UCSD Head Swimming Coach David Marsh has a long history of producing innovative practices. Marsh loves to change up the routine. This video is a small example. And, yes, that’s Marsh out there on the paddle board.
UCSD David Marsh Bio, courtesy of UCSD:
David Marsh, a top-level coach of elite swimmers for over 30 years who guided the 2016 U.S. Women’s Olympic Team to 16 medals, was named the new head coach of the University of California San Diego men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs on June 27, 2017.
Marsh heads cross country to La Jolla from Charlotte, N.C., where he spent the past 10 years as the CEO and Director of Coaching of SwimMAC Carolina. Within that structure, Marsh established and coached Team Elite, which includes SwimMAC’s impressive list of professional swimmers. SwimMAC generated 14 Olympians for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Games during Marsh’s tenure, with that group compiling 11 gold, two silver and one bronze medal. All told, 38 USA Swimming national champions and 27 junior national champions came from SwimMAC the last decade.
Marsh led the women of Team USA to unprecedented success at the 2016 Rio Olympics, with a final medal haul of eight gold, four silver and four bronze. That contingent featured the likes of Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel, Maya DiRado and Lilly King. Team Elite placed more U.S. Olympians than any program in the country, six, with Kathleen Baker, co-captain Anthony Ervin, Jimmy Feigen, Ryan Lochte and Katie Meili all earning gold medals.
During the summer of 2017, Marsh was in Indianapolis, Ind., for the Phillips 66 National Championships, aiding four of his Team Elite swimmers onto Team USA for the 17th FINA World Championships, for which he was in Budapest, Hungary, in late July as a technical advisor for Team Israel.
Prior to his time in Charlotte, Marsh was the head coach of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at Auburn University from 1990-2007. He led the Tiger men to seven national titles, including five straight from 2003-07, and the women to five. Those five all came within a six-year span between 2002-07, with a runner-up showing in 2005. The men were also national runners-up three times under Marsh.
Additionally, Marsh’s Auburn Tigers combined for 17 Southeastern Conference (SEC) crowns, highlighted by 11 consecutive men’s championships from 1997-2007. He was a nine-time national and 13-time SEC Coach of the Year. Marsh coached countless All-Americans, 10 Academic All-Americans, and 49 Olympic athletes from 19 different countries.
For USA Swimming prior to 2016, Marsh was an assistant coach on the 2000, 2008 and 2012 Olympic staffs, and involved in numerous other competitions around the globe. He was named USA Swimming’s developmental Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2014 for his work with SwimMAC.
Marsh swam at Auburn from 1978-81 and graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. His wife, Kristin, swam at California and is also an accomplished sports educator, most recently as head coach at Pine Lake Preparatory. Of their three children, Aaron is a junior track and field distance runner at Charlotte’s Queens University, Alyssa a sophomore swim team captain at Duke, and Maddie a high school senior. Alyssa placed fourth in the 50-meter butterfly at the 2017 Phillips 66 National Championships.
Wow, this is creative. Maybe someday someone will create a 1 mile open water swim
We used to have our kids do open water “Four Corner IM Relays” in the Long Island Sound in the Fall. Set up the team in groups, at the four corners of a 50yd square. The first person in each group would start and swim butterfly to the next corner. When they got there, the second person would go (butterfly). When the first person got to the front of the line, they would go Backstroke and so on, and so on, etc.
Was a good workout and change of pace from early season monotony in the “chlorinated pond”.
That water is cold, dude.
Ehh you get used to it. Its not thaaat bad. I came here to watch a longer swim in deeper water. This is boorriing.
We did some morning beach/ocean workouts on a couple of training trips in the mid-late 70’s. One trip to Hawaii and one to Florida! If memory serves correctly the ocean workouts in the morning were fun, but we always paid in the afternoon workout…. 10 x 1000!
Ow…
I’m sure it’s a coincidence that this video goes out for recruits to see when the weather on the East Coast is absolutely diabolical.