Before we jump into this conversation, a quick word from the guys over at Swim Nerd. Are you looking for a pace clock that won't break the bank? How about one that every swimmer can save? The Swim Nerd pace clock is the most innovative and affordable digital pace clock that the world has ever seen. Their nine-inch tall green LEDs are specifically made for outdoor viewing and are visible from 100 meters away. Bluetooth enables it connects to your swim practice mobile app, allowing you to program any set of your heart desires. Take a minute, go to swimpractice.com and check out their amazing new pace clock. It truly is the world's best swimming pool pace clock. That's swimpractice.com. One more time because I really want you to take a look at this. The pace clock is the most quintessential piece of training and equipment for any swim team. Go to swimpractice.com and get yourself the best pace clock in the world. Hello and welcome back from an extended holiday break, the swim brief. Today I am talking to one of my many bosses, Matt Leach, who is the head swimming coach at Washington State University. As usual, we get into a nice conversation hearing about uh him growing up in the uh Portland area and uh some of his experiences with his dad as a coach and all the career stops along the way, even some discussion of the early days of ReLU's at Indiana and where I ate the best uh Danish specialty food item of my life. So listen for that and enjoy, and uh great to have you back again. Uh one of my many bosses, Matt Leach, the head coach of uh Washington State swimming. I was gonna say swimming and diving, but it's currently still swimming, right? Matt? Yes, yes, that's correct. Chris, thanks for having me today. Um yeah, thanks for coming on this. We've been talking about this for uh way too long, and and now we're actually doing it. Um you're no longer the brand new coach. You you've been on the uh ground there in Pullman, Washington for 18 months, and uh, you know, I want to get into a bit of conversation about how that's going. But before we do that, um I would like to sort of ask people about their previous life, that their their prior to coaching life, um as as an athlete and and growing up in the sport. So uh give people listening an idea of you know what it was like for young Matt Leach to get involved in swimming, and then uh how your your time as an athlete progressed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. Um well I um I was very fortunate to to grow up in a in a family, uh very close-knit family, just my brother and myself and my parents uh that were old the oldest of their families. And uh my mom had a ton of siblings, my dad had a few siblings, so I had aunts and uncles, cousins growing up uh my entire life. And so for me, growing up was all about family, and and going to the pool deck was also all about going to the pool is also about family, because my dad was a swim coach. Uh he's retired now, but still still coaches uh my my niece and nephew um as a volunteer. But um, you know, growing up for me, going to the pool was about seeing my brother, uh, seeing my friend, seeing my dad. So it wasn't necessarily a I had to go to the pool, I had to go swim, no one made me do anything. I I wanted to go. I still remember a time when I was young when I when I was quote unquote sick to go to school. Uh so I didn't go to school. But then all of a sudden, you know, when practice time rolls around, oh I'm feeling way better. Uh I'm gonna go to practice. And that that got shot down real quick. So um my parents didn't fall for that one. But uh growing up, um, just loved the water, you know, played other sports growing up, um, basketball and um and soccer and had a lot of fun with those, but you know, um enjoyed enjoyed my time at the pool the most. And so that's kind of where I tracked. Um the club team I was on in Portland um was a very successful club program, uh, 12 mill swim club. And I was the kid in my age group that would have a hard time making a relays because we were so good. Um our relays were normally top 20 in the nation, um or top ten. There was one time when I was lucky enough to be on a relay where we were the fastest relay team in the nation that year, which is pretty cool. Um and uh and so it was, you know, growing up was was a lot of fun uh with my family and and having a dad as a coach. I kinda saw a lot of his hard work and and the relationships that he built with all the swimmers he had, whether they were, you know, an Olympian, which he had, um, or a gold medalist, or just somebody that enjoyed swimming through high school and club and either continued on to college or not. Um and so as I went through um, you know, a age group swimming, if you will, and started looking for colleges, I there was really nowhere for me to go in Portland or in Oregon. So I kind of just kind of just opened my uh you know, open opened my wings up a little bit and kind of looked everywhere and and um literally everywhere. I remember going on a on a recruiting trip to Alabama, um going on a trip recruiting trip to NC State, uh a bunch of places. Washington when they had swimming at the time and Wyoming. And um ended up at uh at a a place that that I that I love and is has a great place in my heart, that's Indiana. I went to IU to swim and get my education and loved it. Um went through a coaching change there. Uh the uh the head coach, Ray Luz, was my coach my junior and senior year, and couldn't be more proud of that program and and how successful they've been in the water. Uh and uh so Yeah, so just to give people a little bit of it's kinda been all over.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Just to give people a little context, I mean, you know, like I think people listening to this now um think of IU that's like a premier program in the country, and they they have been at various times throughout their history, but um it was a it was a bit of a different story when you got there, right? There was kind of a struggle point for Indiana University.
