1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,720 All right, today we got coach Michael Kinross in the spotlight, who is currently University 2 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:15,880 of Pittsburgh's assistant coach. 3 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:20,520 He was previously at Sandpipers in Nevada, where he had a ton of success developing elite 4 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:25,800 club swimmers and coaching on the international stage with Team USA. 5 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,560 Now he's making the jump to college swimming at Pitt, and we're going to get into all of 6 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:30,560 it. 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,240 Why he made the move, what's different at the college level, and what the future looks 8 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:35,760 like for Pitt swimming. 9 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,840 Coach Kinross, it is great to have you here today, man. 10 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,240 Hey Jamie, really happy to do this. 11 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,720 All right, so let's start with this. 12 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:49,600 So you were crushing it at Sandpipers, one of the top club programs in the country, sending 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,960 swimmers to the biggest stages. 14 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,480 Why leave that behind and jump to the college scene? 15 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,920 What was it about college swimming that really just pulled you in? 16 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,520 Yep, good question. 17 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,080 Obvious question, right? 18 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:09,040 Honestly, there's a lot of different factors, some personal things, timing, both where we're 19 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:13,840 at with Sandpipers, where we're at with the Olympic cycle, and just me kind of personally 20 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:14,840 my life. 21 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:21,500 Coming out of college, I was always just planning on coaching swimming, and I really wanted 22 00:01:21,500 --> 00:01:27,560 to get back into college coaching, or into college coaching, but really had no interest 23 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:32,440 in going to be a graduate assistant and going that route and working my way up the ladder. 24 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:37,120 And I was fortunate where I fell into a really good place at Barrington Swim Club and a great 25 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,640 mentor in Rob Emory, and got to work with him for three years. 26 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,760 So got pretty involved in club and age group level swimming, and I was coaching high school 27 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:47,000 at the time. 28 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:53,040 And then opportunity with Sandpipers came up and I applied for it and went out and met 29 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:54,600 with Ron, met with the team. 30 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:55,960 Two weeks later, I moved to Las Vegas. 31 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:01,440 That was September 2016, and at that point, college was just really on the back burner. 32 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,960 Always something I was passionate about, anybody that ever swam, Sandpipers will tell you, 33 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,160 that was something I was really proud of. 34 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,160 What we did with Sandpipers, putting athletes in college and helping them with that search 35 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,960 and really making a big deal about swimming at the next level. 36 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,000 But just the coaching part of it just never lined up. 37 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,640 Had a couple opportunities, but really wasn't interested or the timing wasn't right, wasn't 38 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:24,600 the right fit. 39 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,680 Really just loved what we were doing with club and what we're doing with the Sandpipers 40 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,280 was amazing, still looking back on and it was a great run. 41 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:37,920 And I really had no plans to try to leave this year. 42 00:02:37,920 --> 00:02:41,920 Then out of the blue, I got a call from Chase Kreitler. 43 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:42,920 Chase has known me. 44 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:44,400 He actually coached me in college. 45 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,040 He was a graduate assistant in Eastern Michigan, my junior and senior year. 46 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:50,880 So known him since then. 47 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,640 We've always kept in touch through swimming. 48 00:02:53,640 --> 00:02:57,080 He's always kind of looked after me and recruited a handful of my kids. 49 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,880 And he called me out of blue and was telling me about this position at Pitt and took a 50 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:06,400 multiple several hour phone calls, convinced me to come out and interview. 51 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:08,600 And I came out here Labor Day weekend and interviewed. 52 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:13,160 And at that point I realized I was going to have a very difficult decision to make. 53 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,040 Pittsburgh just really took me by surprise. 54 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:19,600 The city itself, I had never, never been here before. 55 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:27,520 I was totally blown away by the buildings, the history, the geography, the people, various 56 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:31,880 things like what people think they know about Pittsburgh as far as just blue collar, really 57 00:03:31,880 --> 00:03:36,520 good wholeheart, even though it's not Midwest, they are very Midwest type people and me being 58 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,400 from Chicago just connected with that. 59 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:41,480 So I love the city and the weekend I spent here. 60 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:46,640 And then the team itself, really believe in the program that Chase is building. 61 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:52,120 He was very transparent with me about his first time being a head coach and what he's 62 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:58,240 learned and some of his trials and tribulations getting to this point, both with coaching, 63 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:00,680 both with staffing, management, all of that. 64 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,020 And I really connected with what he was saying. 65 00:04:03,020 --> 00:04:11,520 And then him having hired Kirsten Mites, spent that weekend with her and really connected 66 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,180 with her with our backgrounds. 67 00:04:14,180 --> 00:04:17,080 And then at the time, I didn't get to meet him when I interviewed, but he had hired Gideon 68 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:23,400 Lowe and I knew about Gideon's history, having he coached Bo Becker, who I got to know well 69 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:29,000 through his Sandpiper history and was also a total swimming nerd as a kid and knew all 70 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:31,080 about Gideon and Auburn and everything. 71 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,920 And so at that point, I'd realized that Chase had put together a really good team and believed 72 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:39,200 in the message he was sending and what Pittsburgh could become. 73 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:42,520 You know, they're not some super powerhouse team. 74 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:45,840 We're definitely working our way there, but I believe in what we're building here. 75 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:49,480 And the opportunity just seemed like too much of a good one for me to make this jump now 76 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,240 at my age and time. 77 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,240 And here we are. 78 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:59,480 Yeah, that's a big move from Nevada to Pittsburgh, right? 79 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:06,740 So do you have any surprises when you got to pick things you didn't expect about coaching 80 00:05:06,740 --> 00:05:10,760 at the collegiate level that's just so much different than what you've been doing back 81 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:11,760 at Sandpiper's? 82 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:12,760 Sure, sure. 83 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:14,720 You know, it was a lot different. 84 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,720 Like moving back to the mid, just not even coaching related, moving back to the Midwest 85 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:19,680 was fall was awesome. 86 00:05:19,680 --> 00:05:20,680 Never second guessed it. 87 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,480 Then the first time it snowed, I realized I didn't own a snow brush anymore for my car. 88 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,120 So that was that was a rude awakening for sure. 89 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:37,160 But the coaching coaching is it's funny how similar it is. 90 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:40,280 And I don't think that is similar to what we were doing at Sandpiper's. 91 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:43,360 It's just similar to like my overall just like kind of the way I coach and approach 92 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:44,360 it. 93 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:51,840 Like this isn't a knock against colleges or what necessarily just pumping up Sandpiper's. 94 00:05:51,840 --> 00:05:57,120 It's like I just really believe in the relationship and treating the athletes like adults. 95 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,480 And it's very much a mutual relationship. 96 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,360 It's a we and now not what are you going to do? 97 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:04,360 What am I going to do? 98 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:05,360 It's how are we going to do this? 99 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:07,640 And it's how I approached it, especially with high school age kids. 100 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,320 That what we did when I was in Barrington and really that evolved in Sandpiper's. 101 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:17,280 And so the way I approach specifically working with the athletes here, it's it's really not 102 00:06:17,280 --> 00:06:19,040 much different. 103 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,240 Very similar conversations, very similar approach. 104 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,560 You know, they're obviously a little bit further along in their lives, a little bit more mature. 105 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,560 So there's a little bit more of like real life conversations. 106 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,400 But like I haven't changed the way I approach interacting with the athletes at all, which 107 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:35,400 I think has made it really easy. 108 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,640 It seemed to fit in really well with the athletes. 