They should elevate Dave marsh to take over the women’s program. He’s an elite coach and always has been wherever he’s gone. I doubt he wants it though. He’s been a tremendous asset to Durden since coming on board though and he’s still sticking around
I agree that I doubt Marsh wants the head coaching job. We also still don't know what the plan is. Currently, Durden is the acting director of swimming and diving, effectively running both programs. Even if the women's team slightly underperformed what they were reasonably hoping for (9th/10th place at NCAAs), it was fairly successful year 1. I haven't seen any indication whether Cal will continue to operate as one combined program, or if they will return to a split program. There are enough programs at the top level that do both really well so I don't inherently think that Cal has to go one way or the other. Some athletes do prefer split programs (it was a decent factor in Maggie MacNeil's original commitment to Cal), but it's not a commonly stated preference that should be used as a major factor in deciding whether to keep combined or split it up. For what it's worth, I'm very interested in Texas' Carol Capitani if Cal should choose to split the programs back up. I believe she swam at Cal in the late 80s/early 90s, but I think she is unlikely to leave her current position (been there for ~10 years).
Because of what has happened recently, i wouldnt measure this year’s women’s team by swimming performance alone. I’d measure it by whether a greater percentage of female athletes are back to finding joy in the water. That’s been missing for awhile.
Congrats to them. A program that people can be proud of. If the big two (CFB and CBB) had a third of the success this team has had I think most fans would be happy.
Cal fans, what are your thoughts? I’d love to talk more about one of Cal’s most successful programs right now. Share your thoughts, ask your questions, and learn more about swimming!
Love Cal's aquatic dominance- Swimming/Diving, Water Polo, and Rowing! Excited about the improvement of the previously neglected diving program. First diving points in 15 years, and the guy is a freshman, so presumably he will get even better. Cal men's swimming/diving have been first or second for the last 10 years running. If they can develop diving into an elite program, Cal could CRUSH everyone virtually ever year.
It's actually been first or second since 2010! 2013 was the only year where Texas wasn't also in the top two until this year. In any case, it's about time Cal develops a strong diving program and this year has at least shown that it is viable and there's a good foundation with Pei Lin (coach) and Joshua Thai (freshman diver). I don't think they would crush everyone virtually every year, though. The swimming talent continues to grow, and be spread out across a number of teams instead of just 2. It's evident by the fact that this was the closest 1-6 have been in a really long time (maybe even ever). So just by adding diving talent, it's not guaranteed that Cal would dominate because 1) there's a roster limit to the number of athletes you can bring to the NCAA Championships (18 athletes w/ individual swimmers counting as 1 and divers as 0.5) so if we start having more divers, it could mean fewer swimmers (this was a problem for Texas for much of 2016-2021); 2) top recruits are choosing the other schools more than ever. If we just use SwimSwam's recruiting rankings, Cal hasn't brought in the top recruit since Reece Whitley (HS Class of 2018). Since then, it's been Indiana (Brendan Burns), Texas (Carson Foster), NC State (Aiden Hayes), Texas A&M (Baylor Nelson), and Florida (Scotty Buff). In fact, since the HS class of 2017 (perhaps one of the greatest recruiting classes in recent memory), Cal hasn't had the #1 or #2 recruiting class in the country, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because that's already 1 full student cycle and they're still winning national championships due to the development of unranked athletes (SwimSwam only ranks 20 domestic recruits), international swimmers, and transfers. It's not a worrying downward recruiting trend (Cal's HS Class of 2024 recruits is shaping up to be quite amazing), but it should at least indicate that the other schools are getting really good swimming talent, which is why these meets will continue to be very close.
I had no idea that your divers could cut into the number of swimmers that you have. That nixes the whole idea of using a bunch of divers to pile up free points. My love of Cal swimming is deep, going back to the days of Mary T. Meagher and Matt Biondi (who also played water polo), but my knowledge of the sport is shallow. With those numbers limits, it'd be hard for any school to completely dominate every year, but boy, Cal's sure got a good run going.
What a great write up. Wish you were getting more interest. If swimming happened in the air instead of where we can't see it, it would be more popular like Track and Field. It's really no different fundamentally. What I know is that the swimmers are athletic studs. Period. Thank you for your coverage. It's a great sport for Cal to excel at given all the CA swim talent.
Yeah, unfortunately, this meet was on ESPN+ (it's usually on an ESPN channel you can actually find on TV). I will say this about the athletic studs bit you added: some of Cal's swimmers are physical giants. I definitely don't have the statistics on this, but the Bears could have one of the tallest average heights of NCAA swim teams (you could see a number of the Cal guys just towering over others on the podiums even when you account for the step heigh differences on the podiums). They have 5 guys listed at 6'7 or taller, and another 7 in that 6'4-6'7 range. Height (size in general) in swimming is an interesting question because "more" isn't necessarily better (it's not necessarily worse either).
Phenomenal write-up. And I say that as a swim coach AND fan.
