Bowman leaving Michigan!

So, if one major coach leaving is a maverick and a head scratcher, does two leaving constitute a trend? Maybe people who actually know the profession realize such a move isn't career suicide or a massive step down, as a few not in the industry have alleged.

The guy followed his star pupil and now is going back home. I believe it was the pupil that followed the coach, not vice versa. Anyway, according to this story Michigan gave Bowman a salary of $80,000 and a car. Gee, that's not really that much. I'm sure when you add in camps and everything else he was getting a lot more, though. Maybe NBAC is offering him considerably more.

:shakeshead: "Not in the industry"???? Give me a frigging break. Rowdy Gaines, a handful of coaches w/ "measured" comments and a slew of former NCAA swimmers aren't "part of the industry"??? As a person who regularly trains with two former Auburn swimmers along with three others from major D1 programs, I feel more than safe in saying "not in the industry." Obviously I was not referring to Rowdy, who as far as I know, has not made publically disparaging remarks on this forum and tends to be man enough to admit it when he does. $80K is pretty pathetic, especially at a huge university like Michigan. I never really understood the whole Phelps thing, he wasn't swimming for UM obviously, but was swimming at UM. I guess it's like how gull swims at UT but lost his eligibility back in the 60s when was a young buck.

I am assuming the Phelps will go back to Baltimore. Who else will follow? Who would be hanging out past Beijing? Very interesting.

Full disclosure - I'm headed back to Baltimore also.

I don't know why so many people think coaching at the collegiate level is the zenith of a swim coaches career? Yes a handful of schools pay the hugh salaries w/benefits and you get to work with incredibly talented swimmers who by most parts where created by their USS/High School coach, but there is so much more to coaching college than these wonderful things. Most of your time is spent dealing with office duties, budgets, recruiting, swimmer academic problems, and a whole host of small insignificate things as a coach you don't want to deal with. To be quite honest, when I coached college, everything I loved about coaching ended up being the part I spent the smallest amount of time doing. I'm not saying that either Bowman or Marsh left their positions for these same reasons, but leaving the ncaa ranks to actually coach somewhere can be very attractive.

This is interesting. I'll steer clear of defending Bowman as I don't know him from Adam. But people obviously have different ways of viewing things. I was a successful full-time USS Head Age Group Coach for 5 years before I started having kids. I voluntarily stepped down and became an assistant so I could actually be with my kids in the evenings and on the weekends. Since we moved, I'm helping out with a YMCA lap-swimming class and assisting our summer league team. I'm over-qualified for each job but raising my kids the way I want to raise them is my priority at this point.

I'll take a CEO position in combination with coaching elite athletes over NCAA coach any day of the week. But, there could be something else going on here...who knows.

Meh. 4 years at UM. It takes roughly 4 years to graduate college. He got there when Phelps was a freshman. Now he's going back to Baltimore. No "hmmmm" from me. It's not like he's worked his way up through the coaching ranks in the life-long goal to reach The Holy Grail that is NCAA Swimming. :bow: The guy followed his star pupil and now is going back home.

as a few not in the industry have alleged. :shakeshead: "Not in the industry"???? Give me a frigging break. Rowdy Gaines, a handful of coaches w/ "measured" comments and a slew of former NCAA swimmers aren't "part of the industry"???