After five days of actions in Omaha, Nebraska at the 2016 U.S Olympic Trials a picture of the coaching staff is beginning to form based on who’s qualified for the Olympic team.
Bob Bowman was already announced as the head men’s coach, and David Marsh was already announced as the head women’s coach, but the rest of the coaching staff will be announced following the completion of trials. Historically, there’s 3 male and 3 female assistant coaches named to the staff.
Right now, here are the top candidates for the coaching staff based solely on swimmers qualified:
DAVE DURDEN (Cal Men’s head coach)
SWIMMERS WHO HAVE MADE THE TEAM
- Josh Prenot (200 breaststroke AR)
- Ryan Murphy (100 backstroke)
- Tom Shields (200 butterfly)
- Nathan Adrian (100 freestyle, 4×100 freestyle relay)
- Anthony Ervin** (4×100 freestyle relay) – although Ervin is currently training with Dave Marsh at SwimMAC elite, Ervin trained with Durden for the majority of the lead up to trials.
SWIMMERS WHO COULD MAKE THE TEAM
- Jacob Pebley (200 backstroke)
JACK BAUERLE (Georgia head coach)
SWIMMERS WHO HAVE MADE THE TEAM
- Olivia Smoliga (100 backstroke)
- Chase Kalisz (400 IM)
- Jay Litherland (200 IM)
- Gunnar Bentz (4×200 freestyle relay)
- Hali Flickinger (200 butterfly)
- Melanie Margalis (200 IM)
EDDIE REESE (Texas Men’s head coach)
SWIMMERS WHO HAVE MADE THE TEAM
- Clark Smith (4×200 freestyle relay)
- Jack Conger (4×200 freestyle relay)
- Townley Haas (200 free, 4×200 freestyle relay)
GREGG TROY (Florida head coach)
SWIMMERS WHO HAVE MADE THE TEAM
- Caeleb Dressel (100 free, 4×100 free relay)
- Elizabeth Beisel (400 IM)
RAY LOOZE (Indiana head coach)
SWIMMERS WHO HAVE MADE THE TEAM
- Cody Miller (100 breaststroke)
- Blake Pieroni (4×100 free relay)
- Lilly King (100 breaststroke)
BRUCE GEMMELL
SWIMMERS WHO HAVE MADE THE TEAM
- Katie Ledecky (200, 400 freestyle, 4×200 freestyle relay)
Hey swimswam, there’s a lovely video of Durden’s recap of the trials. I think it’s an awesome interview. Speaks to how many people put in the work to get these guys ready.
How about Dan Graeves from Santa Rosa Neptunes? Give a nod to the club coach that developed Dirado and Hannis!
Unquestionably Durden will be on the staff. He prepared his big guns well and they delivered. His other swimmers not so much. You could tell where his focus was, not on his average joes. Only two underclassmen swam in a final this week. Georgia and Texas on the other hand showed up in mass. Speaks volumes.
Strange, inconsistent methodology in this list. Some swimmers listed under secondary home teams, while Durden’s CAL team gets a special “Swimmers who could make the team” sub-heading. Weird.
Should be:
Durden – Reese, Troy, Looze
Bauerle – Marsh, Gemmel, Meehan
Watch Busch or McKeever get the nod over Meehan, which would be wrong
Historically, but not in this order, the following have been considered and are driving criteria when deciding the assistant coaches:
1. Number of athletes placed on the team (s).
2. Gold medal potential of those athletes.
3. Current and past experience / relationships with Team USA athletes.
4. Past Olympic coaching experience.
5. Personality / staff and team dynamic.
I don’t think any of these criteria are news and the majority has been directly or indirectly addressed in the previous posts. My guess is:
Women: Marsh, Bauerle, Gemmel, X
Men: Bowman, Durden, Reese, Y
I think Looze is on, just which staff. That leaves one spot. This spot will be dictated by which athlete has… Read more »
Also………………Dressel is the male counterpart to Weitzeil. If he has a great 50, then Troy to the head of the class.
I really think that trip would be hard on Eddie. He is slowing down big time. I agree with you that he might turn it down. Should he be on the staff – ABSOLUTELY. Not sure he’ll say yes though. I think it will be Ray and Troy.
How many can they name?
Historically 3 men and 3 women assistants.
Teri McKeever….????!!!!
Cal seems to be doing well on both the men’s and women’s side. Shouldn’t McKeever be in on this list as well?
Teri has nothing to do with coaching the Men’s team