109 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,720 They were super welcoming, able to just some random guy. 110 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:46,640 I started October 1st, so things were already well in motion. 111 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:48,680 Relationships, training, coaching. 112 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:53,000 And so Chase did a great job transitioning me in and the athletes were very welcoming 113 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,000 to it. 114 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,280 But the actual coaching itself, really not too much different. 115 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:05,360 The biggest thing for me and it's a good challenge is and it's what I what I it's not what I 116 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,320 wanted and it's not like it was lacking at Sandpiper's, but it's just something I knew 117 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:12,440 that was going to be different and I was looking forward to was collaborating. 118 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:16,600 You know, Sandpiper's, I had total autonomy over my training group every now and then. 119 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,760 Ron, Ron and I would talk about things we need to see or we would run a joint practice 120 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:22,320 once a week. 121 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,360 But it was pretty much my my show. 122 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:30,800 So coming here, things already established similar backgrounds of all of us coaches, 123 00:07:30,800 --> 00:07:32,160 but different ways of doing things. 124 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:36,000 And most people don't have a background coming from what we're doing at the Sandpiper's. 125 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,160 And so the collaboration part has been a great challenge. 126 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,360 Learned a lot. 127 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,940 Then it's it's that's been the unique part for sure for me. 128 00:07:46,940 --> 00:07:51,160 So you know, when you're at Sandpiper's, you were working with pretty elite athletes there. 129 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:53,200 You moved to a power four. 130 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:54,200 You're working with elite athletes. 131 00:07:54,200 --> 00:08:00,000 So do you think that was part of this sort of easier transition that that just kind of 132 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:04,560 similar like athletic mentality to how they're approaching the sport? 133 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:09,040 Yeah, that's interesting. 134 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:10,600 I'm sure that helped. 135 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:14,640 And I think I think you kind of hit it there where you said like their mentality, like 136 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:19,520 most of them, not all of them, they want to be at the elite level. 137 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:24,080 I think truly the difference is like just it's really easy just for me to kind of pick 138 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,120 up on the background that these swimmers have, especially like the freshmen, sophomore who 139 00:08:28,120 --> 00:08:34,760 haven't fully been ingrained in everything pit, like learning about which club they came 140 00:08:34,760 --> 00:08:40,360 from or who their coach was and like just what their background was, whether they're 141 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,600 focused on high school swimming, they played water polo, whatever it was like that tells 142 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:45,600 a lot. 143 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:49,800 And that is a lot different than Sandpiper's where especially a kid that was within the 144 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:54,160 Sandpiper program and went all the way up the ladder from stroke school through mind 145 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:59,280 and neurons group, like there's a real like development and education with those kids 146 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,720 that a lot of these athletes don't necessarily have that we're helping them work through. 147 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:08,800 And that's more of a unique to Sandpiper situation in the system that we developed and are using. 148 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:15,040 But yeah, I think, you know, when we talk with some of the athletes that are in college 149 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,080 and talk about that, that comparison to what it's like swimming at a power four or mid 150 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:25,400 major or elite program, whatever, compared to what they did in club, you know, at club, 151 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,960 it's much more it's and I don't mean this in a mean way, but it's more of a selfish 152 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:31,240 mentality, right? 153 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:33,480 You know, you're swimming for yourself, right? 154 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,640 You know, it's not like you're wearing your team colors with as much pride as college. 155 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,000 But when you get into college, man, it is very much a team mentality. 156 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,080 I know high school swimming is different. 157 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:51,240 High school, you get more of that, but there is a shift in mentality from that. 158 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:56,720 It's me, me, me to, you know, man, how's our team going to do at ACC this year? 159 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:02,000 You know, do you see that with you see that kind of in that freshman freshman sophomore 160 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:06,420 click where they start to change kind of that mindset that it's not all just about you. 161 00:10:06,420 --> 00:10:08,860 It's how you contribute a little bit. 162 00:10:08,860 --> 00:10:12,960 You know, that's from wearing the club hat like that's something you want to foster. 163 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,240 Like you want to have pride in your club team to wear in your colors, everybody dressing 164 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:20,320 the same cheering and like have that college feel. 165 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:24,120 And you know, there's a I can look back on all of my history, both as a club swimmer, 166 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,080 I'm able to remember when we won a sectional meet my senior year of high school. 167 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:30,080 That felt like like it ended up in college. 168 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:34,240 There's a couple of moments with Barrington and the Sandpipers that we really came together 169 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:35,600 as a group and then had that. 170 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,880 But overall, especially day to day, that's really hard to foster. 171 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,920 I think there's only a handful of probably not even full clubs, but just like training 172 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:43,920 groups in the country. 173 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:49,320 They're able to do that and do it really well and do it 24 seven. 174 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:54,600 The me me me part is a little bit inevitable and really hard to to break. 175 00:10:54,600 --> 00:11:02,460 You know, coming into college here, specifically speaking about Pittsburgh, I have not had 176 00:11:02,460 --> 00:11:05,480 a challenge with that as much. 177 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,640 You know, that speaks to the type of people we want to bring it and it speaks to the recruiting 178 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:13,960 that happened before I got here and the recruiting that we're currently doing, where we try to 179 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:18,400 weed out those people that are about me, me, me and asking questions, getting to know them, 180 00:11:18,400 --> 00:11:22,560 talking to their parents, talking to club coaches and having them on the visit where 181 00:11:22,560 --> 00:11:26,080 a lot of times that's going to show itself in some shape or form. 182 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:30,400 So overall, I think our team is really team focused. 183 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:35,060 I can't really think of anything specific where it was like, OK, freshmen, there's always 184 00:11:35,060 --> 00:11:40,240 growing up, there's always development, there's there's a big, big gap that changes in there. 185 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:41,360 Just everything being so new. 186 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:44,760 I spoke to I spoke to a lot of freshmen about that because I've been able to remember my 187 00:11:44,760 --> 00:11:49,800 own experience, like how much just easier quote sophomore year was in freshman year, 188 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:54,400 just knowing what to expect every single day and knowing what the season was going to look 189 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:56,880 like, bouncing school, being on your own, et cetera. 190 00:11:56,880 --> 00:11:59,120 So just that adjustment that happens. 191 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:04,360 But the peer team, I think the our team loves being a part of this university. 192 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:06,800 They know that we're part of it. 193 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,680 I think they've really sort of realized that we have a pretty special staff that work really 194 00:12:10,680 --> 00:12:15,400 well together, enjoy being at practice every single day and enjoy helping them reach their 195 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:16,920 goals. 196 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:22,120 And so the kids realize that and the me, me, me part, it doesn't doesn't come to the surface 197 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:23,520 and I don't think it exists. 198 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:24,520 Yeah, nice. 199 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:30,080 So since you just came from that club world where you were there for, I think, eight seasons, 200 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:31,080 right? 201 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,320 Eight seasons of Sandpiper's almost exactly eight years. 202 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,840 I mean, you were you were living inside the heads of all those swimmers. 203 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:42,760 Do you think understanding how those club swimmers, those high school swimmers are thinking, how 204 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:47,640 they're training it being so fresh helps you with recruiting now that you came into the 205 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:48,920 college level? 206 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:53,680 Do you can you can you better identify, you know, these athletes you think will thrive 207 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:55,960 in in in Pitt system? 208 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,280 Yeah, it certainly doesn't hurt. 209 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,480 I think just purely talk about like the X's and O's and what to expect out of them. 210 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,120 My relationship with the west side of the United States, I was really fortunate to be 211 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,440 really involved in a lot of different areas. 