After a seven-year stint that saw the program struggle to contend with a revolving door of assistants, the University of Arizona cut ties with head coach Augie Busch on Thursday.
Arizona used to be regarded as one of the premier swimming schools in the country. The women’s team placed in the top five at NCAAs in 10 straight seasons from 2004 to 2013, winning the national title in 2008. The Wildcat men finished 4th or better nine times and no lower than 6th during that stretch, also winning the NCAA title in 2008.
The decline over the past decade has included the women’s team scoring no points at the 2024 NCAAs and a combined 7.5 swimming points over the past four national championship meets. On the men’s side, they recorded their lowest finish since 1976 in 2023, placing 32nd, and placed 27th this past season with the bulk of their points coming from diving.
With the door open for a new coach to come in and take over the program as it enters a new conference next season, who are the frontrunners for the job?
With Busch’s tenure beginning six years after his father, Frank Busch, concluded a 22-year run at Arizona from 1989 to 2011, the Wildcats have been under the Busch umbrella for 29 of the past 35 seasons.
That brings us to a massive list of coaches who have coaching ties to the Busch family.
One anonymous alumni SwimSwam spoke to said that they were ready for a clean break from the Frank Busch era and thought the program might be better served by hiring a non-alumni, though the Busch coaching tree is huge.
THE BUSCH ERA COACHING TREE
Dave Rollins – Head Coach, Florida Gulf Coast University
Rollins was a prominent member of the Arizona men’s team from 2002 to 2006, swimming on a record-breaking medley relay and making multiple trips to the ‘A’ final of the 100 breast at NCAAs. In 2017, he was inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.
Rollins started his coaching career under Frank Busch at Tucson Ford Dealers Aquatics in 2007 while finishing up school at Arizona, and after coaching stints at NAU and Ohio State, was named head coach at Florida Gulf Coast in 2016.
The Eagles, which only have a women’s team, have consistently been a top mid-major team under Rollins’ watch, winning three CSCAA titles and finishing as the runners-up three other times over a seven-year stretch. This past season, they placed 3rd at the Atlantic Sun (ASUN) Championships.
Whitney Hite – Associate Head Coach, University of Florida
Hite has Arizona ties with two seasons as an assistant coach under Frank Busch from 2009-11. During those two seasons, with Hite working with the middle-distance and distance groups, the Wildcat men finished 3rd and 4th at NCAAs and the women were 4th and 5th.
In 2011, Wisconsin head coach Eric Hansen took over head coaching duties from Busch at Arizona, which led Hite to be named the new head coach of the Badgers.
After a seven-year run at Wisconsin, with the men’s and women’s teams both peaking with 13th-place finishes at NCAAs, Hite was added to the coaching staff at Florida in 2018 as an associate on the women’s staff under Jeff Poppell. He’s continued in that role under Anthony Nesty who assumed head coaching duties of both the men and women when Florida re-combined their programs in 2021.
The Florida women’s team has been on an upward trajectory in recent seasons, winning back-to-back SEC titles in 2023 and 2024 after some key additions, and the men have been one of the best teams in the country throughout Hite’s time there.
Hite is rumored to have interviewed at Texas A&M, where there is uncertainty as the program will combine the teams after the retirement of women’s head coach Steve Bultman.
Greg Rhodenbaugh – Head Men’s Coach, SMU
Rhodenbaugh has deep ties to SMU, his alma mater, where he’s coming off a successful fifth season as the head coach of the men’s team. The Mustangs have won four straight conference titles under Rhodenbaugh, reeling off three AAC victories in a row before winning the ASUN conference crown in 2024.
Given the growing success Rhodenbaugh has found at SMU, where he also served on the coaching staff in the 1980s after being an All-American swimmer, it’s tough to imagine him wanting to head elsewhere, but he does have Arizona roots. He served as an assistant under Frank Busch for 11 seasons from 1999 to 2010 when the program was elite.
After that run, Rhodenbaugh was the head coach at Mizzou before returning to SMU. The success at SMU both makes Rhodenbaugh unlikely to be ready to jump at leaving, but given his ties, it also puts him in the mix.
READY FOR PROMOTION (?)
Jason Calanog – Associate Head Coach, Texas A&M
Calanog is in the running to take over the vacant head coaching role at West Virginia after Vic Riggs‘ resignation, but that hasn’t been solidified with WVU reportedly still making calls to other coaches.
Calanog is a WVU grad and served as a volunteer assistant on their coaching staff in 2006-07. He then worked at the Bolles School in Florida for eight seasons, working as the coach of Caeleb Dressel, and since 2015, he’s been on staff at Texas A&M.
Originally an assistant and now an associate head coach with the Aggies, Canalog has been rumored in head coaching vacancies in the past, and there’s uncertainty regarding how the coaching structure will be implemented at Texas A&M in the new combined program.
Tyler Fenwick – Associate Head Coach, University of Virginia
Fenwick has been an associate on staff at Virginia for the past seven seasons, playing a prominent role in the rise of the women’s team that’s evolved into a modern dynasty with four straight national titles.
After being on the rise during Fenwick’s first few seasons in Charlottesville, the Cavalier women have dominated the NCAA since 2020, and the men’s team has also found success in spurts with some game-changing recruits on the way.
Prior to Virginia, Fenwick was an associate head coach at Tennessee from 2012-17. It stands to reason he’ll be a highly sought after coach given UVA’s success, and after serving as an associate for a dozen years, perhaps it’s time to move up.
A move to Arizona would also bring him back to the West Coast, as Fenwick is a Los Angeles native.
