The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your upbringing in the sport of swimming.
I think my dad's always been slightly disappointed that I never was a golf and tennis, Country Club kid. I did play those sports, but I just gravitated towards swimming. I was always pretty good at swimming, but I also grew up in Utah so there was probably a false sense of confidence of how good I was because it was just a very small community. I grew up swimming, loved it and moved to California when I was 13. I got a little more competitive, California swimming was a little more intense than Utah swimming, and I ended up swimming at Cal Berkeley.
What was your path to becoming the Head Coach of Women’s Swim and Dive at the University of Texas?
I had a little bit of a circuitous path. I am an English major with a masters in English – I wanted to write short stories/books and be an English professor. I graduated from college, moved to Italy for a little bit, came back, and was ready to go to grad school and knock it out. I got a call asking, “do you want to get your master's degree at Villanova, and you can also coach, too?” Their team was in the top-20, and they were really good. I thought I would just do my English classes and do the coach thing on the side. Sure enough, I fell in love with coaching and after some great years at Georgia, I ended up in Austin.
How have you seen the University of Texas and Longhorn Athletics grow during your 11 years here?
I love where we are right now as a program, as an athletic department. There's nothing more exciting to me than being surrounded by winners and excellence. I felt pretty good about finishing in second last year but realized four other UT coaches finished first. It's just really fun to be surrounded by excellence and when those are your colleagues and we're all striving towards the same thing, it's exciting. I feel that our Athletic Director, Chris Del Conte, is the head coach and the 20 head coaches are his team. I feel lucky that all the coaches here are working together, and we support each other – that is not the case at other institutions, so I feel fortunate to be at a place that values all programs equally.
How important are donors and supporters to the success of your program?
The support from the alumni is immeasurable and we wouldn't be where we are without the financial support from the donors. It was a little daunting 11 years ago when I first walked in, but the donors have been nothing but supportive from day one. Everybody loves to hate Texas, and you can feel it. I don't read social media and I don't read a lot of the comments because it doesn't make me better, but I do feel that pressure. I just want to make Texas and Longhorn Nation proud and what really helps everyone succeed is the great, positive energy from the donors.
If you could say anything to a Longhorn Foundation donor, what would it be?
If I could say anything to a Longhorn Foundation Donor, it would be that I am extremely grateful. I’m big into being grateful. I'm very grateful for all the financial support as well as the team support. I believe if people can donate, they should know their money is going to a great place. The university slogan is “What Starts Here Changes the World,” but it is more than that. We are changing lives here at UT, in large part because of the financial support given to us by Longhorn Foundation members. I believe the student-athletes that come into Texas and swim with our program, they already come in as exceptional young people. They are some of the best swimmers in the country, but my job is to help give them the tools so they can go out and thrive in the real world. Swimming is just a vehicle for being powerful, awesome, and tough later in life. The number one goal is to have them leave as better athletes, but the real goal, is to have them leave as better human beings. We're doing everything in our power here as a staff and as a community to create change and we are all so grateful for the pride and passion of Longhorn Nation.
As a coach, what is it that you hope to instill in your swimmers for when they leave UT?
If I could instill anything in my swimmers it would be to equip them with as many tools as they can get. I think most people would agree that if you're a Division I athlete at The University of Texas, not just swimming and diving, but any program that we have, they're going to go out and crush it later in life. I want to give them as many tools as I can while they are here. If you can your navigate your life as a student at this institution and as a swimmer or diver who puts in 20 plus hours a week, you will be overly prepared for the next chapter of your life. Pressure is a privilege, right? And if you can do all of that while under the pressure of representing Texas, you have the power to be very successful. These kids get nervous when pursuing a job, but they don’t realize how strong and ahead they are. They only compare themselves to their peers, who are very like-minded people. Working hard is the base for success and being on the Forty Acres makes them work as hard as they possibly can.
As a former college swimmer, can you speak to the significance scholarship can have on a young person?
The opportunity to get a scholarship is unbelievable. I mean, I know it firsthand; my whole staff does. We all swam collegiately, and we all walked onto our teams. I earned a scholarship, nowhere near a full scholarship. People that aren't on scholarship for Texas, they're pretty blessed with the resources that we are able to provide. But for the people that are on scholarship, it is life changing. It's transformative in ways you can't even imagine. There are people who come in and they say they can’t swim at Texas unless they’re on a scholarship. It really changes their world. It's not just the resources but being able to swim freely without worrying about their family, the pressure, and being independent. It's a very strong feeling of independence and power.
There's nothing more exciting to me than being surrounded by winners and excellence.Carol Capitani
You’ve had some opportunities to represent our country as a coach, what does that honor mean to you?
It means more than anything to be able to represent our country as a coach. I'm really grateful for the opportunity, because it’s a privilege. There's nothing more powerful than competing for your country on the international stage, and it's even better when you're representing Texas. It's awesome when you go to those events representing not only the nation, but The University of Texas. We wear our Texas gear with pride and let everyone know that the Longhorns have arrived. Our goal is to always be chasing a national championship and also to put as many people on international teams as we can. To have that experience is invaluable.
I'm curious to your thoughts on NIL and how that is changing college athletics.
It's overwhelming as a coach because I wanted to write books and teach English. But now that I am a coach, I don't have the time to be a full-time fundraiser. It's difficult enough trying to win a national championship, let alone have another job as a fundraiser. But I do feel that it is a gigantic opportunity. Now that it exists, I want to do it the Texas way – I want to win NIL. It's not just football and basketball players that should have that opportunity for name, image, and likeness. We have two medalists on our team, gold and silver medalists, that should have that same opportunity. I believe we can make some inroads where there haven't been so far. I want swimmers and divers to be able to do the same thing these football players are doing. They're not going to make up their own mustard (like Bijan Robinson), but something good. I think it's great, it’s awesome.
Tell me a little bit about the team you have this year and your goals.
The goals are always the same, we’re trying to win a national championship or always be earning a trophy; trophies are given to the top four. Last year we had a spectacular year, getting second place. It would be nice if we could copy rowing and just slide right into the national championship, but I think we're a little bit away from that. We brought back most of our NCAA team, we lost a couple, but we added a couple superstars, too. We're going to power through the Big 12 Championships, and then we're going to score as high as we can nationally. This group is energetic and is always having fun, so I’m excited to see what they can accomplish.
What is the schedule you run off for practices, weights and whatnot?
For all the workouts we have to start really early. The team does doubles three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. For those days they are in the pool at 6 a.m. and then again at 3 p.m. And then Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays we do another two-hour training block with weights. You have to start early to get it all in, but it's just the life of a swimmer.