SPEAKER_02Right. It it was, yeah. Um so when I was looking at schools, I wanted a school where one, I could compete against the best, two, I didn't want to be, you know, a walk-on, so like the low man on symbol or the best on the team. I want to go in kind of the middle and just continue to help build and grow a program. So for me, it was more about the experience of the growth of a program. Um and the growth of of where we were at kind of in our short, you know, the the the couple years before I got there. Um to see like look, I could come in and help and be on A Relays and hopefully help, you know, um my team recruit and and continue to build and grow, grow our our family and our brand. And and um yeah, it was the you know, it was a it was a struggle the first couple years. And obviously, um, you know, my junior senior year, I was lucky enough to to be able to help bring in some some really talented athletes that just totally bumped our level up and and rated a really good job recruiting. But yeah, it was more about that experience of of making a change to a program and knowing that knowing that what I did helps create a foundation that that obviously helped help them, you know, spring springboard to to a really high level of at NCAA's and and and it as you know and it continues to be that at that level. So it was um it was fun and and so that's what you know obviously we're trying to do here is kind of make that change and talk to people about the not just being a part of a program where okay, you're already towards the top or at the top, but a program where you really get to be the foundation of where we build from. And so, you know, for me as a as a as a swimmer in college, that's that was um a great decision and and I would never change that for you know for anything.
SPEAKER_00So I mean what do you what do you remember about that? I think that's a great point you bring up in regards to, you know, I think most coaches uh I mean uh you're you're probably not gonna take over programs where you know you're already at the top. So, you know, you're gonna have to have some kind of conversation with the people about your team on your team about like, okay, we want to do well this year, but also we're trying to set a tone for something um that you know will might take place ten years after you go here. I mean, um what do you like uh you're obviously proud of where Indiana got to, um, but what kind of stuff do you look back on and think like, oh yeah, you know, that was a mo maybe a moment where we sort of laid a foundation for the future.
SPEAKER_02That's actually pretty funny. Um that you you asked that. There was there was one there's one practice and it was a hard practice. Ray Ray gets after you and writes really hard practices, which is why you you become most successful. But there was um there was one practice where we were going these all-out efforts, it was over winter training, and uh obviously we were beat up. And we were at our at our old pool, Royal Pool, um, which is which is the the older facility that they still have in the heart of campus where some of the greatest people swam on the planet, you know, like Mark, you know, Mark Spitz.
SPEAKER_00And he was all right, I think. Montgomery. What? I think he was alright, Mark Spitz. I've heard of it. Yeah, yeah, he was okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he was he was he was decent. So so all those all those people swam in it. And so we had to practice back there just to kind of get back to the root, our roots, and and we were doing these all-out efforts, and and and Ray was was pumping us up and and cheering for us and yelling, yelling for us, and uh he's like, I I want to hear more chat um chatter. He said chatter, chatter, and we thought he said chowder, as in the suits, clam chowder, right? Right. So so so we started just kind of kind of getting getting after each other and saying, I want more chowder. And uh it just kind of brought us together and to know that look, we're gonna do the work. Yeah, you know, we're gonna have fun doing it, we're gonna make sure the atmosphere is the right one so that people are drawn to it. Um and and and it was just just to practice it. I mean, I don't remember the exact practice. I know it was really, really hard, but I remember I remember the time on the wall more than anything else, you know, and that was I think that was a moment where where a lot of people saw like, oh this hard work is can be fun if you if you approach it in a fun way. And um and we did that, and and I think that that kind of helped solidify us because I want to say my sophomore year we were seventh. In the Big Ten? I I don't recall the flo i in the Big Ten, uh, maybe six. I I don't re again, I don't recall my sophomore year, what year where we finished, but I know my my junior year we were third. Wow. So to go from the six to seven, you know, obviously the the bottom to you know, the bottom half of the conference to third was a big step for us. And we were we were having a great time and it and again it gets back to that hard work and and trust in the process, and so that kind of I think helped solidify some of our culture steps we needed in order to have recruits in and bring the right level of recruits in that would help continue that growth. Yeah. So it was a lot of fun. And I mean, obviously, you know, it was a race hard work of recruiting and and and doing things, you know, to a high level.
SPEAKER_00So and at at what point you you're swimming, I mean you you grow up with your dad as a coach. At what point do you decide I'm also gonna be a coach? And and what led you to that decision?