212 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:13,680 I got to know a ton of people and coaches and programs and make some really good friends. 213 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:17,600 And so just like their own programs, it helps definitely have a good idea. 214 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:22,680 Honestly, it's like the best part to be able to be like up on the phone and talk to them 215 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:26,900 and then be like, hey, like so coach so and so, like, is he still, you know, wearing this 216 00:13:26,900 --> 00:13:28,600 hat or is he talking about this or whatever? 217 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:29,600 Like, you know, my coach. 218 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,280 Yeah, I know your coach. 219 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:33,240 I know your coach a lot better than you think. 220 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,560 Like, you know, I've gotten to hang out with him well beyond your other time with you. 221 00:13:37,560 --> 00:13:41,760 And like it's that part of it's really nice. 222 00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,240 You know, that background part, too, and that's certainly that's, you know, we talked about 223 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:49,000 challenges earlier and I know we're going to talk about developing swimmers like knowing 224 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:55,200 where they're coming from is helpful in our training and calling these coaches and making 225 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,360 time to make that a priority. 226 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:03,840 I was one of my huge, huge pet peeves of college coaches was where they were never calling 227 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:04,840 me. 228 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:05,840 You know, I don't know. 229 00:14:05,840 --> 00:14:08,120 It wasn't because my name was Ron Aiken. 230 00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:10,480 He wasn't getting called very often either. 231 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:14,160 And it was just like I understand the time aspect of it. 232 00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:17,040 Believe me, like sitting on this side of I get it. 233 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,320 But like, you know, sending somebody that I've coached with for four coach four years, 234 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,620 but more time with he or she than their family did. 235 00:14:25,620 --> 00:14:28,920 And like just going to hand them over and not just, OK, we got this. 236 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:30,040 We can work them into this. 237 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:31,040 No problem. 238 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:32,280 That that part just hurts me. 239 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:36,040 So that's something I've been really trying to do is is contact these club coaches and 240 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,040 just make that try to learn as much as I can. 241 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:40,040 Yeah. 242 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:45,440 You know, and what's wild to me is that that doesn't happen more because in swimming you 243 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,840 can get to those times like a million different ways. 244 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:49,840 You know, you can. 245 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:56,400 And you know, we talk about the extremes of, you know, US RPT, you know, US, you know, 246 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,880 ultra short race based training to old school. 247 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,920 You know, we're going to swim 11000 yards a day, you know, and then there's everything 248 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:04,920 in between. 249 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:05,920 We talk about aerobic foundations. 250 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:08,160 There's so much cool stuff. 251 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:13,440 And then, you know, in terms of the science of swimming, why do college coaches not try 252 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,000 to go back to the source of how they got there? 253 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:18,040 Because because that's your starting point. 254 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,240 You're going to bring them into your system. 255 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:21,240 I don't get it. 256 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:24,000 I don't understand why the background hasn't been more important. 257 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,480 You're going to get me fired up here, man. 258 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:28,200 There's just there's so many swimmers. 259 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:29,200 There are not so many. 260 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:30,600 There's a handful of swimmers. 261 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:31,600 I look back on that. 262 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,480 I'm just like they just stayed or made a phone call or just done something different like 263 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:38,160 this person would have swam past their freshman year. 264 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:41,720 And instead, that then looks bad on us as a club, like all these people aren't coachable 265 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:43,840 or whatever, like all that. 266 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:44,840 It's rough. 267 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,160 You know, I don't it makes all the sense in the world. 268 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:53,960 I think it's I mostly think it's time to be totally honest, like we all coaches, all levels. 269 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:55,960 That's the commonality between club, college, everything. 270 00:15:55,960 --> 00:16:01,960 We're all grinding and making the time to make that extra phone call, I think, can be 271 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:02,960 can be hard. 272 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:04,960 I also think there's a bit of arrogance in there. 273 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,000 Like, sorry, fellow college colleagues. 274 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:11,280 I just think that they oh, I know better than these club coaches, so I can take care of 275 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:12,280 this. 276 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:13,880 I can fit this this round peg into the square hole. 277 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:14,880 No problem. 278 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:18,920 I think it fits into our mold and that's yeah. 279 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:20,600 Well, I think we'll leave that there. 280 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:21,600 Yeah. 281 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,440 I think it contributes to the fact that one of six freshman college swimmers don't swim 282 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:26,440 again. 283 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:28,040 That's what that is. 284 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:29,040 Yeah, dude. 285 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:32,480 I believe I know it, but that hurts. 286 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:33,480 Yeah. 287 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:34,480 Yeah. 288 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:41,480 And it seems like there's a lot of there's a lot of those that maybe wouldn't have fallen 289 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:47,920 off that track had they had the right path through the recruiting process, right path 290 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:49,720 through the recruiting process, right program. 291 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:51,200 And let's not let's I got to call it now. 292 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:52,200 We've got to say both sides here. 293 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:53,200 Swimmers are always perfect. 294 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,280 Like, of course, like there's always issues there. 295 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,640 And you know, it's it speaks to our sport a little bit. 296 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,840 I say this to a lot of people, especially when they're getting into their junior and 297 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:02,840 senior year. 298 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,400 And sometimes it just gets really hard to keep grinding and keep pushing and having 299 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,200 that desire to bust your butt and coming back and especially in college. 300 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,600 You get a lot of the same set, same messaging. 301 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:14,600 It's hard. 302 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:21,080 And I tell everybody, like swimming for four years in college is is really challenging 303 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:26,700 and finishing it is something to be very proud of, no matter what level, no matter what your 304 00:17:26,700 --> 00:17:28,280 times are dropped at. 305 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:29,280 It doesn't matter. 306 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,000 Like it is something to be really proud of. 307 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:36,520 And what the what you gained was as far as relationships, connections, learned about 308 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:37,840 yourself through that whole thing. 309 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,440 It's just invaluable, like it's hard to do. 310 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:42,440 It will change your life. 311 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:47,320 You know, the NCAA athlete, be a college athlete for four years. 312 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:52,000 It is a remarkable achievement that will change your life. 313 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:53,800 And if you're on the fence about it, do it. 314 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:59,720 And that's that's what's really that's one of the biggest sort of tragedies around all 315 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:03,120 of the roster cuts that are being forced to happen. 316 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:06,360 You know, you have kids are having to make this choice right now. 317 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:09,660 Do I do I transfer and keep swimming? 318 00:18:09,660 --> 00:18:12,940 But I really like my school, you know, and it's hard. 319 00:18:12,940 --> 00:18:14,520 It really is hard. 320 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:19,080 I always my advice is always, you know, try it. 321 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,360 Try to stay in athletics for four years if you possibly can. 322 00:18:23,360 --> 00:18:27,320 But every every circumstance is unique and it's just a really bad situation. 323 00:18:27,320 --> 00:18:29,640 And just this year, probably more than anything. 324 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:30,640 Brutal. 