Texas A&M has announced that it will combine its men’s and women’s swimming & diving programs under a single Director of Swimming role in the wake of the retirement of head women’s coach Steve Bultman.
Texas A&M staff and swimmers were informed of the decision on Friday afternoon and the news was released publicly several hours later. The public announcement was thin on details, including about what will happen to current men’s swimming & diving head coach Jay Holmes, a program alumnus who has been the head coach of the Aggies since 2004 and a member of the staff since 1987.
The biggest clue is the statement that “A national search for a Director of Texas A&M Swimming & Diving has begun as the department continues its work with search firm TurnkeyZRG.”
Sources close to the program say that Holmes will have the opportunity to apply for the Director of Swimming position, but that beyond that, the future of the men’s staff is also uncertain.
Up until Friday, the official job posting was for a head coach of the women’s program.
The move by new Aggie athletics director Trev Alberts, who has been in the seat for less than a month, mirrors a similar decision by the University of Texas earlier this week to hire Bob Bowman as its new Director of Swimming, which includes oversight of women’s head coach Carol Capitani who has led the Longhorns to three consecutive NCAA runner-up finishes.
While the historic rivalry between the state’s two flagship universities has fallen to a simmer since A&M left for the SEC in 2012, Texas’ arrival next season should reignite the tensions between the two schools that are about two hours apart.
The Texas A&M women finished 3rd out of 12 teams at the 2024 SEC Swimming & Diving Championships, while the men finished 4th out of 10 teams.
The women went on to place 14th at the NCAA Championship meet while the men placed 16th. For the women, that matched their highest finish since 2019.
Not much news has been released since the announcement. Any update? Rumors? Speculation?
What about Coley Stickels? A proven winner who has coached at all levels of the sport.
Too many negatives for the coach who just placed three men in the 50 final.
Are you talking splash hire to show Texas that A&M has game too???? That would be the biggest joke in College Station since Jimbo was hired!
Jeff Poppell as director. Promote Jason to men’s head
Popple’s accomplishments at South Carolina???
What is the value of having a Director? I figured for Texas it had to be something enticing to get Bowman to leave ASU and that a Director position was the only way- assuming it was the only way to justify possibly paying him a hefty salary…..What does A&M gain by this?
Coming from someone on a combined team… hopefully these men are kinder than most other teams because yikes does it become rough when it’s men against women
A lot of dynamics in play here. A question was asked, “Is Bultman’s retirement and replacement going to be treated as a top 5 job or a top 20 job?”. Add in a new AD, Texas coming to the SEC, and the recent “lackluster” finishes of 14th places add to the situation. The fact that Texas hired Bowman and created a Director of Swimming added a little fuel to the fire. There was a time when I had an athlete finish 2nd at state (Texas), salutatorian, and told he was not SEC material and ending up at Tennessee. It was treated as a top 5 program. I have been to Indiana and seen how that program works and was impressed.… Read more »
Just to add some *Variety*
Mid-major coaches that have been successful
Brandt Nigro – Army
Bobby Guntoro – UNCW (assume he’s not leaving NC)
Pablo Marmolejo – Delaware
Brian Thomas – GW
SIU – Geoff Hanson
Single gender
Akron (Women) – Brian Peresie
Rice (Women) – Seth Huston
Not sure if any of these are ready to be director of both, but perhaps some single gender? Bobby and Brandt would probably be the only two you could recommend for director as they’re both head coaches of combined programs both doing well and they both had the opportunity to work with Braden. When looking at programs that have progressed and the coach has… Read more »
Who???
Lol, tell me you’re small minded without telling me. Just because these coaches don’t luck into power 5 programs doesn’t mean they aren’t great coaches. Some of these programs are ranked ahead of power 5 teams that have all the resources possible
So my question is which of those people do you fire the current staff for, write a huge check, and parade them in front of the cameras and have the swim community say that is an obvious home run? I’m not saying those aren’t good coaches who deserve a chance. I’m asking if you think finding a hidden gem is what A&M is trying to do here.
That’s a fair argument, however I’m not sure they’re going to get a home-run hire. Honestly at this point given this past season the only home run hire would be Nesty, if NCAAs was combined then Nesty wins. NC State, Tennessee and Indiana are the only other programs that had both teams top 10. I think we’ve already established these coaches probably aren’t going anywhere. So with these removed who do we go with? No one else that’s above Texas A&M is probably going to leave their current situation, Bob I think everyone knew would eventually leave, but ASU had no history of being a great program. Sergio has done well with the guys, but his women were 26th, Maurer… Read more »
You clearly have no understanding of the value of money. Texas A&M has it. Others don’t.
This. Yes, the obvious names are at established programs and in a very good spot, but I don’t think those programs will pay what TAMU can throw at someone. Will that matter to them? Who knows, but that is largely what this will come down to, I think. The names that would come for the role alone, regardless of money, are probably not splashy enough to get the job.
Too old?
I don’t know on what level this decision makes sense. I don’t know why you would try to replace Jay, which this decision seems to do. They said he can apply, but if they wanted that, they would have just promoted him. And who do you get to leave their current position to move to College Station who is obviously better than Jay? You can’t tell me that A&M is going to throw enough money at Dave that he’d leave Northern California for College Station. Anthony either. Or Todd. And I’m not trying to hate on the city. Ray isn’t someone you want around your program. Neither is Marsh. I’d honestly be surprised if Carol wanted the role. A&M is… Read more »
“A&M is going to throw enough money at…” You do realize A&M paid >$70m for a coach to go away. Paying $1m to try to bring Natty’s is chump change.