TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

In April, you were named the 11th women’s swimming and diving head coach in UB history. While going through the process of getting to know more about UB and its athletics program, what stuck out in your mind that made Buffalo a good fit for you?
There are a few things that stuck out in my mind. First off everyone was really nice when I came in and I got a strong feeling that everybody wanted to win here. There is a bright future and I look forward to creating a winning program here.

You inherit a squad that finished a 3-9 campaign as well as an eighth place finish at the MAC Championships. What have you seen so far from this team that has impressed you?
So far I’ve really only been communicating with a lot of the athletes through e-mail and I have seen some of the seniors who are around over the summer. I get a feeling that they are a close team and the seniors are going to have a really good leadership role on this squad. With a large freshmen class, it is important for the seniors to remember where they were four years ago and that is going to help our newcomers. When I came on my interview and I asked the players what they wanted, they said, “we want to win,” and that is something I needed to hear.

Last season Rutgers sent seven swimmers to the NCAA Championships. How does it feel as a coach to help those young women achieve a goal that every collegiate athlete strives for?
It feels great. We have had a lot of good teams at Rutgers that fell just short of sending athletes to the NCAA’s and last year we had a few key freshmen, but most importantly we improved our relays, which is why we were able to send so many there. It was great to send them there because the goal of a coach is to get the athlete to believe they could achieve more than they believe. It was something that was a long time coming and I was glad to be a part of it.

Prior to coaching at Rutgers, you spent four seasons at UC Santa Barbara where the men’s squad won three Big West titles and the women’s team one. Is it easier to coach a program when the tradition of winning is there?
Its not that it is easier because the things that I am going to do here at Buffalo, I had to do there. Winning tradition does help, but there is also that excitement of convincing athletes to want to start their own tradition. The biggest thing in Santa Barbara that made it easier was the location.

Even though most of your time has been on the east, how hard was it to head to Rutgers after spending four years in the California sun?
It really wasn’t that hard for me because I grew up in Chambersburg, PA, so it was a way to get back to the east coast. However, I did miss coaching outdoors when I got back indoors. The biggest change was for my wife, who is from San Diego.

Recently, you named Courtney Kostival your assistant coach. Did you feel a certain comfort level with Courtney since you both served as graduate assistants at fellow Mid-American Conference member, Ohio?
Yes, and that had a large part to do with her hiring. Courtney and I both coached under the same head coach at Ohio, in Greg Werner. The things he instilled in me in coaching, he has instilled in Courtney. In the past week, having those same experiences, we have been able to click very well.

Having been at Ohio and now coming to Buffalo, how would you classify the caliber of swimming in the Mid-American Conference?
There is a very high level of competition in this conference from top to bottom and it is probably one of the better “mid-major” conferences in the country. There are a lot of good swimmers and a lot of good programs and hopefully as we continue to develop as a team, we can make the MAC even more competitive.

When you were a student-athlete at North Carolina State, you were chosen as team captain your senior season. Does having the responsibility of team captain help you become a better coach and teacher?
What being a captain did for me was open my eyes to what coaches had to go through, and when I was selected as team captain, that is when I thought that coaching is something I wanted to get into. My philosophy was that if I could get everyone around me better, than we were going to be a better team. Not necessarily that I got better, but if the 24 guys around me did, than we would be a much stronger team. I have kind of taken that philosophy into coaching and that is what I love about doing all of this, making people better.

Buffalo men’s head coach Budd Termin, is not just a coach, but someone who has spent his career also learning about the physics of swimming through his extensive research with the Center for Research and Education in Special Environments. How nice is it to have a resource like him in an office right next door?
I think it is a great resource. He has a lot of training tools that we can use. It is something that I’m not really used to, but I believe that science does play a big part in the sport. I know that he has been working with Dr. [David] Pendergast for a while and I think it will be interesting to use some of the instruments they have available.

Having been in coaching since the Fall of 1996 when you started at Ohio, how have you seen not only the coaching world change, but also the sport of swimming as a whole?
The sport of swimming has really changed. There is more money involved and more sponsorships and funding from USA Swimming, which helps more athletes be able to do this for a living, which is a big change from when I was growing up. The technology has really picked up with things like the Speedo Fastskin Bodysuits. I think just the whole research aspect has really picked up over the last few years. I don’t think the coaching aspect has really changed that much. We may be implementing a little more of that science part into the sport now, but I still think that hard work, dedication and determination in the athletes are what is going to make them better.

“The 10 Questions With…” feature is compiled by Brian Wolff.