325 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:35,300 So that's I'm sure, you know, you're working with these people like those those programs 326 00:18:35,300 --> 00:18:37,120 are making those choices right now. 327 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:42,740 And it's out and the panic is happening and it's it's it's heartbreaking. 328 00:18:42,740 --> 00:18:44,760 And you know, you're absolutely right. 329 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:46,320 It's a weighing of your options. 330 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:52,600 Like I've talked to someone recently who has 22 credits left to go to graduate at a really 331 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:53,600 good university. 332 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,280 He's like, like, is this going to transfer? 333 00:18:56,280 --> 00:18:57,280 I don't know. 334 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:58,280 Like, is this even worth it? 335 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,280 And I was just I leveled it. 336 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,960 I was like, dude, to be honest with you, you got to think about what's best for the rest 337 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:04,960 of your life. 338 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:07,760 You know, throughout grad school and different things like that. 339 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:10,120 But that's the type of position so many people are being put in. 340 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:13,000 And like these seniors, everything getting upturned. 341 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:14,520 It's really hard out there. 342 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:18,080 And people got to be open to looking at places they never would have considered. 343 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:19,360 And there's there's ways to do it. 344 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:23,280 And that's going to be my advice to anybody that comes to me or former athletes that are 345 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:24,280 in this situation. 346 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,400 You got to have an open mind. 347 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:27,400 Yep. 348 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:31,360 Well, you know, being an athlete, you're going to get punched in the mouth metaphorically 349 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:33,240 a lot in a variety of ways. 350 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:37,000 This is yet another challenge that they're going through and how they handle it is going 351 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:42,700 to say a lot about, you know, maybe the path they're on through their, you know, post college 352 00:19:42,700 --> 00:19:43,700 careers as well. 353 00:19:43,700 --> 00:19:45,960 So it's a it's a it's a hard challenge. 354 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:46,960 It's hard. 355 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:47,960 My heart goes out to them. 356 00:19:47,960 --> 00:19:48,960 It stinks. 357 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,400 But, you know, I don't know. 358 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:56,360 It's going to be fascinating to see the amount that transfer versus stay. 359 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:58,140 It's I have no idea. 360 00:19:58,140 --> 00:20:01,860 You know, the ones we're talking to, it's it's like a 50 50 split. 361 00:20:01,860 --> 00:20:03,640 I don't know how it's going to go. 362 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,040 So it's also new. 363 00:20:05,040 --> 00:20:09,040 And then the whatever this is going to look like when the portals open and in the next 364 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,720 week or two weeks, men, women or women, men and it's going to it's the wild, wild west. 365 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:18,000 I like you asked me like people in the very beginning, like jumping from club to college. 366 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:20,240 So many people have asked me, why would you do this now? 367 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:24,480 Like this is an all time bad time to potentially be doing this. 368 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,360 Well, it's chaos, right? 369 00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:30,120 I mean, you know, I think I have embraced the chaos, right? 370 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:34,440 To me, chaos is is change changes opportunity. 371 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:41,120 There's an opportunity there to, you know, to to maybe accomplish some things that otherwise 372 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:42,600 weren't possible through the chaos. 373 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:48,720 I don't know what that looks like in your position, but we'll see. 374 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:49,720 I'm new to this, too. 375 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:50,720 I'm new to this, too. 376 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:55,000 You know, following our lead from from Chase and Gideon and Keras, we have more college 377 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:56,200 experience than I do. 378 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:58,720 But we're going to just take it day by day. 379 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:04,320 Pit to speak on pit like we're in a fortunate situation where we're not going to have to 380 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,960 make any cuts with our graduating seniors and fifth years. 381 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,360 We're going to be under our 30 and 30 men and women numbers. 382 00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:13,800 And so we're fortunate to be in that position. 383 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:18,600 I'm grateful the ACC didn't take it to another level. 384 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:19,600 Yeah. 385 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,840 Well, in some ways, it levels the playing field a little bit. 386 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:30,400 You know, we we've had definitely we've had some coaches talk about having larger rosters 387 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,660 for you can you know, you have more room for development. 388 00:21:33,660 --> 00:21:38,520 You know, if you have your 40, 42 men on a team, you know, you're going to you're going 389 00:21:38,520 --> 00:21:39,520 to try to find those 18. 390 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,240 Well, you don't have that luxury anymore. 391 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:43,240 Right. 392 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:44,280 That that pool is going down. 393 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:51,200 So in some ways, you do get more of a level playing field in that regard. 394 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:56,320 The scholarship situation is going to be wild because I think it was announced Texas will 395 00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:03,880 do full rides across the board to 22, 22 full scholarships for the men. 396 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:05,320 That's an interesting challenge. 397 00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:06,320 Right. 398 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,720 Because ultimately that, you know, money talks a lot. 399 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,880 So everything's just shifting. 400 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:11,880 It's going to be different. 401 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:16,000 It'll be it'll be it'll be really interesting to see how recruiting plays out with the change. 402 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000 It will be different. 403 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,360 And then it'll be different from that different because it's just constantly changing. 404 00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:21,360 Yep. 405 00:22:21,360 --> 00:22:22,360 Yep. 406 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:23,360 Absolutely. 407 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:24,360 100 percent. 408 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:25,360 OK, so let's talk about development. 409 00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:26,360 All right. 410 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:30,080 So statistically, you know, you came from high school club swimming, right? 411 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,560 It's easier to get bigger time drops out of those younger athletes than it is college 412 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:34,720 swimmers. 413 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:38,560 But that is especially true statistically for distance swimmers, which I know you all 414 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,480 had a ton of success in at Sandpiper. 415 00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:48,080 So how you know, how are you approaching trying to replicate that development success that 416 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,920 you've seen in the first part of your career at Pitt? 417 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:56,760 You know, I think it goes beyond just the distance kids. 418 00:22:56,760 --> 00:23:04,360 But again, it's it's knowing the athlete's background, clubs, training, et cetera, et 419 00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:05,360 cetera. 420 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:13,480 It's having a plan for our season, both for competitions, training, strength and conditioning, 421 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:18,520 having a plan and knowing targets we want to hit, things we need to do. 422 00:23:18,520 --> 00:23:21,960 A lot of it, I think development is we can continue through technique. 423 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:24,320 You know, a lot of kids will still come in raw. 424 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:26,160 They're still growing their bodies. 425 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:31,640 And so we like to have a lot of video workout and be able to help athletes become more efficient 426 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:33,960 and fix technical stuff. 427 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:37,320 I think a big thing for us is underwaters. 428 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:43,000 We really we coach the crap out of them doing focusing on that every day in some shape or 429 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,600 form, but specifically once or twice a week. 430 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,280 And it's something that we're also looking for and talking about while we're recruiting, 431 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,480 talking to athletes about their kick counts and what they're doing in their races and 432 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,920 then sometimes holding to it when they tell me they're going to do something and I go 433 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,680 and watch them race and they don't do that. 434 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:03,640 So it's definitely something that we don't want to be teaching from the from square one 435 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:06,640 coming in. 436 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,960 So that's specific. 437 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:16,400 All in all, general, we have to be better coaches than not as better as the wrong word. 438 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:20,600 We have to be able to take what their coaches previously had been doing with them and do 439 00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:21,720 better. 440 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:29,040 And so I think that comes from our groups, our staff's collaboration, planning. 