They should elevate Dave marsh to take over the women’s program. He’s an elite coach and always has been wherever he’s gone. I doubt he wants it though. He’s been a tremendous asset to Durden since coming on board though and he’s still sticking around
I agree that I doubt Marsh wants the head coaching job. We also still don't know what the plan is. Currently, Durden is the acting director of swimming and diving, effectively running both programs. Even if the women's team slightly underperformed what they were reasonably hoping for (9th/10th place at NCAAs), it was fairly successful year 1. I haven't seen any indication whether Cal will continue to operate as one combined program, or if they will return to a split program. There are enough programs at the top level that do both really well so I don't inherently think that Cal has to go one way or the other. Some athletes do prefer split programs (it was a decent factor in Maggie MacNeil's original commitment to Cal), but it's not a commonly stated preference that should be used as a major factor in deciding whether to keep combined or split it up. For what it's worth, I'm very interested in Texas' Carol Capitani if Cal should choose to split the programs back up. I believe she swam at Cal in the late 80s/early 90s, but I think she is unlikely to leave her current position (been there for ~10 years).
Because of what has happened recently, i wouldnt measure this year’s women’s team by swimming performance alone. I’d measure it by whether a greater percentage of female athletes are back to finding joy in the water. That’s been missing for awhile.
Congrats to them. A program that people can be proud of. If the big two (CFB and CBB) had a third of the success this team has had I think most fans would be happy.
Great article. Thanks guys.
Go Bears!
Cal fans, what are your thoughts? I’d love to talk more about one of Cal’s most successful programs right now. Share your thoughts, ask your questions, and learn more about swimming!
Love Cal's aquatic dominance- Swimming/Diving, Water Polo, and Rowing! Excited about the improvement of the previously neglected diving program. First diving points in 15 years, and the guy is a freshman, so presumably he will get even better. Cal men's swimming/diving have been first or second for the last 10 years running. If they can develop diving into an elite program, Cal could CRUSH everyone virtually ever year.
It's actually been first or second since 2010! 2013 was the only year where Texas wasn't also in the top two until this year. In any case, it's about time Cal develops a strong diving program and this year has at least shown that it is viable and there's a good foundation with Pei Lin (coach) and Joshua Thai (freshman diver). I don't think they would crush everyone virtually every year, though. The swimming talent continues to grow, and be spread out across a number of teams instead of just 2. It's evident by the fact that this was the closest 1-6 have been in a really long time (maybe even ever). So just by adding diving talent, it's not guaranteed that Cal would dominate because 1) there's a roster limit to the number of athletes you can bring to the NCAA Championships (18 athletes w/ individual swimmers counting as 1 and divers as 0.5) so if we start having more divers, it could mean fewer swimmers (this was a problem for Texas for much of 2016-2021); 2) top recruits are choosing the other schools more than ever. If we just use SwimSwam's recruiting rankings, Cal hasn't brought in the top recruit since Reece Whitley (HS Class of 2018). Since then, it's been Indiana (Brendan Burns), Texas (Carson Foster), NC State (Aiden Hayes), Texas A&M (Baylor Nelson), and Florida (Scotty Buff). In fact, since the HS class of 2017 (perhaps one of the greatest recruiting classes in recent memory), Cal hasn't had the #1 or #2 recruiting class in the country, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because that's already 1 full student cycle and they're still winning national championships due to the development of unranked athletes (SwimSwam only ranks 20 domestic recruits), international swimmers, and transfers. It's not a worrying downward recruiting trend (Cal's HS Class of 2024 recruits is shaping up to be quite amazing), but it should at least indicate that the other schools are getting really good swimming talent, which is why these meets will continue to be very close.
I had no idea that your divers could cut into the number of swimmers that you have. That nixes the whole idea of using a bunch of divers to pile up free points. My love of Cal swimming is deep, going back to the days of Mary T. Meagher and Matt Biondi (who also played water polo), but my knowledge of the sport is shallow. With those numbers limits, it'd be hard for any school to completely dominate every year, but boy, Cal's sure got a good run going.
What a great write up. Wish you were getting more interest. If swimming happened in the air instead of where we can't see it, it would be more popular like Track and Field. It's really no different fundamentally. What I know is that the swimmers are athletic studs. Period. Thank you for your coverage. It's a great sport for Cal to excel at given all the CA swim talent.
Yeah, unfortunately, this meet was on ESPN+ (it's usually on an ESPN channel you can actually find on TV). I will say this about the athletic studs bit you added: some of Cal's swimmers are physical giants. I definitely don't have the statistics on this, but the Bears could have one of the tallest average heights of NCAA swim teams (you could see a number of the Cal guys just towering over others on the podiums even when you account for the step heigh differences on the podiums). They have 5 guys listed at 6'7 or taller, and another 7 in that 6'4-6'7 range. Height (size in general) in swimming is an interesting question because "more" isn't necessarily better (it's not necessarily worse either).