Q&A With Texas A&M Coach Blaire Anderson; Bringing Title Aspirations to Lonestar State
After a magical seven-year run at the University of Virginia, Blaire Anderson has assumed the reins of the men’s and women’s teams at Texas A&M, looking to build on the winning legacy established by long-time coaches Steve Bultman and Jay Holmes.
Blaire Anderson
Director of Swimming and Diving
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
- Georgia State University, B.A., mass communications, 2009
- Director of Swimming and Diving, Texas A&M, May 2024-present
- Associate head coach, University of Virginia
- Assistant coach, University of Virginia, 2017-21
- Assistant swimming coach, women’s recruiting coordinator, University of Indiana, 2016-17
- Assistant swimming coach, women’s recruiting coordinator, Dartmouth University, 2015-16
- Head swim coach, Brenau University, 2010-15 (youngest USA college coach)
- Assistant coach, Team USA World Championships, Fukuoka, 2013
- Assistant coach, Team USA World Short Course Championships, Abu Dhabi, 2021
- Guided Paige Madden to six NCAA medals (four gold/two silver, 2019-21), ACC Female Athlete of Year (2021), four Pan American Games medals (three gold/one silver, 2023) and three Olympic Games medals (two silver/one bronze, 2020/2024)
- At Brenau, named NAIA Swimming & Diving Women’s Coach of the Year, (2014-15)
- Appalachian Swimming Conference Women’s Coach of the Year (2012, 2013, 2014)
- 4x ASCA Coach of Excellence honoree
SWIMMING WORLD: What were your first experiences with competitive swimming?
COACH BLAIRE ANDERSON: I began swimming competitively at the age of 5 for Jim Young at Lanier Aquatics based in Gainesville, Ga. Training was my favorite part of the sport. I fed off the energy of my teammates each day—they were some of my best friends.
SW: What drew you to swim coaching?
BA: Initially, the opportunity and challenge intrigued me: Can I build something great? That question has followed—and fuels me—everywhere I go. Now, my reason and purpose in coaching is deeper than that question. It is to be a mentor to my student-athletes, a collaborator and supporter of helping them build something great for their futures.
SW: How did you get started in coaching?
BA: My journey into collegiate coaching also started in Gainesville, Ga.—at Brenau University (NAIA) as a head coach at the age of 24. It was one of the most exhilarating experiences being able to lead a program at such a young age, and I grew up as a coach alongside those athletes in my early years—they taught me so much.
SW: In addition to Brenau, your résumé includes stops at Dartmouth, Indiana and the University of Virginia. Any coaching mentors along the way?
BA: Absolutely! I would not have been able to navigate my path without the help of Jerry Champer, Susan Teeter, Stef Kerska, Todd DeSorbo, Jeana Kempe and all the women in my coaching summit. It’s always important to have people in your corner, and I’m so thankful for mine.
SW: You had a roster of 12 at Brenau. Any first-day jitters?
BA: Yes, many. I learned so much about my coaching style and what it meant to be a leader in those first couple of years.
SW: You clearly hit your stride coaching the mid-distance group in Charlottesville. What was the atmosphere like on deck and coaching all that talent at the University of Virginia?
BA: The atmosphere was electric, high energy and at the same time, organized chaos. Our early years as a staff there, we wanted our athletes to experience an environment that made them want to come back to practice. We had a lot of fun.
SW: You contributed to Paige Madden’s NCAA titles and her Pan American and Olympic accomplishments. In what way?
BA: I was Paige’s primary coach in the middle and distance training group, working with her to build out her weekly training cycles, set up her process-oriented goals and communicating about future dreams and aspirations. It was easy to tell from the start that Paige was a student of the sport. It was special seeing that transformation in her lead-up to her Olympic debut in 2021 and to Paris 2024.
SW: And what did Paige teach you?
BA: It’s not just what she taught me, she showed me what the true definition of resiliency, discipline and consistency looked like. She showed me what it means to give everything you have to a dream.
SW: As an assistant coach on two World Championship teams, what were your main takeaways, and how have those learnings helped you further your coaching skills?
BA: Bring the energy, be adaptable and learn from the athletes—they are the best in the world! I’m honored to have been able to help assist and represent them alongside Team USA.
SW: When considering the Texas A&M position, you said your core values aligned with theirs. What are your core values, and how do you convey them to your athletes?
BA: Leadership, compassion, community and integrity. My goal is to lead by example and create a community that inspires personal growth and excellence. Hopefully, my athletes see my core values lived out in my daily life through my interactions with them.
SW: What is your vision for A&M swim and dive over the next three-to-five years?
BA: We want to build a culture that honors our past and strives for future successes and athletic representation at the international, NCAA and conference levels, while preparing our student-athletes to be active members of their communities beyond the classrooms at A&M. The big vision: win Texas A&M its first-ever swimming and diving national championship.
SW: In your previous positions, you had considerable recruiting obligations. Currently, almost 20% of the Aggie roster is composed of international athletes. Will you continue to aggressively pursue that population?
BA: Yes, we will continue to recruit internationally as well as domestically. The program has been represented by so many countries—it’s special to have those individuals here in College Station.
SW: You’ve had your athletes since September. What have been the biggest challenges and adjustments so far?
BA: It’s a combined program now—truly one family—and they’ve integrated beautifully. Their biggest adjustment has been sharing lane space. They didn’t have to do that before. It makes practices so much more fun having all their teammates going through practices together.
SW: Understanding numbers is helpful to a swim coach. Why has math always come so easy to you?
BA: Math was my worst subject! The running joke is that I always have at least three typos on a workout and have misadded at least one set.
SW: You had a great community of coaches at Virginia. Have you ever considered bringing some of them to A&M?
BA: Being a part of the Virginia staff from 2017-24 was special. Wes Foltz, current A&M associate head coach, and I worked there together for five years. When building a staff at A&M, I knew Wes was the guy I wanted with me for this journey. He’s an extremely talented coach and even better friend.
SW: At Virginia, what was it that the staff did that was so special before your first morning workout there?
BA: Music…loud music.
SW: How has your son, George, changed your perspective on coaching?
BA: He’s the reason I do what I do—family is everything to me.
SW: What is the “dammit doll?”
BA: Who told you about that? Haha—it’s a silly cloth doll I picked up on a trip to Maine. You throw it if you need to vent. Unfortunately, it saw a lot of venting during COVID.
Michael J. Stott is an ASCA Level 5 coach, golf and swimming writer. His critically acclaimed coming-of-age golf novel, “Too Much Loft,” is in its third printing, and is available from store.Bookbaby.com, Amazon, B&N and distributors worldwide.