441 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,280 We're really individualized, especially as the season goes on, almost painstakingly. 442 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,840 We're every day we're talking about basically every single person in the workout and what 443 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,360 they might be doing differently. 444 00:24:39,360 --> 00:24:41,280 And it takes a lot of time. 445 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,520 It's very challenging, but it really pays off. 446 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:48,240 And I think that's another way where we can have a continued development that they had 447 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:56,200 in from high school to college and is in that special specialization for that athlete within 448 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:59,160 a workout, within their stroke groups, whatever they're doing. 449 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:01,280 And the other way to I think it's just education. 450 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:06,560 A lot of times athletes really struggle with the lifestyle changes. 451 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,760 They can't control growth, bodies, genetics. 452 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:15,420 And so just trying to help athletes with their rest, their recovery, making hopefully making 453 00:25:15,420 --> 00:25:19,520 more recovery options available than they had previously. 454 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:24,720 Working with our nutritionists, just giving them any reoption we can to continue to improve. 455 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:31,160 Do you think you have better resources to help your athletes get over those walls, those 456 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,720 blocks that they hit in season, even across multiple seasons? 457 00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:39,360 Do you think you have better resources at Pitt than you had at the club level? 458 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:44,600 I'm sure you have a ton of resources at Sandpipers, probably a lot more than a lot of clubs. 459 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,840 But you think you're better equipped now to help with that, even though I know it gets 460 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:49,200 harder when they get into college. 461 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,800 But you have more resources, I would assume. 462 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:54,520 We have more resources. 463 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,040 We had the difference. 464 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:03,000 I mean, I think we generally speaking, we I think we have a tremendous amount of those 465 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:05,320 resources than most other clubs. 466 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,400 I know for a fact that we can all name those clubs that are really getting the job done 467 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:11,440 at a very high level consistently. 468 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,920 They're finding ways to have those resources for their athletes and Sandpipers included 469 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:18,080 in everything I pretty much named. 470 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,560 Difference being in the convenience and availability. 471 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,080 You don't have to go across town to go over here and get your massage. 472 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,440 You don't have to do this over here, spend this extra money and all these other things. 473 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:33,080 But on the club versus college, we have it all right here. 474 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:34,880 Massage signups come out weekly. 475 00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,280 Face baths right there on deck. 476 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:39,400 Access to nutritionist trainer. 477 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:43,800 Any of those things all readily available and needs to be taken advantage of by the 478 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:44,800 athletes. 479 00:26:44,800 --> 00:26:48,600 I think that's probably one of the more common things that we're saying to our swimmers 480 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:49,600 and divers. 481 00:26:49,600 --> 00:26:52,120 It's like, hey, well, have you gone and seen the trainer? 482 00:26:52,120 --> 00:26:53,120 Have you been doing this? 483 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:54,120 Have you been taking advantage of this? 484 00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:55,120 Well, no, I just didn't. 485 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:59,600 A lot of it, they just didn't know that that's really something they should do or try. 486 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,480 And it's just encouraging them to take those next steps. 487 00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:10,000 And so I'd say that we are better equipped, yes, to be able to accommodate 60 people. 488 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,920 What about the sports psychology? 489 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:13,920 Just the mental part. 490 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:19,080 That's something that we don't see a ton of in the club side that I'm seeing a lot more 491 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,280 of it on the college side. 492 00:27:21,280 --> 00:27:22,280 What are your thoughts there? 493 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:24,200 That's a great question. 494 00:27:24,200 --> 00:27:29,160 It's something honestly, like post championship meets so far, that's probably been my most 495 00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,720 frequent conversation is diving into that. 496 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:36,200 Where both athlete and our coaching staff believe that we pretty much did everything 497 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:41,320 right and that there's just something that didn't click when it was time to just really 498 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,840 race and helping them work through that. 499 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:50,160 And so we have a University of Pittsburgh has a sports psychiatrist, sports psychologist, 500 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:57,280 excuse me, on call and actually a good number of our athletes take advantage of it. 501 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:00,220 I think it's been really good and gotten great feedback from that. 502 00:28:00,220 --> 00:28:05,800 And there are other sources out there through the swimming world and different people that 503 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:06,800 have come across. 504 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,520 I know of other people that specialize in that for athletes. 505 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:14,680 And I think it's just incredibly important, especially we were talking about earlier freshmen 506 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:20,120 the adjustments and changing things and how challenging it can be. 507 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:24,720 Just having someone to help keep your thoughts organized and continue to instill confidence 508 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:29,040 in you is really important. 509 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,600 I think the mental game is underestimated. 510 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:38,640 I think the connection between how you approach that race mentally is just as important as 511 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:40,760 how you approach it physically. 512 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,680 You may have the best taper in the world, but if your anxiety is off the charts, it's 513 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,200 not going to translate, not to that best performance. 514 00:28:48,200 --> 00:28:54,360 But I think that maybe there's some of that in that one of six don't continue on past 515 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:56,060 their freshman year. 516 00:28:56,060 --> 00:28:58,200 It's a big, huge change. 517 00:28:58,200 --> 00:28:59,200 It's happening. 518 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:07,080 This is why people that hire graduates and you're getting resumes across your desk, you 519 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:11,680 love athletes because they've had to persevere through, they've moved. 520 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,600 They've got all of these academic challenges. 521 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:18,480 They don't have somebody living with them that's holding them accountable on a day to 522 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:19,480 day basis. 523 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,120 I guess you kind of hold them accountable. 524 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,280 As parents, we pass them off to our coaches. 525 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:27,520 And so to get through all of that is tough. 526 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,400 But it's also taxing mentally. 527 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,360 And I think that's that mental game. 528 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:36,640 It's just not a thing with most clubs. 529 00:29:36,640 --> 00:29:37,640 It's really not. 530 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:41,040 I think clubs, they have so many kids in the lane. 531 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:46,040 They have lack of resources, but in the college level, it seems that there's more colleges 532 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:55,240 addressing that because of just more of a college level focus on just mental health. 533 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:57,680 I think it's just it's everywhere too. 534 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,880 You hear about it all the time, whether you watch the sports on TV, the Olympics, like 535 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,320 there, there, it's just so much mental health period is just so much more at the forefront 536 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,480 of everyone's thinking now. 537 00:30:06,480 --> 00:30:07,480 Yes. 538 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,360 And that's what's always so impressive about the biggest of the biggest events when you 539 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:17,280 watch them on the Olympics at the Olympics, you know, when they're at finals, you know, 540 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,440 everything had to go right to get there. 541 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:21,280 And they had to stay mentally sharp the whole time. 542 00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:24,860 And that's what's just incredibly impressive about that. 543 00:30:24,860 --> 00:30:28,280 And it's no different than the ones that made finals at ACC. 544 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,920 Everything had to go well to get to that point. 545 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:32,320 So, right. 546 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:35,400 OK, so so let's talk about dual meets for a second. 547 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:40,880 So you know, you have you spent eight seasons at these huge club meets. 548 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:42,600 They're multi-day battles. 549 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,280 You know, you swimmers are swimming a ton of events in college. 550 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:52,640 Now in season, you've got these quick, intense, team focused dual meets completely different. 