SPEAKER_02Well, that's actually that's that's interesting because I didn't I didn't want to be so well my parents always told me don't be so good. Mine too, hours. Right, you're you you're not gonna you're gonna work too many hours and you're gonna not gonna get paid anymore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So so I started out in business at Indiana, which has a really good business school, and I was like, yeah, I don't I I don't necessarily know if I like the material or some of the people that I was getting to know. You know, it was about money, and for me money isn't important. Um and uh and so so I tr I changed majors to um athletic training. I'm like, oh be an athlete athletic trainer, you know, you you gotta still work with athletes, and that lasted for a day because um that lasted for a day because you have to volunteer during those practices and during those those hours that you're training, and you can't do that. So I ended up being I ended up being an environmental uh ma uh science major and love the material, love the people, love you know, everything I was learning. Um but by the time I was a senior and I was lucky enough to go to my second Olympic trials in my senior year and and you know, participate in NCAAs and be an all-American and be world rank and just you know be be lucky to to be in that situation because of the great people I surrounded myself with and the coaches that I was lucky enough to have coach me. Um I felt that I was that that I was I I had unfinished business. Um obviously I wasn't fast enough to go pro at that time. I would have loved to, but yeah, I was like, look, I I I want to do I want to help people get farther than I than I than I did. So so when I was I I had a fifth year, I had one more semester in the um fall, and I started helping out on deck, um, obviously with Indiana and and loved it. But then but then I was like, well, I want to do this and you know, I'd make some money on the side, so I became the head coach of a of a local high school. And then I also threw my hat in the ring to be a graduate assistant at LSU. And so everyone knew kind of what I was doing. I was like, look, you know, volunteering at my alma mater to help out, you know, to finish my diploma was obviously something that I wanted to do. Taking over a head coaching job of a high school was all was was a lot of fun. And and but I but everyone knew that look, if I can get my graduate work paid for and continue coaching, you know, in the SEC and learn and and grow and start my career, if I get this, that's where that's where I'm gonna go. That's where I'm gonna go and what I'm gonna do. And so lo and behold, I got in my car, uh drove 12 hours uh straight south at Louisiana State University um on a weekend, um, last on a Friday night, and um got in, interviewed, loved um the food, the the atmosphere, and and met with uh Adam Schmidt, um, who was the head coach there at the time, and and um I was like I I would love to be a part of this. And it was it was strange because their GA was le was done um in the in the fall, so they need someone starting January 1 in the spring. So like the star is aligned, and again, I don't know how I was that lucky to to become a graduate assistant, but again, another decision where luck and hard work just kind of met to open up this opportunity, and so I I stepped through that door and I I wouldn't have changed that experience for the world. I loved my time at LSU and and it was the same kind of thing we're doing here. It had to be a change of culture. Um the team wasn't necessarily in the right realm, um, wasn't didn't have the right team dynamic, and so Adam was brought in to change it, and so um so I was brought in with a whole new staff to make changes, and and that's exactly what we did. So so for me, getting from a swimmer to being becoming a coach was kind of all about, well, I want to help I I want to help people get farther than I did. Yeah. And I've been lucky enough to to be involved with a lot of people that have done a really good job um that have gone farther than I have, and so I'm gonna keep that, I'm gonna keep that going. So Yeah, I mean Did that answer your question about that leap from swimming to coaching?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I mean I I think regardless, you you keep you know, you you said a couple of times that you want to coach people farther than you got. I mean, and it's just listening to the story, it's uh regardless of where LSE was sitting in the SEC at the time, it's SEC swimming. So you you stepped into uh a very high level there right from right from the beginning. Um and you're working as a graduate assistant. So just to get us chronologically, this was like 2005 or so.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I graduated, I graduated December of uh December um twenty two thousand four from Indiana. Okay. And then I literally packed up my Toyota Corolla um with everything I owned, and I um drove down to Louisiana and I started in January with on my degree and coaching.
SPEAKER_00Wow. Yeah. It's so did you did you have to stop midseason? I mean, I know graduate assistantships it comes with the time limit, but did you did you get to finish out the year at the end of working there?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So so technically I went two and a half.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Because it's it's uh it kind of back then it was kind of d you know, degree hours. If you're on track, you're fine. And and and they were fine with it for another another semester. And so um and so for so for me it was I mean, it was just again a perfect match. So yeah, so I went a little bit longer in graduate school, but I was I mean, I was on the deck way too much, and I and I and I was I was so happy doing it. It was awesome. It was so much fun.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, it's interesting. I mean, uh I have such fond memories of coaching when I was a part-time assistant coach, getting like $2,000 a season. Right, you know, just at that stage of your life, though, it's just so much fun in some ways. Oh yeah, it is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, and and and the struggle is real. I mean, like you said, the SEC that at that time the SEC was the powerhouse of hanging hanging national championships um with with Auburn and Georgia um winning the majority of those national championships, you know, in that time frame. So it was it was really cool to be able to get on deck and watch a Dave Marsh coach because I know that uh Adam Schmidt and Dave Dave Marsh, you know, obviously we're together at Auburn, and so just to be able to pick brains and just be a fly on the wall was awesome. Watching, you know, Ryan Lockdy, watching his warm-up, which I still tell that story to this day, um when he was an undergrad in Florida, you know, and Greg Troy trying to get him to do more than 25s for his warm-up. You know, it was it was uh it was oh my gosh, it was so much fun. Um, and so you know, I thank uh Adam Schmidt for that opportunity, and obviously LSU for having me. You know, I've I I've met along the way some great people, and I'm very, very honored and blessed to be where I'm at today because of them and their uh willingness to take on a a back choker from Indiana, you know. So but yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so if I chart your career correctly, you're you're at LSU and you went from LSU to Wyoming? Is that to Wyoming? Yeah. And and so did it. Did uh did Tom Johnson, TJ, did he uh did he bring up the fact that you uh blew them off after that recruiting visit when you interviewed for a job?
