effort.
For the swimmers at SUNY-Cortland, though, that has a bit of a different meaning to it.
The head swimming and diving coach of the Red Dragons, Brian Tobin, was reelected as the mayor of Cortland, New York earlier this year, a post that he has held since November of 2011.
The State University of New York at Cortland has an enrollment of 7,200 and is a Division III school; that enrollment makes up a little over 1/3 of the city’s population of 19,204 as of the 2010 census.
The city, which got a boost in 2009 when the New York Jets moved their training camp there, and perhaps most famous as the scene for the based-on-real-life movie A Place in the Sun, about the murder of Grace Brown, which eventually would win an Academy Award, in 1951. It is also the home time of Ronnie James Dio, the former lead singer of the band Black Sabbath (he replaced Ozzy Osbourne in that role in 1979).
While many college swim coaches supplement their salaries by teach classes or coaching club teams, but Tobin has instead taken a different role.
Running unopposed, he took 100% of the 1,777 votes cast for Mayor.
To read more about Tobin’s accomplishments as Mayor, read his official Facebook page here.
Swim history: SUNY Cortland is where Doc Counsilman was coaching when he guided George Breen to an Olympic medal. This is before he was at Indiana
Congrats Brian what an ultimate plurality you had in being re-elected. Keep up the good work in town and of course with the team. Go Red Dragons!! Was going to ask if anyone knew the history. A great lacrosse history also with many coaches from there. Owe a great deal to an outstanding place.and it’s people.