The following is the fifth in a summer long series, featuring all 14 IUPUI varsity teams. New features will be posted each Wednesday at noon on IUPUIJags.com. The full summer schedule is posted at the bottom of this story.
The IU Natatorium, which is one of the most well-known swimming facilities in the world, has hosted numerous Olympic-caliber events throughout the years and witnessed swimming’s top athletes come and go on its pool deck. Since 1998, the famed building has also served as the home for IUPUI swimming and diving, but unlike the constant carrousel of faces entering and leaving the building on meet days, the Jaguars had only known one coach to lead their program until this past May. The Jaguars began a new era in their swimming and diving programs when it hired
Matt Bos to take over as head coach and help put IUPUI swimming and diving on the map.
One of the hurdles facing the men’s swimming program, and every team in the Summit League for that matter, has been Oakland University, which claimed its 11th consecutive conference championship this past season. While the dominance Oakland has exhibited is unparalleled in league history, Bos believes the pieces are in place at IUPUI to eventually make a run towards the top of the conference standings.
“I think Indianapolis and Indiana as a whole is rich with swimming talent, but there also is a lot of talent in the surrounding states, so we’re kind of in the middle of everything,” Bos said. “We also have the Natatorium right in the heart of campus and most of the kids coming up have been here for a meet before. If they haven’t been here, they have seen the facility on TV. That can only benefit us in recruiting.”
While the emphasis for the long-term will be on recruiting, Bos inherits a small group of returners for the upcoming 2011-12 season that will be looked upon to set the tone for the newcomers not only for the short term, but for the future.
“The most impressive thing I’ve seen with our guys that are coming back is that they are hungry for success,” Bos said. “They want to succeed and get better, and in any sport, that is key. In this situation it is imperative to have people who want to improve individually and see the team get better. That drive is going to lay the foundation for what is going to happen this year and in the coming years.”
However, the returners still face a disadvantage having to adjust to the new training and teaching methods, but junior sprinter
Josh Davis feels it’s the responsibility of the upperclassmen to show the newcomers the way as they face a greater reform.
“As a returner, we definitely have to adjust because we are used to having things one way and trying something new and drastic is a big change,” Davis said. “But it is our job as the returners to make it a seamless transition for the newcomers, because they are coming from a high school setting to a college setting, which is a bigger transition than ours.”
Despite all the challenges that lie ahead at the starting line, there is a sense of optimism in the program that IUPUI can begin to emerge as a contender in the Summit League.
“Matt’s [Bos] enthusiasm and attitude towards building the swimming program into what it can be and what it should be stood out to me,” junior diver
Mitchell Gauger said. “His communication from the start was really great to see and brought some excitement to the team.”
Davis added that, “with Matt coming in we have a chance to be a contender and when you have a leader who wants to take a program to a new level, it’s going to inspire the swimmers to feel the same way and want to achieve the same thing.”
The excitement and passion surrounding the team isn’t just coming from current swimmers.
Michael Steurer, who exhausted his eligibility this past year but will be on campus helping the team this season, shares the same passion as his former teammates -- a passion that Bos wanted to continue to infuse into the program.
“Michael has a passion for the sport and for IUPUI. He is one of those guys that is going to do whatever he can to help the team and he is invaluable. He has the experience, first off, and wants to see the team succeed,” Bos said.
“Michael has been the person who has really held our team together. Everyone kind of looked up to him and I wouldn’t expect anything else from Michael to still be around and help whenever possible,” Davis added. “It’s good to know that someone who has gone through the program for four years is still willing to give back and help in any way they can.”
With optimism and some familiar faces intertwined with a slew of new ones, Bos is still aware that the program is starting over and there will be some bumps in the road.
“Everybody, including me, wants to see immediate improvement, but it’s a process,” Bos said. “It’s a process for the athletes because we are not trying to get them to their peak in the first four months of training. This is a four-year process and we’re trying to build upon that each year and we also want to look at our team the same way.
“Our goal is to go out and win as many meets as we can this year, swim fast throughout the season, have our athletes put up their best times at the Summit League Championships, and grow this program. That will ultimately help us move up in the standings, but we have to take a step back and make sure we don’t rush and we do everything the right way, which may take some time.”
Knowing full well that an opportunity to climb into the upper echelon of the conference may be a few years away, the immediate focus is squarely on the 2011-12 season and improving upon last year’s sixth-place finish at the Summit League Championships.
In a short amount of time, Bos has inked a solid group of newcomers to add to the roster who he believes can help immediately. All come from solid training backgrounds, but Bos considers his two incoming divers to be especially important not only so IUPUI has an opportunity to pick up more points, but so they can add to the team dynamic.
Gauger, the lone diver on the men’s roster the past two seasons, echoes Bos’ thoughts saying, “I think [the newcomers] are going to help me more than I can help them. To have that team bonding will be great because whenever we would go to another meet I would see how close the other team’s divers were and how they would build each other up. To have that team camaraderie this year will really help.”
Ultimately, when October comes around and the 2011-12 edition of the IUPUI men’s swimming and diving team jumps into the pool for the first time, it will be the beginning of a new chapter in Jaguars swimming. That new chapter will be filled with new faces looking to lay the framework for what hopes to be another great story in the famed Natatorium.
