Sam Freas - Oklahoma Baptist University

I was introduced to Oklahoma Baptist University Head Coach, Sam Freas, last weekend and he was surprisingly willing to chat with me about all sorts of stuff.   Sam has had a great history at several D1 schools and his new team at OBU had a heck of a first year so I took the opportunity to pick his brain a little.  He even let me get him on camera to answer a couple of questions for the blog.  Enjoy the videos:

The Musings of a Paranoid Team USA Fan: Part 2

Olympic years can be brutal for paranoid team USA fans. With the last Olympic trials meet in the world, helpless fans are forced to watch as the rest of the world puts up fast times while they wait for Omaha. Musings of a Paranoid Team USA Fan is part of an ongoing series on this psychosis


It's been a few months, and I am really freaking out. I mean, can our 4x100 freestyle relay even make the final at this point? I'm not sure. What the heck is going on in Brazil? They are definitely doping, right Craig? Also, we're lucky there's no 50 fly at the Olympics, because if there was we'd be totally screwed. At this point, I hope that we get a couple medals. The following are what is really freaking me out at the moment:

My Quest to Become Swimming's Most Obnoxious Fan

In the comments of my last post, Gus suggested I should make one of those big heads and be the swimming version of this guy:

This guy deserves every bit of the fame he has been given.  

I would love to be the big head guy for our sport, but I would also want to pay homage to one of our own, a former Duke swimmer (that's the rumor anyway,) who made Coach Krzyzewski address the school's speedo problem in a press conference...  Patrick King, The Duke Speedo Guy. 

Custom Caps Have Not Yet Been Utilized to Their Potential

SOON. 

I was walking past the swim shop on deck at our last meet and Michael's goofy grin caught my eye.  I knew then and there, I just had to buy this cap and have his face plastered on both sides of my head.   Then it occurred to me: "How weird would it be to race breaststroke and see that face on the side of a cap looking at you on every breath?"

Dear Swimming World: An Apology

I should have known better. Last week I poked fun at Swimming World for making up a list of blogs to feature on their site while featuring a passive aggressive dig on the sites they didn't list. In response, someone from Swimming World called my mom and told them what a bad boy I'd been. Ok fine, maybe they didn't. Besides, they wouldn't have to: my mom reads this blog and occasionally leaves embarrassing comments under the pseudonym "Christopher's Mom". Instead they called the Georgia Tech Swimming and Diving sports information director.

The New Chief of the Missouri State Bears: Dave Collins

This Bear means business.

This weekend at the long course meet in Fayetteville it was a treat to see my good friend Dave Collins.  It was the first time I had run into him since the announcement was made that he had been named Head Coach of my alma mater, the Missouri State Bears.  The Bears' long time Coach Jack Steck retired in December and left Dave in the perfect position to prove himself as he closed out the season in the Interim Head Coach position.

Swimming World Announces Who Made Their Friends List

Yesterday, Swimming World Magazine announced via their world wide webternet site who was cool enough to be their friend. The Swim Brief did not make the cut. This may or may not have to do with the backhanded (and even fronthanded) insults I've thrown their way over the last year. What, Brent Rutemiller didn't like me making fun of him for not using the internet? Did he have someone read my blog to him?

Are Braden Keith's Michael Andrew Posts Awesome or Not?

The Original

Most swim nerds these days subsist on a daily diet of information provided by swimming's number one newsman, Braden Keith. If you're one of those people, you can't possibly not know who Michael Andrew is. Andrew has been breaking NAG records seemingly every couple weekends, and Keith has been there to follow it. Sometimes, I catch myself reading the writeups and think they're pretty creepy. I mean this is just a twelve year old we're talking about right? Then I remember that I'm the guy who wrote an entire blog in 2008 on Chas Morton's age group exploits. Then followed that up with an e-mail interview. So maybe I shouldn't judge.

Coach's Coach: Paul Yetter

Becoming an elite swim coach seems to be at least as much about attitude as it is knowledge. For instance, it's blasphemy to say this, but I really don't think that most Division 1 swim coaches know more about swimming than my high school coaches, but they certainly think they do. Maybe it's not a fair comparison, not every high school coach is as knowledgeable as mine. If you're wondering why I bring this up it's because earlier this week, I was thinking about coaches who are kicking some major ass and it brought up a name that I think is especially pertinent here: Paul Yetter.

Coaching Carousel: 2012

Well that didn't take long, did it? With the college season barely over, already two major conference programs are looking for new head coaches. Every Olympic year, rumors abound about how much instability there will be in the coaching ranks. The resignation (or whatever you want to call it, more on that later) of Alabama coach Erik McIlquham and Texas women's coach Kim Brackin would seem to bolster that theory. Except neither seems to be related to the pending events in Omaha at all.