Cal head coach Dave Durden is starting to get a reputation as a kingmaker of sorts in college swimming.
After two straight NCAA men’s team titles, his last two men’s team assistants have gotten Power 5 head coaching jobs in the last two offseasons, including Matt Bowe, who took the Michigan job on Friday.
For experienced associate head coaches who are ready to make the jump to the top of their own program, this is the job to take (now that all known head coaching jobs are out).
So for the third time this offseason, this is a gig where almost everyone is in play.
Whittling the list down, then, becomes a game of educated guesses. There aren’t a ton of experienced Cal alums on the market, so the obvious trigger is ruled out. Cal is also in a much different position than they were last offseason: the program is now combined, so Durden isn’t necessarily looking at a men’s team coach, but rather a combined program associate head coach. Those are two very different things.
He needs a recruiter. Dave Marsh is obviously a great recruiter, but in a combined program at a program like Cal, with new hire Kim Williams being relatively-inexperienced, it takes more than one.
Keep in mind that Cal also has an assistant coaching role to fill (Jesse Moore left too, and they were one short last season because of the uncertainty over Teri McKeever). Those are two very different jobs (one carries a bigger title and a bigger salary), but at least this means that Durden already has hiring on his mind and has been having a lot of conversations.
When you look at past Durden assistants, though, he tends to look for coaches who lean toward the more buttoned-up, organized professional, shirt-tucked type of coach.
Here’s some names that I’ve crowd-sourced that might fit the Cal culture.
Mike Joyce, Associate Head Coach / Head of Men’s Recruiting, Minnesota
Joyce has two seasons under his belt at Minnesota after three seasons at Auburn, one at Arizona State, a couple at Princeton, and as a volunteer assistant at both Florida and NC State.
Joyce is climbing the ladder for sure and is coming up in more-and-more conversations nationally.
Joyce, like a number of Minnesota staffers, did just get a big promotion in Minneapolis, but according to the school’s public records office, that didn’t come with any new contract, so the title alone might not be enough for him to pass this job up if offered.
The knock here is that Minnesota hasn’t blown anyone away with recruiting lately. It feels like Joyce needs one more stop in between Minnesota and Cal (or to see some improvements in the program there).
Duncan Sherrard, Assistant Coach/Men’s Recruiting Coordinator, South Carolina
South Carolina has made strides under Jeff Poppell, and while there’s a gulf between them and Cal still, there’s some energy there that could be appealing.
He’s another guy with an Auburn background – he spent 3 years training the sprinters there under Gary Taylor. Durden is a former Auburn assistant coach as well, though he didn’t overlap with either Sherrard or Joyce.
He also spent 3 years training the sprinters at North Carolina.
South Carolina has had some pickup in their recruiting, punching above their weight class the last few years, especially with transfers. The knock here is that on a staff with Durden and Marsh, the sprint group is in good shape, so Sherrard’s specialty might not be the perfect puzzle piece for Durden’s staff.
Steph Juncker, Associate Head Coach/Women’s Recruiting Coordinator, Louisville
The lone remaining piece from the Louisville machine that seems to keep marching on with a new staff every year, Juncker.
At this point, she oughta be in the conversation for every job that opens up, so that sort of leads me to believe that she’s either looking for a head coaching job or happy to stay at Louisville.
Her current role is focused on recruiting women, so it’s plausible that Durden, now with everything organized, could shift Marsh’s focus to men’s recruiting and let Juncker take the lead on women’s recruiting – so there are options there. But if I’m Cal, I’m trying to get the last long-time piece of that Louisville magic.
Jason Calanog, Associate Head Coach (Men), Texas A&M
Calanog has breathed new life into a Texas A&M men’s program that, prior to his arrival, was staggering a little bit.
He’s trained three different guys from three different generations to do things that nobody has done before: Caeleb Dressel at Bolles, Shaine Casas at A&M, and now Baylor Nelson at A&M.
He’s got the versatility to fill the role needed (and is working hard on mid-d right now, which meshes with Cal’s needs). The Aggies are recruiting very well. After Nelson’s year, Calanog should start getting a look for lots of big jobs in the next few years.
The only knock on him at the college level is that he doesn’t have a ton of years (or variety) of college experience, but that’s more of an issue for a head coaching role than it would be for an associate role like Cal.
Dr. Josh White, Associate Head Coach, Michigan
The guru of Michigan’s distance program that was the best in the country in the 2010s, he would certainly fill out the hole in Cal’s coaching staff (though let’s be clear – they scored 9 points at NCAAs in the mile and won the NCAA title, so everything is relative).
So could the trade be on? We know White is probably looking for a job after Bowe took over at Michigan, so could a ‘trade’ of sorts be in the works here?
Josh White did about everything there was to do at Michigan. He’s a guy who might be ready for that ‘last step’ before becoming a head coach.
Michael Stephens, Head Coach, Hawaii
I hate to write this, because in his one year at Hawaii, he was a game changer, but Stephens has to be on the radar here. He’s done a ton without a lot at both Hawaii and BC, and though he’s only been at Hawaii for a year, this might be the right position for him to move on quickly.
Not to overstate it, but Stephens is becoming a bit of a magician with his results at lower-resourced programs. He doesn’t have any big program experience, though, and that’s a whole different ballgame. This Cal job would be his chance to find out if he ‘has it’ or ‘doesn’t have it’ to climb that ladder.
Who else?
Looking through the top names at the other ‘hot’ programs, like NC State, Texas, Auburn, or Arizona State, I just don’t see many fitting this role for one way or another, though there are some great coaches on those staffs.
Vlad Polyakov is in a great position, but I don’t know that Cal is necessarily an upgrade from his gig as associate head coach at Auburn. Gideon Luow at Auburn is another sprint coach, as was mentioned before.
NC State’s coaching staff is thin on experience thanks to lots of hire-aways over the last few years, and Mark Bernardino isn’t moving to the west coast at this point of his career.
I still assume that Wyatt Collins is waiting for his boss Eddie Reese to finally retire at Texas. Mitch Dalton from the Texas women’s team makes a lot more sense – especially given the recruiting tear that the Texas women have been on after back-to-back NCAA runner-up finishes.
I genuinely wonder if Marsh would try to talk Durden out of trying to poach a coach from Auburn.
Mike Joyce is the real deal
Mike is a great guy.
Since the staff structure is different now, what if brought on 2 associates, a senior associate and an associate. If they did that, maybe it’s Ben Loorz and Pat Ota at UNLV. They both work with an Olympian, had success with their men and women, and both from California
If you want someone with experience developing female swimmers at the highest level, you have to consider UNC’s former HC, Frank Comfort. Big time name that will help our Cal ladies get back to the top!
Any good club coaches with college experience worth a call?
Gary Taylor? Steve Brown?
Hear me out, this is 1000000% highly speculative, but it’s obviously gotta be Mike Bottom.
Ron Aitken makes the jump and all sandpipers commit to Cal tomorrow.
That would makes Andrew’s head spin!
Ron might have difficulty with the amount of control you must give up as a coach when dealing with college aged swimmers…