551 00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:54,960 I ask this question a lot. 552 00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:55,960 Do you like the setup? 553 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:56,960 Do you think it's outdated? 554 00:30:56,960 --> 00:31:00,360 What are your thoughts now doing this for a season? 555 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:04,600 I knew this was coming to and I enjoyed listening to everybody else's responses because they 556 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,320 were way more insightful than mine's going to be. 557 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,960 I'm still figuring it out. 558 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:16,120 I think in general, my most important thing, we go back to go back to planning. 559 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,280 And so we're setting up our season. 560 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:19,980 We know our target. 561 00:31:19,980 --> 00:31:23,920 We know where ACC or NCAA is, whatever that is for that group. 562 00:31:23,920 --> 00:31:25,920 Like that's where we want to be. 563 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:28,960 So we work backwards with our training and our setup. 564 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:33,160 And so my challenge that I don't know if we can do if we did it right or not. 565 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:34,920 I have no opinion of this past year. 566 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,840 That's something that I've already been talking with Chase about a little bit and just trying 567 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:42,820 to understand, like, all right, how do we make these dual meets fit into our training 568 00:31:42,820 --> 00:31:46,760 and where how many times we want to race, where do we need them? 569 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:51,920 And in January here, Pitt, we had three dual meets, three out of the five weekends that 570 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,840 were in January, we were swimming. 571 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:59,080 And when I'm going into it, like middle of December, I realized most of the time when 572 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:03,360 I was really I was I was not excited about it. 573 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,680 I was like, this is not going to be so hard training. 574 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:09,440 This is going to be so hard for our routine, everything. 575 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:13,920 But we with our planning again, and I don't know if we chose them or how that got set 576 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:14,920 up. 577 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,720 I don't know if we chose this, but it ended up working really well for us. 578 00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:20,360 We talked about the very beginning of the year, like we want to try to descend from 579 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,800 meet to meet to meet and get better as we went. 580 00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,440 And we worked into our training. 581 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:29,160 Athletes responded to it really well. 582 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:33,040 And I thought it set us up with the racing really well for February. 583 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,640 You know, I don't like racing all the time. 584 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,120 I kind of like in club or whatever this happened. 585 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:40,400 This is going to happen in college coming up. 586 00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,200 We just put our head down for two months. 587 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,240 But what I've learned is that's really hard for. 588 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:47,240 So there's a handful. 589 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,360 I think it's probably the minority of athletes are good. 590 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:51,820 It can just are OK with just grinding. 591 00:32:51,820 --> 00:32:54,980 But the majority of them need a little carrot out there. 592 00:32:54,980 --> 00:32:55,980 They need a measuring stick. 593 00:32:55,980 --> 00:32:57,360 They need to see where they're at. 594 00:32:57,360 --> 00:32:58,680 They need to change up. 595 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:02,600 So like having that meat every four to six weeks, I think it's the sweet spot. 596 00:33:02,600 --> 00:33:08,480 And certainly don't miss the three and a half day crazy craziness of club meets. 597 00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,640 But I mean, our dual meets end up being an all day affair, too. 598 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,360 By the time we do team breakfast, getting everything set up. 599 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,920 And it's a lot no matter what. 600 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,200 Swimming is just a lot no matter what level you're at. 601 00:33:19,200 --> 00:33:20,680 Especially if you travel, right? 602 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:21,680 Oh, yeah. 603 00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:22,680 Oh, my gosh. 604 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:23,680 Yeah. 605 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:24,680 Yes. 606 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:27,280 And travel and fatigue, sickness, all that comes with it. 607 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,520 So answer to you is I'm not sure what I would change. 608 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:31,360 Do I want more energy and hype at it? 609 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:32,360 Absolutely. 610 00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,700 Do I support Kyle Sockwell and everything that they're trying to do with all those things? 611 00:33:35,700 --> 00:33:36,700 Of course, fired up. 612 00:33:36,700 --> 00:33:37,840 I love it. 613 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:42,720 We had a really fun dual meet where we had our alumni night, senior night. 614 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,800 There's really great energy in the stands. 615 00:33:45,800 --> 00:33:48,680 That was when we swam against who did we host? 616 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:50,520 George Washington, West Virginia. 617 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:51,520 That was really fun. 618 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,320 Even against Ohio State. 619 00:33:54,320 --> 00:33:56,080 Some competitive races in there. 620 00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:58,360 Obviously a really good team, team we respect. 621 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:02,760 And that was really fun to just have a home meet at Trees and see our beautiful pool on 622 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,520 display. 623 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:06,520 So learning. 624 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:07,520 I like the invites. 625 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:11,640 I really liked what the Akron coach said, Brian said about doing that. 626 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,680 I thought that was definitely different and a cool way of thinking about it. 627 00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:19,280 Again, just going back to it, the needs to just we have to work them into our training 628 00:34:19,280 --> 00:34:23,240 and make them fit and and not be a hindrance. 629 00:34:23,240 --> 00:34:24,240 Yeah. 630 00:34:24,240 --> 00:34:31,160 So dual meets are kind of a shock for the high school athletes that go into college. 631 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:36,980 But I was talking to one of our athletes that we've helped and she was talking about conference. 632 00:34:36,980 --> 00:34:39,120 That's our first conference ever. 633 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:42,760 And she she said, oh, my God, that was fun. 634 00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:47,360 She's just like, she said, this was the greatest meet I have ever been at. 635 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:50,360 I had no idea conference was this fun. 636 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,560 I was like, well, how did it compare to state or whatever? 637 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,560 And she said 10x better. 638 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,160 She said just just electric. 639 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:03,760 And and I think that's something that a lot of the athletes don't realize is how fun it 640 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:10,560 is to get a chance to be at conference, especially, you know, you're competitive, you're getting 641 00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:12,520 into those those relays. 642 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:14,240 The the crowds there. 643 00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:15,240 It's loud. 644 00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:18,120 But tell me about ACC. 645 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:23,640 What was that atmosphere like at ACC and how does that stack up to some of those? 646 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:26,840 Because you were you were at some of the huge USA swimming meets. 647 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:27,840 Right. 648 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:31,600 So tell me tell me the comparison. 649 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:33,520 I'm a bad person to talk about this. 650 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:39,440 I I don't know if it's I'm just like I'm not a negative Nancy type person or just like 651 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:40,440 jaded. 652 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:41,760 But like it was it was great. 653 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,760 Like it was obviously it was fun. 654 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:46,280 Kids were swimming well. 655 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:47,280 Good energy. 656 00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:50,920 I mean, was it like the most crazy swim meet I've ever been into my entire life? 657 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:51,920 Absolutely not. 658 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:52,920 No, not at all. 659 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:54,960 But like was it just another swim meet? 660 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:55,960 No. 661 00:35:55,960 --> 00:35:59,960 Anytime where I could see athletes who work their tail off day in and day out, week in 662 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:04,320 and week out since October achieve their goals and swim better than they thought they were 663 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:05,920 going to and a team come together. 664 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:06,920 That's a great meet. 665 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:09,920 And I loved every second of that. 666 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:11,080 I don't know. 667 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:13,200 Like I'm really bad person for that. 668 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:18,960 Like watching other people swim fast doesn't usually get me too riled up like watching 669 00:36:18,960 --> 00:36:20,200 American records and stuff. 670 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,040 I just I want to be my kids. 671 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,760 So like when I'm watching other people do it, it's like, oh, OK, cool. 672 00:36:24,760 --> 00:36:26,280 New bar to go try to go reach. 673 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:27,280 All right. 