SPEAKER_02Um yes, yes, quite in front, not just one-on-one phone call, but in in front of the entire committee when I was on my interview. And um so I I was at LSU for Um more than the two and a half years I was there from oh five to oh nine. Okay. So I stayed a little bit longer um as a head agent group coach of the club team, um uh was was helping as an assistant at LSU as well. So I again just stayed way busy, loved it, had a great time. And then it was hey, I'm I'm to get back closer to home back closer to the west coast um and and see if i can kind of move up the the ladder and so i went to um started applying started applying a lot of places and got a lot of notes which is which happens yeah um right and then wyoming popped open and I was like oh so yeah I went on a recruiting trip there TJ was in his second year first year second year of turning that program around and um so on the interview he's like yeah so you told us no but you want to come work here what's you know what's gonna happen when recruits tell you no and I said well you know TJ I did tell you no and I I I told you respectfully no and this is why and then I stayed every time I saw him on deck I said hello I communicated with him I I I asked him how he's doing and even at Olympic trials in uh 2004 I said hello to him on deck which you know was one of my last uh swimmates um because I was graduating and he was lucky enough to to put Scott O'Shear on an Olympic team yeah and he was he was joking around around with me then hey look at what would have happened if you would have been a backstroker with a breaststroker as an Olympian you know it would have been a lot of fun but the the the the the moral of the story was I kept that door open because I was polite when I talked to him I stayed in contact and yeah it was it was a a hard hiring process because he kept bringing that up but um when I got to Wyoming he he gave me the keys to the car and said look you're the sprint coach you recruit your kids you coach your kids you you do what you need to do and and there was a lot of talent that was in my group that I was working with and so um you know working with those sprinters and it wasn't all easy it wasn't all you know flowers and roses uh recruiting to Wyoming but the people that I was able to work with um were were amazing um uh on the women's side we set a culture that hadn't been hadn't happened in in probably 30 40 years hadn't happened ever um at Wyoming on the women's side um going to NCAAs having back to back all Americans on the women's side that it didn't happen and so it was it was fun to have a head coach say hey here's the keys of the car go get it and to see that come to fruition um was a lot of fun and again I I OTJ uh a time uh so uh Wyoming was a was a great great place my first year we had we had our first Ensembly qualifier on the women's side um in twenty years eighteen years something like that I I don't I don't recall a specific number but um it was a long time and it was crazy because sh the our Ensembly qualifier was coming off the year of the super suits that we had. Right and she was a 22 nine with a supersuit and then the next year no supersuit she was a 22 four in the 50 to qualify for NCAA. So it was it was a lot of fun and then and then that kind of set up the culture of look these are my expectations this is this is what we do this is how we communicate how we compete how we do everything and lo and behold then we get a hunter back backstroker there and then 100 backstroker again back to back all Americans and then we get you know another 2009 and it just kind of kept going from there. So it was i I was very very lucky uh I guess again luck and hard work kind of combined to open up some opportunities.
SPEAKER_00So yeah I mean I think people uh you know I l I grew up on the east coast so and I one of the things I feel really lucky to do now um in my current career is to learn more about places like Wyoming because you know I was always a nerd I was always reading the results I was always looking like I knew something special was going on there but I didn't know beyond like swim times I didn't know anything about it. You know and now I get to talk to people and sort of hear what's going on I've had the opportunity to go to Cleveland State you know which is another place where I sort of knew something special was going on but I didn't really understand what it was and uh I think there's so many of these interesting places in the swimming world that are not they're not auburn they're not cow you know they're not Stanford or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah that have a unique uh atmosphere and well what are they doing there to to be putting themselves on the map yeah right yeah so no i it was a lot of fun and you know it was it was hard work not a lot of people want to want to go up to Laramie Wyoming to recruit or you know as a recruit as a as a high school student athlete but you know what we found the ones that that that believed in us and that we that that we could kick connect with and and obviously have be a part of our our our our culture and and our program and you know we just we just kept kept working hard. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean I always say you know on the other side to kids that are interested in swimming in college like if you're if you're interested in swimming in college and and you you at least have some desire to work like there's a place for you. I I swam with a guy in college who went 104 in the hunter freestyle and he was a value we all loved him. Like he was a valuable member of our team. Right? So if you're sitting at home go I'm not fast enough to swim in college like no there there's somewhere. No and on the flip side like whatever school you're coaching at you have a great opportunity for somebody and you just got to find those people.
