D3 to D1

Frank Comfort … from JHU to UNC.

Tim Welsh … JHU to Notre Dame.

Seems to me that JHU has the touch … maybe Kennedy will be next.

Bill Roberts, US Naval Academy Men’s Coach swam at Springfield and started out as a head coach at Wells College. He was also head coach at D1 Colgate.

Dennis Dale went straight from HS head coach to head coach at U of Minnesota.

John Young swam at Williams, coached at Kenyon, and is now is head coach of Davidson.

Doc Counsilman started out at SUNY Cortland with George Breen, but pretty sure this was before division III.

Sam Freas was at Springfield or St Lawrence (I read his book but now forget) before Arkansas and LSU, and then Hall of Fame director.

Bill Boomer was at U of Rochester and consulted with Stanford and others.

just a few I know of.

Sam Freas went to springfield then coached at Allegheny, then Arkansas and LSU

@bigdogracing wrote:

Tim Welsh … JHU to Notre Dame.

Seems to me that JHU has the touch … maybe Kennedy will be next.

I think George is happy where he is at and will retire at JHU. Said he would stay til my kid got there! 🙂

How many people have read Sam Freas’ book? Some very fascinating stuff for that time. I believe Eddie Sinnot was his assistant for years, that guy turned out to be pretty darn good also.

@babwik wrote:

Dennis Dale went straight from HS head coach to head coach at U of Minnesota.

Great topic. What HS did Dennis Dale coach at?

@swim5599 wrote:

How many people have read Sam Freas’ book? Some very fascinating stuff for that time. I believe Eddie Sinnot was his assistant for years, that guy turned out to be pretty darn good also.

Indeed. Much of what elite sprint programs are doing today in terms of high intensity swimming and dryland circuits can be attributed to what Sam Freas wrote about twenty years ago. One of my swimmers tried to tell me what was going on at programs like Auburn, Wisconsin etc was a “revolution” and I gave him Sam’s book.

The great thing about that dryland circuit was the idea of promoting general fitness.

Mac, this is from Minnesota’s website:

Before taking over the reigns of the Golden Gopher program in ’85, he had an outstanding 13-year career as head boys’ and girls’ coach at Burnsville (Minn.) High School, where he built the Blaze into a perennial state powerhouse. His teams won four Minnesota state championships, and he was honored as the state Coach of the Year in each of his final four seasons. While there, he coached more than 20 prep All-Americans and a number of Junior Olympic finalists.

@swim5599 wrote:

I believe Eddie Sinnot was his assistant for years, that guy turned out to be pretty darn good also.

Thank-you Mr. Obvious.

PS – Sam Freas used to be the Kenyon AD. Just some more fuel for those Kenyon financial aid conspiracy theorists.

Mister Obvious I am pretty sure if you have not read the book or knew nothing about Sam Freas that maybe you would not know that Eddie Sinnot was his assistant. So some people in here would not have known that nor would they know who Eddie Sinnot was. But thanks for another insightful Post.

Gregg Troy also went straight from prep to a dominate D1 program. Course he helped out in a lot of international compitetions before starting at florida.

Before Troy racked up success at the collegiate and international levels, he enjoyed a scintillating career at the prep level for The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla. For 20 years, he led the school’s program and its affiliated club program.

Coaching Career:
Head coach, The Bolles School, 1977-97
Head coach, Thailand Olympic Team, 1992
U.S. Pan American Team Head Coach, 1995
Assistant coach, Women’s U.S. Olympic Team, 1996
Head coach, Women’s U.S. World Championships Team, 1998
Head coach, U.S. Men’s Team for the Pan American Games, 1999
Head coach, U.S. World Championships Team, 2001
Head coach, University of Florida women’s team, 1998-present
Head coach, University of Florida men’s team, 1999-present

Thats all from the florida website.

Yeah the difference with Troy was that he was at Bolles, which is a whole different arena at the High School level. Troy is a great coach though.

@swim5599 wrote:

Troy is a great coach though.

Yeah well….. I can tell you that while swimming for him, there were days when I’d have to debate that point with ya! Seriously though, he is a great coach.