674 00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:31,560 I guess it takes a lot to really like, wow, wow me in that sense. 675 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:32,560 Sorry. 676 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:34,880 No, no, it's OK. 677 00:36:34,880 --> 00:36:37,720 You'll be you'll be at NCAA in a couple of weeks. 678 00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:38,720 Right. 679 00:36:38,720 --> 00:36:39,720 So really excited. 680 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:40,720 I'm truly really excited about that. 681 00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:43,560 I've never been NCAA swimmer spectator coach, obviously. 682 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:45,800 So that one will be fun. 683 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,040 I'm excited for that energy. 684 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:49,680 Like eight CCCs was great. 685 00:36:49,680 --> 00:36:52,600 We had 15 teams there, fastest swimmers in the world. 686 00:36:52,600 --> 00:36:53,840 Pit was doing awesome. 687 00:36:53,840 --> 00:36:55,520 Like it was really fun. 688 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,120 But no, was it the craziest swim meet ever? 689 00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:59,840 I went to the Olympics as a spectator this summer. 690 00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:02,080 So like that's that's the highest standard now. 691 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:04,000 That was unbelievable. 692 00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:05,000 That's the problem. 693 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:06,000 Yeah. 694 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:07,000 Yeah. 695 00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:12,000 I think the meet that this one I was talking about was that it was extremely close, like 696 00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:13,000 down to the last. 697 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:19,000 Oh, that's that's so that you know, you had you had it live streamed, you had commentators, 698 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,740 you have play by play, you had nervous energy. 699 00:37:21,740 --> 00:37:22,740 It was pretty wild. 700 00:37:22,740 --> 00:37:25,560 That's what I've been a part of those the swimmer, been a part of those as coach. 701 00:37:25,560 --> 00:37:30,640 We won one of our conference championship meets in college by like 10 points. 702 00:37:30,640 --> 00:37:34,720 I remember like I, I swam in Illinois before they had the fancy auditorium there. 703 00:37:34,720 --> 00:37:39,120 So the high school state meet at Evanston in Nutria was in Sports Illustrated. 704 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:43,640 You know, like to see that like the hundreds of people they packed in this tiny six lane 705 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:48,760 pool like that energy and like is really not comparable to most other places because if 706 00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:52,000 the fire has or nobody wants to swim in a pool like that. 707 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:56,280 But that was a really cool thing to get to experience as a swimmer and a coach. 708 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:57,360 Yeah. 709 00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:04,220 What about the new additions to the ACC that that was very highly anticipated was made 710 00:38:04,220 --> 00:38:06,620 for a heck of a fast meet, didn't it? 711 00:38:06,620 --> 00:38:07,620 It sure did. 712 00:38:07,620 --> 00:38:11,600 ACCs are insanely fun to watch. 713 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:16,280 And you know, we you and I were talking about this before we we started recording. 714 00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:21,480 But SECs and ACCs both just wild, just wild. 715 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,760 So you know, conference realignment is really hard. 716 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:28,280 Personally, I hate it because I have to change all of our database stuff. 717 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:31,840 But you know, just from that's just that's a me problem. 718 00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:38,040 But I really wasn't sure what to expect with how much it was going to change the times 719 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,600 it took to make B finals and A finals. 720 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:45,860 And when you're doing the analysis, it's about a one percent faster meet now to make those 721 00:38:45,860 --> 00:38:46,860 cut lines. 722 00:38:46,860 --> 00:38:47,860 That is a ton. 723 00:38:47,860 --> 00:38:49,840 Yeah, I thought it was more. 724 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:50,840 Wow. 725 00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:53,160 One percent one percent per power four. 726 00:38:53,160 --> 00:38:54,160 We haven't seen this jump. 727 00:38:54,160 --> 00:38:56,120 I've never seen that as far back as I've gone. 728 00:38:56,120 --> 00:38:57,600 I've not seen this jump. 729 00:38:57,600 --> 00:38:58,600 That is huge. 730 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,640 Yeah, huge jump. 731 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:06,640 So, you know, SEC just bringing in Texas changed everything with their cut times. 732 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:07,640 Wow. 733 00:39:07,640 --> 00:39:09,360 No, it is. 734 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:15,400 Conferry alignment has made things very competitive to score points at. 735 00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:23,000 I think it's been a little bit it's it's so fast. 736 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:28,760 Power fours have gotten even scarier to try to scare is the right word. 737 00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,920 It's gotten more elusive for swimmers to think, can I swim at power four now? 738 00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:33,920 Right. 739 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:37,360 You know, when you see when you see those time drops on that B final or just that C 740 00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:42,800 final being that fast now, so many athletes are like, am I ever going to get there? 741 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:46,600 And when you see the roster cuts, it's like, oh, now there's fewer, you know, fewer roster 742 00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:47,600 spots. 743 00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:51,680 So the those those four conferences are getting very difficult to swim at. 744 00:39:51,680 --> 00:39:54,920 So when you have someone swimming at that conference, that is that is one hell of an 745 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:56,200 accomplishment right now. 746 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:57,560 Yeah, it was. 747 00:39:57,560 --> 00:40:02,240 And it was definitely startling to see some of those C final times, what it takes to make 748 00:40:02,240 --> 00:40:03,240 it back. 749 00:40:03,240 --> 00:40:04,920 Like that was that was a lot. 750 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,120 You know, but our our athletes, they were prepared for it. 751 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,000 We we intentionally went to our midseason meet. 752 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:13,000 We went to the Texas Hall of Fame invite. 753 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:17,600 So we saw Texas, we saw Stanford, we saw USC, we saw Wisconsin, BYU. 754 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:21,360 I think I'm missing one other team that was there. 755 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,760 But like we were prepared for that. 756 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:27,720 And having seen that and we knew we had to get the job done in the morning. 757 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:30,560 And that is the message that has been preached since day one. 758 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:33,440 And for the most part, we did a really good job of swimming fast and prelims and taking 759 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:34,920 care of business. 760 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:39,160 And I's and right now it goes to the saying to the other side of this coin that you were 761 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:42,360 just outlining, like a high tide rises, raises all boats. 762 00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:43,360 Right. 763 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:44,360 And everyone's going to get better. 764 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:45,840 You set a set a bar. 765 00:40:45,840 --> 00:40:47,800 People are always going to go get it. 766 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:49,400 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. 767 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:50,400 Absolutely. 768 00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,840 What about what are your thoughts on NIL? 769 00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:53,840 Name image likeness. 770 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:56,400 Like, do you think you're you're in the middle of it? 771 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:57,400 You're powerful. 772 00:40:57,400 --> 00:40:58,400 Right. 773 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:05,560 What what do you think it's it's really going to play much of a role in college swimming? 774 00:41:05,560 --> 00:41:06,840 I'm still learning. 775 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:11,160 So I guilty of listening to way too much sports talk radio. 776 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:17,560 So very, very well versed in NIL and its effects on football and basketball. 777 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,400 You know, it's. 778 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:25,760 I think there's we've kind of classic NCAA or just kind of what happens in life. 779 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:31,240 Like we're so far on one side of the spectrum for so long. 780 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:33,640 And then the pendulum swung way to the other side. 781 00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:37,040 And now conference realignment, all these other trickle down effects. 782 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:40,160 And at some point, we're going to swing back into the middle and find some middle ground 783 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,160 here. 784 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:43,040 And there's going to keep him changes kind of till we get there. 785 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:46,760 No, we're still we're navigating it. 786 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:53,840 New athletic director brought in that says really is number one mission and not just 787 00:41:53,840 --> 00:42:01,600 take advantage of the great city that Pittsburgh is and awesome businesses and and and assets 788 00:42:01,600 --> 00:42:04,680 that are around here, but figuring out how to help our athletes and stay competitive 789 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:06,080 with that. 790 00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:10,360 I feel pretty confident saying that I don't think most universities and definitely most 791 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:12,680 swim teams do not have this down pat. 792 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,360 We're all learning as we go. 793 00:42:15,360 --> 00:42:16,560 How it's going to affect things. 794 00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:20,480 I probably a great question for me in about a month when we have to start recruiting out 795 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:21,480 of transfer portal. 796 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:25,640 Yeah, that's the honestly like that's probably where it's going to be like. 797 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,320 So this we're going to find out where who that means something to. 798 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:30,320 Right. 