World Coach of the Year: Bob Bowman Has Mentored a Global Gathering of Champions
Bob Bowman leapt into the pool at the IU Natatorium in late March, and somehow his year was just starting.
Unspool the rest of the 2024 and it seemed that Bowman leading Arizona State to its first NCAA men’s championship was almost in danger of being overlooked among the momentous achievements in his calendar.
Two days on from that historic feat, Bowman would be named the successor to Eddie Reese at the University of Texas, taking over a dynasty that his Sun Devils had helped push to an uncharacteristic position at the margins of the men’s title picture. In July, he’d be coaching France at the 2024 Paris Olympics, shepherding home-country hero Leon Marchand toward one of the most outstanding Olympic performances since a certain other Bowman pupil by the name of Michael Phelps.
Bowman’s influence, though, extends far beyond his partnership with Marchand, the winner of four gold and five total medals in Paris who shouldered the pressure of a home Games with aplomb that few short of Phelps have ever mustered. Even more so than the halo effect Bowman inspired around Phelps and those who flocked to his training at either North Baltimore Aquatic Club or the University of Michigan, Bowman has extended his coaching influence wider than ever.
Had Bowman’s training group been a country, it would’ve challenged the U.S. and Australia for supremacy in the medal table in Paris. Hungary’s Hubert Kos parlayed a World Championship gold in the 200 backstroke in 2023 to Olympic gold in Paris. Ilya Kharun, who trained with Bowman and Herbie Behm at Arizona State, won a pair of bronze medals for Canada. Regan Smith turned in a sensational Olympics, with three individual silvers and two relay golds, crediting Bowman’s emphasis on the mental side of the sport.
Multiple other athletes starred under Bowman, their performances elite at a variety of global competitions. Most recently, Luke Hobson – Texas standout – broke the short-course world record in the 200 freestyle.
The mantra from Bowman has always been to value fast swimming. At Arizona State, and now at Texas, he’s ambivalent as to what countries or states it emanates from, only that its exponents put in the work and strive to constantly improve. His role with France in 2024 allowed him to focus solely on that, avoiding the tempest in a teapot that was Bowman coaching the Americans at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka while also guiding France’s great star.
“Fast swimming inspires others to do fast swimming,” Bowman said at the World Short-Course Championships in 2024. “When you start getting world records you tend to get more of them so I think it’s been really fun to see.”
The challenge before him now is to restore Texas to NCAA prominence. The Longhorns finished seventh in Reese’s last season in 2024. While Marchand turned pro, Bowman has brought many of his top talents to Austin, to augment a program that has never struggled for recruits. Bowman’s creation of a championship squad at Arizona State built from the individual up, helping elite talents like Marchand, Kharun and Kos but also helping those in the middle of the roster become the best versions of themselves. That’ll be the guiding light in Austin, too, with a long runway to the next Olympics.