Could Bob Bowman and University of Texas Propel U.S. Men in Future Years?
The highlight of an Olympic swimming competition where very little went right for the U.S. men came on the final day, when Bobby Finke won gold in the men’s 1500 freestyle in world-record time. Finke helped the team avoid being completely shut out of winning individual gold, and it was only the sixth individual medal the men’s team won all week. Otherwise, the nine days of swimming were filled plenty of disappointments.
Veterans Nic Fink and Ryan Murphy each won individual medals, with Fink taking silver in the 100 breaststroke and Murphy bronze in the 100 backstroke, but Murphy missed out on the 200 back final while fellow three-time Olympian Caeleb Dressel could not replicate his times from the U.S. Olympic Trials, let alone his best times ever. Carson Foster took bronze in the 400 IM but just missed a medal in the 200 IM. Many American male swimmers currently in college, including Jack Alexy, Matt Fallon and Chris Guiliano, swam slower than they did at Olympic Trials. If they had replicated their Trials results in Paris, they would have been quick enough to capture individual medals.
In fact, current American collegiate men accounted for just one individual medal, when Luke Hobson claimed bronze in the 200 free, almost stealing gold in an event in which he had no business contending with the likes of David Popovici or Matt Richards. But Hobson ended up with bronze in 1:44.79, becoming the fourth-fastest American ever in the process.
Luke Hobson — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Now, Hobson is back competing for the University of Texas, a senior remaining with the program following the retirement of legendary coach Eddie Reese and the hiring of Bob Bowman to lead the program. Bowman might be best known for guiding Michael Phelps in his greatest-of-all-time career, but perhaps the Paris Olympics were his most successful: swimmers he had coached accounted for 11 individual medals, although only four of those were American medals.
Bowman’s athletes included Leon Marchand, who won four individual golds in a legendary performance in his home country, and Hubert Kos, who claimed gold in the 200 backstroke. Also on the men’s side, Bowman had played a key role in coaching Ilya Kharun, the bronze medalist in both butterfly races, prior to departing Arizona State following the 2024 collegiate season. The only American medals from Bowman-trained swimmers were won by women, with Regan Smith taking three individual silvers and Paige Madden winning bronze in the 800 free.
In the new quadrennium, could Bowman plus Texas be the formula for developing a new generation of medal-contending U.S. men? With Hobson and Foster, Texas was the program that produced the only two U.S. men’s individual medals by swimmers younger than 24, and Bowman has only bolstered his Hall-of-Fame résumé in recent years, particularly with his work turning Marchand and Kos into international stars.
During the first portion of this college season, we have already seen signs of swimmers teeming with potential taking big steps under Bowman and the Longhorns, particularly in the Texas-Indiana dual meet held Friday in Austin.
Rex Maurer — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
As Texas held its “marquee” meet with a light show, pre-race introductions and a packed crowd, Hobson took the win in the 200-yard free in 1:31.86, about three seconds shy of the all-time record in the event he posted last year. But not far away was Rex Maurer, a sophomore transfer from Stanford, who clocked 1:32.13 to crush his previous best time of 1:33.54 from his high school days. Later on, Maurer won the 500 free in 4:11.20, again beating his best time that dated back to high school, and in the morning session, he won the 400 IM in 3:40.90.
Maurer finished in the top-11 in three different events at Olympic Trials but did not get over the hump into any individual finals. Now, we are seeing hints of Maurer taking steps toward national contention, just like Hobson did during his first year at Texas.
Meanwhile, the top-two returning sophomores on the Texas team were both impressive against the Hoosiers. Will Modglin, a National High School Swimmer of the Year during his days in Zionsville, Ind., had by far his best long course season in 2024 as he made finals in the 100 back and 200 IM at Olympic Trials. Against Indiana, Modglin became the first swimmer to break 45 in the 100-yard back this college season.
Nate Germonprez, a semifinalist in the 200 IM at Trials, swam the country’s second-fastest time in the 100 breast, beating out the Hoosiers’ deep breaststroke group with a time of 51.60. Germonprez hardly raced breaststroke during his freshman season, handling butterfly legs on the Longhorns’ top medley relays instead, but his progress in the stroke bears watching in the coming months.
Dual-meet swims are a long way from the NCAA Championships, let alone long course season, but we have to pay attention given the recent trend of Bowman taking swimmers with solid accomplishments and turning them into stars in both short course and long course. The U.S. needs that, for reasons that go beyond the struggles in Paris: most of the biggest men’s college stars of the past few years represent foreign countries while several top Americans have been unable to translate their success in the big pool.
Given the prestige of the University of Texas and its swimming program plus his own coaching success in recent years, Bowman has a better chance of attracting blue-chip American talent to Austin. The early returns of his work with Maurer, Modglin and Germonprez bring some much-needed optimism for the still-reeling American men.