799 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:33,320 And hopefully we're ready for those conversations. 800 00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:40,000 But it's it's it's the biggest challenge in that department of our sport right now, 801 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,400 the recruiting stuff and managing and I know that's facts. 802 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:44,400 Yeah. 803 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:49,840 And you are you are in the position where it if it's going to have a big effect in the 804 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:54,440 sport, it's going to affect you because you're in the power for where there's just going 805 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:56,480 to be more donor money. 806 00:42:56,480 --> 00:42:57,800 There's going to be more collectives. 807 00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:01,920 There's going to be more opportunities and it will be really interesting to see how it 808 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:02,920 plays out. 809 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:04,480 And we've talked to a lot of coaches. 810 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:08,640 We talked to the high end D2, D3, all of mid majors. 811 00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:14,760 It's interesting to hear everyone seems to think that it's going to play a role in their 812 00:43:14,760 --> 00:43:15,760 world. 813 00:43:15,760 --> 00:43:17,040 I don't know how it could. 814 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,080 I just don't know what role that's going to be. 815 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:20,080 Yeah, right. 816 00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:21,080 Right. 817 00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:22,080 It's funny. 818 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:25,240 It doesn't take a lot of money to move some of these athletes. 819 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:33,120 And I think we see that with we're not a not not a lot of colleges are fully funded. 820 00:43:33,120 --> 00:43:34,120 Right. 821 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:39,040 So just scholarships themselves have played a tremendous role in where those athletes 822 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:40,040 go. 823 00:43:40,040 --> 00:43:45,160 So it'll be interesting to see just a few thousand dollars could actually change change 824 00:43:45,160 --> 00:43:46,160 the landscape. 825 00:43:46,160 --> 00:43:47,160 We'll see. 826 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:48,160 Yeah. 827 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:51,120 That's if it's hopefully it's that simple. 828 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,120 Right. 829 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:53,120 Yeah. 830 00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:54,120 Yeah. 831 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:56,400 I mean, and who's going to lead it? 832 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:57,840 We know Texas and Tennessee. 833 00:43:57,840 --> 00:43:58,840 Right. 834 00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:01,240 I mean, that's two of the ones right there. 835 00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:05,200 They have chosen to be, you know, tip of the spear on that. 836 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,120 So we'll we'll see. 837 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:08,600 We'll see how that goes. 838 00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:10,120 All right. 839 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:11,320 So one last question. 840 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:12,600 I ask this every time. 841 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:13,600 You know, it's coming. 842 00:44:13,600 --> 00:44:14,600 You've listened before. 843 00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:17,760 So Pits got a ton of great sports, man, like a ton of great sports. 844 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:20,440 So and you lived all over the country. 845 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:24,800 So I actually have no idea what other sports swimming you might like. 846 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:28,600 So what's your favorite sport outside of swimming? 847 00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:35,680 I mean, to watch and take in, I watch football every Sunday from wall to wall every day or 848 00:44:35,680 --> 00:44:36,680 every week. 849 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:37,680 I love football. 850 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:39,840 I'm really just a huge sports junkie. 851 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:43,320 I grew up in the days like what I would call Sports Center. 852 00:44:43,320 --> 00:44:44,320 It's like glory days. 853 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:45,800 And me and my brothers watching all the time. 854 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,000 And like I said, listen to too much sports talk radio. 855 00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:54,920 And so I love sports and all kinds and taking them all in. 856 00:44:54,920 --> 00:44:56,320 I've been lucky enough in my life. 857 00:44:56,320 --> 00:45:01,480 I've gotten to go to some pretty cool sporting events live and see them at Pitt here. 858 00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:05,880 Like the athletic department over the past five, six years has really done an awesome 859 00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,080 job revamping all of our sports at one point in October. 860 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:10,840 Our football team was ranked 17th. 861 00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:14,480 Our men's soccer was number one in the country and our volleyball was number one in the country. 862 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:18,040 I was just doing a great job across the board there. 863 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:20,040 I haven't gotten to go to too many. 864 00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:23,600 My kind of our office backs up to the field house. 865 00:45:23,600 --> 00:45:25,840 So I've just kind of taken in some of the volleyball games. 866 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:27,160 Our volleyball team is incredible. 867 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:33,440 Been to a football game and I've been to a basketball game with my dad. 868 00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:34,440 Great arena. 869 00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:35,960 We have great facilities. 870 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:39,720 Our baseball, softball and soccer complexes are all right behind where we park. 871 00:45:39,720 --> 00:45:41,040 And every night the sun is setting. 872 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:46,680 You can see the city in the background, skyline, sunset and the sports teams out there. 873 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:50,160 So, not a Steelers fan yet. 874 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:51,880 Really want to go to a Steelers game. 875 00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:52,880 Can't wait for that opportunity. 876 00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:58,920 But now unfortunately I'm going to continue to be a Bears fan and stay loyal to my Chicago 877 00:45:58,920 --> 00:45:59,920 sports. 878 00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:01,960 I will not tell you I'm a Packers fan then. 879 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:05,000 No, I figured. 880 00:46:05,000 --> 00:46:07,600 But you brought up a good point because you talk about Steelers, right? 881 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:12,360 So Pitt's unique in that you not only have a lot of college sports, that is a major professional 882 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:13,360 sports town too. 883 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:14,600 You got the Penguins, you got Steelers. 884 00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:17,640 This is a great sports town in general. 885 00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:22,560 That's another connection that me coming here, me and my love for sports, this is absolutely 886 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:23,560 a sports town. 887 00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:27,400 People go crazy about their Steelers, their Penguins and we'll find out about the Pirates. 888 00:46:27,400 --> 00:46:28,400 I'm psyched. 889 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:30,480 Can't wait to go to PNC and see the Cubs play there. 890 00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:34,840 But I know that they are hardcore Pirates fans and they're crazy about their sports 891 00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:40,580 and the support, the sport is visible at the university as well. 892 00:46:40,580 --> 00:46:41,960 It's really cool sports town. 893 00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:45,600 Again, something that really spoke to me and connected well with. 894 00:46:45,600 --> 00:46:48,480 Yeah, it probably does not hurt when you're recruiting either. 895 00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:54,200 So, oh, I mean, our football, those that don't know our college football team plays at where 896 00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:56,640 the Steelers play extra stadium. 897 00:46:56,640 --> 00:47:02,560 So get to go to where full blown NFL stadium and it's it's a really cool atmosphere. 898 00:47:02,560 --> 00:47:07,840 Yes, I have never been to a Pittsburgh sporting event. 899 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:12,880 I've been to Pittsburgh once, but the the number of people that I'm friends with that 900 00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:18,920 are absolute loyalists for Steelers, Penguins and even Pirates. 901 00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:19,920 Yep. 902 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:20,920 Crazy. 903 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:21,920 It's crazy. 904 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:22,920 Steeler nations everywhere. 905 00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:23,920 Wow. 906 00:47:23,920 --> 00:47:24,920 Terrible travel travels. 907 00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:25,920 It does. 908 00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:26,920 It does. 909 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:29,080 Coach Kinneros, thank you so much for being on. 910 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:30,080 This was awesome. 911 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:33,080 Congratulations on making the move to college swimming. 912 00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:37,480 I'm really excited to see how some of these swimmers are going to develop as as as you 913 00:47:37,480 --> 00:47:38,480 take them on. 914 00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:40,120 I can't wait to talk to you again. 915 00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:45,200 I know you're headed to NCAA soon, so good luck with with your summers there. 916 00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:46,920 And again, thank you for the time. 917 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:48,680 Hey, I really appreciate it, Jamie. 918 00:47:48,680 --> 00:47:52,680 It was fun talking with you and thanks for everything you're doing in advancing sports 919 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,800 analytics and podcasts and just making everybody better. 920 00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:56,800 Thank you so much, man. 921 00:47:56,800 --> 00:47:57,800 I appreciate it, man. 922 00:47:57,800 --> 00:47:58,800 All right. 923 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:11,520 Hey, Jamie.