SPEAKER_02Right you um you just got to find them that's right and and and like you said I totally agree with you Chris it doesn't matter your times. You could go division one division two division three NAIA um junior colleges if it's close by if you if there's a swim program which um there are a few out there but there's always a place for somebody and and and you've got to be willing to get outside your comfort zone of like you said, oh I'm just gonna look at Cal and Stanford and Auburn and just those big name programs which I I get but you you need to be able to to look at where you're gonna fit in from a culture standpoint from a you know grade standpoint from from having the right major at that school everything you know look for everything and and if you're able to swim there and be a part of it then my my hat's off to you you can definitely do it. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I want to speed I mean because we got to get to where you are right now but there's sort of one more important step in along the way and that is that uh you helped start a brand new program at Indiana State. Um just sort of quickly talk about how that all came about I mean it it must have been a scary proposition to like it was take a team it was from scratch yeah so so you know Wyoming you know is in a six lane six lane yard pool and and we you know we made it work but we were we were coaching on deck a ton.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. 5 a.m till 6 p.m plus office hours a lot of recruiting calls there were some nights where I was in there till 10, 11, midnight um getting things done for the season for our travel. Because that's what I was in charge of was it was our team travel. So long story short the administration talked about building a 15 year pool and obviously that has didn't happen. So for me it was look I've been here six years I've been associate head coach for four of those years. I I'm ready to can kind of learn and grow and continue to to figure out this this whole coaching thing. And so yeah um I got applied a lot of places I got a lot of no's and then at Indiana State um they were starting a brand new women's program from scratch um in a brand new food familiar pool in the community so I was like this is this is this could be a great opportunity and you know they compete in the uh Missouri Valley Conference and so we started out the first year I was there I had no swimmers at zero because I they wanted me to recruit and create the right kind of culture and program. So my second year which was the first year of the actual program we had 17 freshmen. Wow and I told them this is gonna be a journey and we're gonna we're gonna this is what we're gonna believe in. This is our our our equation for success family first academic second and and really competing um to the best of our ability and so you know the first year we got our teeth kicked in and that's fine. You know we learned from it. We we we won three dual meets which was three more dual meets than I thought we would win. Yeah to be honest. And you know the girls the girls are having fun yeah there were trials and tribulations through it but um we we continue to talk about family and culture and then academics and then um swimming and I'm still proud of everybody that's there. I'm very proud of them why because they they had the highest team GPA um in the NCAA under under their new head coach uh Josh uh who's there in his second year right now so um so so they they're doing a great job but yeah it it was the idea of starting something from scratch I looked you know a character obviously the time aspect was important their times as a swimmer but you know a a couple of the people that came in were w helped us with our culture but then all of a sudden they got really good in swimming. Yeah which was which was a lot of fun. And you know we just kept building it. In our second year we we brought in a lot uh of of freshmen so we had freshmen sophomores and we had two two transfers come in that were juniors um and we went from dead last to almost getting third in the conference and it was it was just a ton of fun. So it was we were the team where everyone was watching us as we were going from seated thirtieth in an event to fourth or fiftieth in an event to twelfth. And and breaking school records. I mean obviously there was only one year school records to go in front of it but when that would happen the whole team would go and just be behind the block hugging, cheering high fiving and it was a lot of fun. We were lucky enough to win our first uh individual um Missouri Valley Conference championship in the tuna breast rook which was really cool. That was tough.
SPEAKER_00So and then they thought I was the coach of the year which I again that was the student athletes doing all the hard work and believing in in our equation for second one thing uh you know just as now that we're gonna sort of pivot to um where you're coaching now, one thing I I have noticed listening to all of this is, you know, first off I mean you if you're a coach and you want to make a career out of it almost um well you you're really lucky. If you get really really lucky you know you won't have to move around that much. But almost everybody you just it's you know nothing nothing bad to say about the place that you are but you just you know sometimes there's no space to grow and you just have to like get to a new place. But but one thing I have noticed is um you you tended you tended to have uh a solid amount of time at each place that you went. The LSU you were there for four years you were at uh Wyoming for uh six years and um you know and and things were going really well at uh Indiana State and I think probably you know I that's just my opinion from the outside looking in um and and uh so there must have been some sort of like okay I can I could use this as a springboard to something else um but you you must have felt too a little bit conflicted I mean you got something started talk about that decision to uh come to Washington state and what what drew you there and what ultimately uh like uh allowed you to make that tough choice. Right.
