May marks many things. For instance, it was 91 degrees in Atlanta yesterday, marking the first day of the year I will wish I was still living in Massachusetts. More importantly, May means that coaches are changing seats. Some call it the "Coaching Carousel" but I think a better analog is the plethora of "American Idol" inspired reality shows currently populating television.
Yesterday I talked with my friend Garrett about the slew of recent coaching hires. The freshest was Whitney Hite at Wisconsin. Garrett thought the hire immediately begged the question "what took so long?. After all, Hite had guided a school that had the specter of nearly being cut hanging over its head alongside one of the worst collegiate facilities in America to a top 15 finish at NCAAs.
The answer to me was obvious. Despite the fact that Hite's coaching accomplishments are easily recognized by swimming people, those aren't the people that hire the Whitney Hite's of the world. No, the kingmakers in the swimming world who hire college head coaches and club coaches are almost always swimming outsiders. For collegiate programs, it is almost always an athletic director, and on club teams almost always a parent board.
I don't get too frustrated with college athletic directors not knowing too much about swimming. Many AD's are like chefs at The Cheesecake Factory: they're responsible for overseeing the cooking of a huge variety of dishes. It's tough to expect one person to be an expert in cooking everything from Filet Mignon (in this analogy, football/basketball) to Chicken Salad (a good hard working dish like swimming).
Likewise, the members of any club's parent boards come from varying backgrounds. Some may have a lot of knowledge about swimming, and others definitely don't. A lot may think that they know far more than they actually do.
So what is a coach to do? You can throw your hands up and get frustrated with a system you believe does a poor job of identifying the best candidates. I wouldn't, however, recommend it. Better to learn the system and make it work for you.
The truth is, perception of your ability as a coach is probably more important than your actual ability to coach. It's not enough to let your accomplishments speak for themselves- you have to be able to communicate to any person, regardless of their knowledge of swimming, that you would be good at coaching swimming. Give them something that they can relate to, be a salesman for the work you have done. It will only make you a better coach. After all, you are selling your program to swimmers who may have relatively little understanding of what you are doing. They have to be convinced too, that you are the one who can help them get better.
I often run into coaches who are frustrated by the rumors and innuendo of the internet era. Message boards and anonymous commenting on blogs have given new legs to gossip, and if you don't believe me then I don't believe you're reading a blog right now. For better or worse, if there's a perception about you out there you only have one choice- put your head down and change it.
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