Blaire Bachman – Associate Head Coach, University of Virginia
Bachman joined UVA at the same time as Fenwick (2017), starting out as an assistant and serving as the women’s recruiting coordinator before being promoted to associate head coach in the summer of 2021.
Given the success of the Virginia women since Bachman’s arrival, with the recruiting classes she’s brought in being a big part of the team’s rise, she could be in the running if Arizona is looking to turn the page.
She worked as the primary coach of the upper middle-distance group and was a big part of the success of Olympic medalist and NCAA champion Paige Madden.
Prior to joining the Cavaliers, Bachman held assistant roles at Dartmouth (2015-16) and Indiana (2016-17) for one season apiece after a five-year run as the head coach at Brenau, where she was the NAIA Swimming and Diving Women’s Coach of the Year in 2014.
Stephanie Juncker – Associate Head Coach, University of Louisville
May marks a decade Juncker has been on staff at Louisville, starting as an assistant and women’s recruiting coordinator in 2014 before being elevated to associate head coach in the summer of 2021.
Juncker has been an integral for the Cardinals under head coach Arthur Albiero, with numerous NCAA champions being produced including Mallory Comerford and Kelsi Dahlia early in her tenure and more recently Nicolas Albiero. The women’s team has remained one of the best in the nation of late, placing 4th at NCAAs in 2023 and 6th in 2024.
A 2012 Louisville grad, Juncker briefly worked at Fresno State and Arkansas before returning to her alma mater.
Like some of these other names, she’s been heavily relied on for an extended period of time for a successful program and could be due for a promotion.
Other Contenders To Consider:
- Wyatt Collins (Texas) – The writing’s been on the wall that Collins is due for a change of scenery after Bob Bowman was named the head coach of the Texas men’s team and added Erik Posegay as an associate. Collins was a big part of the Texas staff that won multiple national titles, serving under Eddie Reese for a decade including as an associate head coach since 2021.
- Jake Tapp (Northwestern) – Tapp was a key piece in the Arizona men’s NCAA title in 2008 and was twice an NCAA runner-up individually while with the Wildcats. He’s held coaching roles at New Mexico, IUPUI and Wisconsin, and he’s currently an associate head coach at Northwestern. He’s been there since 2018, and has been retained through two head coaching changes.
- Jack Brown (UNC) – Brown has spent the past five seasons as an associate at UNC, coming over from Mizzou where he spent seven seasons including a stint as an assistant under Rhodenbaugh. He earned a doctorate in sport psychology at Missouri while he was there. Like Tapp, he’s an Arizona alum and swam for Rhodenbaugh, earning All-American status and being an elite 400 IMer. There’s also a world where Tapp and Brown could be people Rhodenbaugh adds to his staff if he were to be named head coach.
FOR THE DRAMA
If there were betting lines on who the new Arizona coach would be, these two candidates would be in the longshot range, +1000 or higher odds.
But if they were announced, it would cause the swimming sphere to descend into chaos.
Carol Capitani – Head Women’s Coach, University of Texas
Capitani has evolved into one of the most respected coaches in the sport, leading the Texas women an extended period of excellence that’s included three straight runner-up finishes at NCAAs after placing 4th in 2021. She was also named head coach for the U.S. women’s team at the 2023 World Championships.
With the resources, facilities and consistent recruiting, there’s no reason for Capitani to want to leave Texas…unless the hiring of Bob Bowman as the Director of Swimming under the new combined program structure rubbed her the wrong way.
This isn’t suggesting that it did, but when Texas indicated it wanted to add the Director of Swimming role in the wake of Eddie Reese’s retirement, Capitani was said to be in the running.
Coley Stickels – Texas Ford Aquatics Pro Coach
Stickels is a polarizing figure in swimming. He’s currently coaching the pro group at Texas Ford Aquatics, with American sprinter Matt King among those training under him in the lead-up to the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Stickels has plenty of collegiate coaching experience, most recently at Alabama, though he only spent 18 months with the Crimson Tide before a mid-season resignation.
He spent two seasons on staff at Indiana prior to Alabama, heading to Bloomington after stops at Lake Oswego Swim Club, Phoenix Swim Club and Canyons Aquatic Club.
Stickels’ ties to Arizona date back to his competitive career, as he was a 14-time All-American in the pool with the Wildcats and graduated in 2001.
The fact that Whitney Hite’s name and face is even listed as a wild speculation is horrifying. No young adult, or anyone, should go through the belittling, yelling, and body shaming that was experienced for many female swimmers (including myself) at Wisconsin. It was a shock to hear that he was accepted at a strong program such as Florida after all of the supervision needed at Wisconsin. Completely agree with what folks are saying about him below- it took a major toll on many athletes’ mental health for years after graduating.
Why hasn’t SS created a “pick em” contest for this month’s open coaching positions?
Haha that would be a riot. Tricky part would be to come up with a complete list of candidates.
That is where you just add in a wild card option in case someone not on the list gets hired. And if you want to be cruel, just add in the same name you know will never be hired for every posting. Not suggesting any names…
Dr. Zac. Great alum rocking it out in NY
Josh white
Brian Thomas
The culture needs a kick in the pants that includes a candidate that has zero association with grandpa busch. His reputation for nepotism (literal and former minions) and covering up horrible team cultural events (iykyk) has finally caught up to him. Change the locks and send him his very few trophies.
Start fresh!!
Student athletes deserve so much more.
Brian Barnes, he’s overqualified to be coaching at Duke
Margo. She is an alum and has gained much experience at Alabama. A close colleague told me she was less than thrilled with that State.
Do you look at results? Not trending well and not enough experience.