SPEAKER_02Well that it was I would say it was probably the hardest decision I've made when it comes to coaching in my career because um you know I was lucky enough to meet my wife at Wyoming which you know was obviously the highlight of being Wyoming besides you know all the career things I was doing. But we got married when we were out in Terre Haute and um and you know settled down bought a house and we you know she was in a career that she enjoyed and loved and and I was obviously as well so we had worked really hard to get where we were at and so we were happy. I mean we we were extremely happy with the growth of the the program um you know family life everything so so when this opportun opportunity came up it was really really hard it was really hard and you know for me it was not only an opportunity to to coach at the at the highest level but it was more about being back in the Pacific Northwest and trying to get trying to get closer to my family. And what was hard is my wife is from Illinois so obviously you know being in Indiana State we're close to her family and we we would visit them quite a bit and so you know to to jump over here and kinda let me live out a dream of coaching in the Pac 12. I mean growing up in Portland you know you're you're kind of Pac 12 country you know right and I grew up with people that swam here so I I I knew of this place the culture kind of kind of cougar nation so for me it was it was an opportunity that I didn't think would ever be put in front of me again. So my wife and I we really sat down and we really had to think about it and finally you know we looked at it and my wife was like man if you want to do it do it. Let's do it and she's the reason why why I'm lucky enough to to be able to coach here. Um and you know it's again it's it's hard work, it's luck, it's just the right opportunity and you know and and I feel very blessed. Um but again we're we're trying to do things the right way and and work hard and get a little bit lucky and and uh hopefully have the right kind of mindset as we move forward to to have the right culture. But for me to get out here and and coach in the Pac 12 be back in the Pacific Northwest I I'm just in my wildest dreams I didn't think this would be the the case. Yeah so yeah yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean was there so you you you're living out the dream uh now coaching what um what if any things really surprised you about Washington State? I mean obviously you you you grew up um not that far away you had some idea of what the place was like but you know it's a whole different story when you get on the ground. What what has surprised you about Washington State?
SPEAKER_02Right well the the the town the family atmosphere and culture and that's what we talk about. So it was kind of like it was kind of what I'm trying what I've been trying to build and grow everywhere I've been is exactly the same matchup here. Um you know and and it was it was actually funny it was last year um our football team was on a roll and um we were we were playing Oregon and college game day came to town and I remember standing on the pool deck and I'm like you guys should be excited because I grew up watching Oregon um play football.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02And um you know everyone's there's a buzz on campus. Everyone's like oh my gosh first time college game day's coming here. You know our you know the the uh Cougar flag has been flying high at uh college game day everywhere it's been right um for you know for all time um but one of the student athletes turns to me and goes okay lady or turns to the team okay ladies make sure you lock your door your doors this weekend and I was I was like whoa whoa whoa you guys don't lock your doors and everyone looks around like no like I was crazy and uh I'm like you so you're worried about Oregon ducks coming to town? Oh we're just worried you know because it's gonna be a fun packed atmosphere we want to make sure everyone's safe I'm like oh that's great but you should lock your doors every time every day of the week but um you know it was just fun because you know now that my wife and I have uh a little baby girl daughter Eloise we want to we want to make sure we're in we have the right we're in the right place uh a safe town where and community where she can grow and thrive and and you know this is this is this is it and that's why I I'm very excited about this this place and this culture and our family you know we we don't call it a program or a team we call it a family so um so for me kind of knowing it was right was kind of just all of that happening and coming to fruition so um you know I know that there's more there's hard work ahead of us and and more to come but um you know we're just trying to make make everybody here a little bit better and and and have them understand that we're in a very very lucky place.
SPEAKER_00Yeah that I can I can vouch for that atmosphere in Pullman having been I guess I've been there six times now and uh just now on my last visit you know I finally asked you and your assistant coach uh Beck that said hey uh you know is there anywhere I could be going to breakfast and guys sent me to the uh the old European restaurant in uh in Pullman and you know listen to the podcast knowing Danish and I was like moved to tears because I had the best able skewer I've ever had in my entire life. My mom was painted uh rest in peace mom I know your able skewer are also good but man they were really good and that's just um there's kind of like just little special stuff there um that uh just make the place you know unique and and even as far as it is from from many other things there's also simultaneously kind of a lot there for a small town um yeah oh yeah and and and world renowned things that you're like wait wait what like our we have cougar gold cheese our um you know the cities in town are awesome yeah what I need to try the ice cream I heard you could get ice cream from the dairy yeah so we we have a we have we have our obviously a really good um agricultural program vet science program but we have our own dairy um uh store on campus that does they do cheese and ice cream and so our our claim to fame is our cougar gold it's uh it's in mac and cheese it's uh you know just a really really amazing cheese and then they also have ice cream there so it's there's lines the first sunny warm day uh of of the year there's lines out the door and it is just it is so good it's so good yeah so so there's there's so much to do and it you know and and that's what I love about it is that look you you go to college to be a part of an athletic pro you know t family and program and this is where you get to live it.
