Congrats, Colbybr!

[SkipBrainless]

http://www.collegeswimming.com/news/200 ... rgia-tech/

[Colbybr]

Thanks a lot! It feels really good to have a job. and I don't know whether it was Greg or not who has been so nice to me over there at Collegeswimming, but I really appreciate it.

[solodad]

Congrats Colbybr. As a total newcomer to the world of college swimming I have gleaned more insight from you than any other. A sincere thank you and good luck.

Solodad

[RhymeAndReason]

Seriously man, that is awesome. Congrats and good luck!

[silentp]

So, why GT? I know it was significantly dependent on where your fiancee (wife yet?) would find her job, but did this end up being the main deciding factor? Or was there another reason you picked GT?

[Colbybr]

I wrote a blog about why GT but I will summarize and maybe even give some other reasons here:

1. To coach and recruit at what I consider to be one of the top 5 facilities in the country

2. The academic quality of the school was important to me, I came from a NESCAC D3 program and had coached in the Ivy League. I preferred schools that had really good national academic reputations, and GT had that in particular with their engineering. I'm not a snob about academics but it definitely was a factor.

3. I was really impressed by the administration's commitment to swimming. I felt like there was a rumor mill that they weren't committed, but when I went down, I met with three senior athletic directors, including the Head Athletic director. These people had clearly taken the time to know their swim program. That impressed me.

4. I was totally read to buy into Courtney Shealy Hart as a head coach. She was so organized in the job hiring process and did such a great job communicating- I felt like that was the type of leadership I wanted to be around.

I honestly looked at the whole situation, even with the fact that GTech had had its best year in men's program history, and really felt like this was a program that I could help improve and that everything was in place for that. So I pulled the trigger and I'm very excited. I appreciate all the kind words.

[Colbybr]

I should also add that we have a couple Kenyon kids with us working hard this summer: Michael Mpitsos and Lauren Brady.

[sagehen1]

Hey Chris,

Could you elaborate a little more on what's going on at floswimming and why Garrett and you are leaving the site? Everything that's being put out seems so vague right now. If you can't for one reason or another I understand though.

[Colbybr]

I guess I'll say this. The Floreani's made a huge mistake and let Garrett go. I really don't want to get negative about it so I'm not going to get into the specifics of why, suffice it to say me and anyone I've talked to within the swimming community disagrees with the reasoning. Garrett and I have talked a ton and we are working really hard to possibly bring something better down the pipe in the next few weeks. Its a really ambitious project so I don't want anyone to get their hopes up but the response from the community has been great and we hope to pull through.

[skutbe01]

So everything is still vague...