Bob Bowman, the head coach and CEO of North Baltimore Aquatic Club and Michael Phelps’ mentor, is in the mix for the vacant Arizona State University head coaching position, according to Arizona Republic’s Jeff Metcalfe.
With the men’s basketball position filled by former Duke great Bobby Hurley, ASU athletic director Ray Anderson is swinging for the fences as he looks to replace Dorsey Tierney-Walker, who was let go on March 31 from the head coaching position.
Bowman, who was in town with Phelps and the rest of the NBAC crew for the Arena Pro Swim Series in Mesa, confirmed to Metcalfe that he made a campus visit this week.
“I was just down there,” Bowman said Saturday night at the Arena Pro Series Mesa meet when asked if he had been approached about the ASU opening. “I just don’t know anything about it right now. It seems like there is a potential there. The pool has always been good, I’ve been there. At this point, I couldn’t make a really informed guess about it. I’ll talk to everybody who contacts me.”
Bowman not only has been at the helm of Phelps’ tremendous career that includes 22 Olympic medals, Bowman’s swimmers have also set 43 world records under his tutelage.
Bowman also has coached in college when he followed Phelps to the University of Michigan for four years. He coached the Wolverines during that time period, and won Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008, before returning to NBAC with Phelps.
Metcalfe also reports that Southern California assistant coach Jeremy Kipp is among the candidates up for the position.
Bowman is in a unique position where he could bring his stable of pro athletes with him to Arizona, Michael Phelps included, since these athletes do not have committments to a university. Their presence would only ehance the college program. Bowman owns the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, so he could hire coaching replacements for that program and a Chief Operating Officer to oversee its operations. The hiring of Bowman would certainly jump start the program immediately.
Bowman has NCAA coaching experience as the former head coach for the University of Michigan. He announced that he was leaving that position in April of 2008 to assume chief executive officer responsibilities at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club and will prepare swimmers for Olympic and international competition. “This is a professional business opportunity that I felt I needed to pursue,” Bowman said at the time. “It has been a privilege and honor for me to coach at the University of Michigan, and my four years here have been extremely meaningful. I have enjoyed working with the student-athletes and representing the University, and I plan to continue a close relationship with U-M for a long time to come.”
The question remains as to whether ASU will fully fund the ASU Men’s program with scholarships since it was cut about the same time that Bob Bowman resigned from the University of Michigan.
Jeremy Kipp is an interesting candidate who is ready for a head coaching position after serving many years as the assistant head coach for the University of Southern California (USC). USC won the Pac 12 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships this past season. With ASU being in the Pac 12, this is certainly a plus for Kipp who has strong recruiting skills.
ASU is not the PAC 12 caliber as the University of Arizona nor Stanford and Cal swimming. ASU is the retirement university for professors, not coaches!
If he does this, I hope he stays. He took the University of Michigan job and only stayed three years. That’s a position in which coaches generally spend their entire careers.
If he takes the job and then leaves, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
I think Coach Bowman was actually at Michigan 4 years. Relatively, he wasn’t that successful on the NCAA level, never higher team place than 5th and he inherited a good team. At ASU, it will be a building project which I am not sure he is patient enough to do. But I think the call is Michael’s…if he wants to go, then he will go!
Now this would be super cool!
If this happens sell your U of A stock and buy ASU! Two programs going in opposite directions
Good luck Bob!!!!!!
Both ASU’s teams are fully funded.
Good Luck Bob!
re last paragraph: Southern Cal finished 3rd in the women’s Pac-12 but won the men’s meet for the first time since 1979.
Terrible idea. Not to mention, doesn’t Bowman co-own NBAC? Guess he would have to sell his share of the team..
He wouldn’t have to sell anything. Im also pretty sure that NBAC doesn’t have “SHARES”. There is NO club swim teams with shares. when it come to owning your own team. All you would do is hire a new head coach, and Bob becomes the teams “consultant”. Just how Dave Salo still is for NOVA.
I wish I could believe this article. I doesn’t make any sense. Bob Bowman is in the mix? I am not very knowledgeable in college swimming or for that matter in competitive swimming but I challenge those who are to come up with some names that would make Bob Bowman “in the mix” for the job. If he wanted the job I think it would be his PERIOD. There are no bigger names than Mr Bowman. Maybe at best equal quality coaches but I know of none. The Olympics are a year away and I would venture to guess that he is kind of committed to training the best swimmer of all time for the next 16 months or so.