SPEAKER_02You know like I I kind of feel bad you know for for other programs that are you know in huge metropolitan areas where they oh I gotta go to the mall and I gotta go to this I gotta go to that and it's like well we we gotta be here and and support each other and and go to football games and basketball games and you know go up and and and say hi to you know the the A D or you know whatever the case may be it's just it's just such a different feeling for me. So it yeah it's it's a great place. It's a great place. And be able to walk to work every day.
SPEAKER_00I know yeah you're always walking to work when I'm there yeah it's like three minute walk. I mean we've pretty much walked to my house every time we've come in to to park or you know right so yeah yeah so it's I don't know I don't know where we're going out with that Chris but uh yeah no I just wanted to wax about uh Pullman Washington for a little bit because I think you know people listening I I had no idea what Pullman Washington was like you know before the first time I came um and I really had no idea what to expect and it's a place that that I really look forward to going and I sort of just want people who are listening to get a sense of that. Like if you're listening to this if you've never been to Pullman Washington like it it has a lot of surprises for you. It's got a lot of it just has a lot of stuff for a lot of different people. And um all right so so back to Washington uh estate swimming uh have you been there 18 months um what are what have some of the highlights been I mean I I'll I'll just announce one uh highlight that I thought of earlier so you don't so you don't have to I mean I I'm listening to the story of you know the first NCA qualifier in almost 20 years at Wyoming and you had the same thing happen last year you know uh Washington state's first NCA qualifier in in what like a decade? Yeah almost a decade nine years yeah yeah so um other than that what have some highlights been um of of coaching uh there for 18 months right well that's I mean obviously that from for the performance side that's kind of the big one um but there's other huge addictions
SPEAKER_02That um you know tend to get overlooked when you just talk about okay, Stanford's winning it's the NCAA and and Pac-12s, and Cal second in the NCAA second in the Pac-Twelves. But there are a lot of things happening here that I'm I'm very proud of. Um last year our team GPA jump jumped up to the highest it's been in 15 years. Wow. Um, which, yeah, so for me, that's a big deal. And and that's something that that we should highlight because you know when we build our our family and talk about our equation for successes, culture first, academic second, and then competing at the highest level third, which we're lucky to be a part of. Um so so that was a big one for me. Um it was our lone senior that went through the transition um from the previous staff to to our staff who stuck the course, uh, Lenae Allenberg, who was awesome. Um she didn't end up making NCAAs, but you know, from day one, when I got there, she's like, I'm a 50 breaststroker. I'm like, well, great. We don't have a 50 breaststroke in the NCAA. Right. We don't have a 50 breaststroke. And uh you you're not gonna be able to go in the 50 breaststroke unless we make a relay. But long story short, she's like, man, I'm a 50 breaststroker. So we uh participate at the NIC's National Invitational Championships um sponsored by CSCAAs, and um which is a postseason, and lo and behold, they have the 50s of stroke. And guess who wins the darn 50-yard breaststroke? No one other than Lenae Lindbergh of Washington State. So it was it was that was a fun moment um for us as well to have to have an NIC champion um our our first year and have our N S double qualifier. But there's also other things. Um, you know, Taylor McCoy won was Pac-12 swimmer of of the uh month. No, of the week. I get it confused. Um to win the Pac-12. Well, we'll just give her the whole month, right? A couple more weeks. Um she was, yeah, she was she was uh she won that, uh, which was a lot of fun for her uh great performances against Arizona, Arizona State.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um and um, you know, that was a lot of fun, and and so it was just these little kind of things where you can see people growing and and and making changes. For me, I think the biggest thing was seeing a a change in culture on the pool deck. Um, you know, one of the things was when I got here is like, look, we cheer for each other and we actually I want you to care about each other, which is oh, you you actually care about us and you want us to care about others, and that's been easy, easy thing to say, hard thing to do, but we did it. And you know, kind of a couple strategic changes to chairs, either being at dual meets or not being at dual meets. But, you know, one of the things was one of the things we're you you guys are cheering for each other, you're actually invested in each other. And so, you know, for me, no, no story, you know, no story goes is perfect. There's always your ups and downs and bumps in the roads. Um but we, you know, we're we're gonna stick to what we believe in and which is family first, academic second, and competing third at a high level. So um, you know, last year was had its ups, had its downs, but I think that you know putting people back at it, you know, uh being back at NCAAs and and having some of these some of these little wins, you know, obviously helps us continue to grow and get better.
SPEAKER_00So yeah.
SPEAKER_02So those are some of the highlights from last year.
SPEAKER_00So just to just to wrap up, uh, because uh you know you've you've mentioned it um several times uh the the this family first um as part of the philosophy. And you also mentioned, I mean, you you've had your first child here um uh I guess she she was she born in July? Was it June, July?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it was July. It was um we were aiming for the fourth so that we'd have a holiday every every time for her birthday, but w uh what happened was it was July 5th. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's probably better for her.
SPEAKER_02Right. Well, we can tell or at least, you know, the fireworks are for you, even though your birthday's tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00That's right.
SPEAKER_02She'll only pick up on that a couple years down the line, but that's okay. Um it's actually interesting, she was born at 517, which is my wife's birthday. 517. So kind of cool. But yeah.
SPEAKER_00What has that been like? I mean, uh, you know, just um I guess your philosophy is getting tested in a whole new way in your own life. I mean, what's that been like to be a coach and a brand new dad?
SPEAKER_02It's awesome. I've got um a picture of my wife and I when we got married. Um, and I've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven pictures of of our child up as well. So um it's it you know what it it kind of kind of confirms and and validates everything we're talking about. Yeah. Because, you know, when you when you raise a child, you want the best for her. Um, just like I want the best for all of all of our student athletes here. Um, that that I get it, uh I again I get it a little bit uh emotional about it because I care about about our student athletes so much um that I want them to be be healthy, be happy, be safe, be, you know, get good grades, be a good person, all these things. And I know that at some point in my life, as a father, I'm gonna have to have a conversation with Eloise about you know, you need to you need to make changes. You need to do these things and hold her accountable to it, just like I would anyone in our program. And the conversation would be no different. You know, the the conversation of this is when you need to be home, you know, for your curfew. Well, whatever the case may be, I mean, you know, the conversation's gonna stay the same and be the same, whether it's with um Eloise, who's my child, or someone in our program that I expect something different out of. And so for me, it's it's it just uh it validates everything and and and I know that we're doing things the right way. And so for me, it's just it's just kind of that nice affirmation, even though you don't sleep at the you know, as a new parent, don't sleep, you think you're gonna get night's sleep, and nope, that's not gonna happen, you know. So yeah, yeah, you know, I wouldn't change her for the world. She's an absolute, absolute joy to our lives. And um, you know, once she gets up all of her immunizations, you know, we're gonna just bring her to the pool and let the girls just hang out with her and hold her, and you know, so um, but yeah, it's it's it totally changed your life and in an amazing way, and I I'm I can be prouder to be a father.
SPEAKER_00So I I I I mean, I think this probably does parenting a bit of a disservice, but um in some ways it is sort of the ultimate coaching thing. Right. I mean it's like it's like the most important coaching you're ever gonna do in your life. You can yeah, you can do it. Like you're you're you're you know, especially in these early years, I mean you just the you you're just the most important you and your wife are the most important person in their entire lives.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. And uh and and the the the one thing I love, Chris, again, I'm lucky enough to most days when I'm not bogged down with work, I'm able to go home, walk home three minutes, have lunch, yeah, hold Eloise, hang out, uh, you know, and then walk right back to work. And it and it and it's it it helps break the day up. But you know, it's besides besides seeing my wife and her, that's you know, my high the high the other highlight of my day is are those two. But you know, work-wise, coming to to this family, coming to this pool deck is is the other highlight. So it's it's it's really a a great place, you know, for for myself and for for where we're at right now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, you're living the dream.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, absolutely. Very lucky.
SPEAKER_00Uh it's been great talking with you. Uh great hearing, you know, there were some parts of this story that uh you and I have already covered, but some parts of it I didn't know. So it was great to uh get a few pieces of it, and I think it'll be great for people to hear too a little bit um about uh what's is what's been what's been behind it all the way through this uh journey across America and uh and back back closer to home to coach swimming. So thanks thanks for coming on and and having that chat.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, Chris. Thanks for having me, and I appreciate uh all of your help um through this process and you know I'm I'm uh looking forward to continuing to uh stay in touch and all the listeners out there just uh you know if you need anything, look me up. It's pretty easy to find now with the internet. So um, but thank you. Thank you again, Chris. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Bye.
SPEAKER_02All right, bye-bye.
SPEAKER_00That was that. Thank you to everybody for listening. Thank you for continuing to support the blog and the podcast. Thank you to Matt and my other bosses for keeping me busy here in 2020. Thank you to Gary Hall for uh reading my blog. Thank you to Gary Hall's mom for reading my blog. I guess that's a little cheeky, but um thanks to all of you. And um for more great swimming conversations, go to Chris Dcoach.com, that's C H R I S D as in DeSantiscoach.com. And uh hope to have more of these coming to you uh back at a regular clip.