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A Voice For The Sport: Thank You, Eddie!
By John Lohn
Endings are inevitable. They are part of life, and as much as we may want to rev up the time machine and buy a few more minutes before the farewell becomes official, that is not the way it works. Acceptance is, simply, mandatory.
Over the past few years, we knew the end of the Eddie Reese era at the University of Texas was approaching. With each passing season, the same question arose: How long will he coach? It’s not that Eddie wasn’t producing. Quite the contrary. Heck, the man has guided the Longhorns to team titles at five of the past six NCAA Championships, including the crown this past campaign.
But when a man creeps into his upper 70s and has given all of himself to the sport for more than a half-century, including the past 43 years at Texas, the time and place comes to say: “That’s a wrap.” That day arrived for Reese during his team’s latest championship reign, and he made it official just two days after the Longhorns lifted their 15th NCAA title—all under the guidance of Reese.
“When people get together with the mindset of accomplishing something, even though it is tough during that year in time, it just adds up to something truly amazing,” Reese said. “I want to thank those guys who trusted me, did all the hard workouts and made the sacrifices in and out of the water. It has been an honor for me to be a part of this program.”
It has been an honor to have Eddie Reese influence the sport for the better part of his life. It is easy to look at Reese’s career from the standpoint of accomplishments. No one has won as many NCAA championships. He has guided three United States Olympic squads and served as an assistant on four others. His athletes have captured more than 100 NCAA titles and 29 Olympic gold medals. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2002.
Yet, his biggest influence is measured outside the pool. He has been called a father figure. A mentor. A motivator. A friend. A jokester. A devoted family man. When those titles are used to describe a man, it is clear his meaning stretches well beyond coach. So, when word of Reese’s decision started to seep through the swimming world, many tears of appreciation were unsurprisingly shed.
“Something really special about Eddie is he doesn’t really view us as athletes or point scorers,” said current Texas star Drew Kibler. “He views us all as human beings and wants what is best for us as human beings, and that is how it has always been. He always cares, even during the hard practices. It makes you see the value in yourself and makes everybody want to be the best. The culture makes you want to work and where you can take these roads. Eddie has a different way of going about these things, and he is just such a phenomenal man.”
Although Reese will be officially retired once the United States Olympic Trials and Olympic Games in Tokyo unfold, he won’t disappear from the pool deck. He will assume the title of coach emeritus and plans to stop by practices and impart the wisdom he has long possessed. But he’ll also have more time to spend with his family, including his wife, Elinor, and enjoy favorite pastimes such as hunting and fishing.
As for the sport? Well, let’s just say that Eddie Reese is not going to be forgotten. His record will stand as a measuring stick for others, the bar raised to a height that will be difficult to reach. Meanwhile, athletes and coaches will share stories and exchange some of the jokes—good and bad—that have been trademarks of Reese for years.
Few individuals in the sports world are known merely by their first name. In our sport, Eddie fits that bill. He is an icon. He is a legend. He personifies greatness—as a man and a coach.
So, we end this column in the simplest of ways: Thank you.
John Lohn
Associate Editor-in-Chief
Swimming World Magazine
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[PHOTO CREDIT: ISHOF ARCHIVE]
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Swimming World May 2021 Issue
FEATURES
014 WOMEN’S NCAAs: A NEW NO. 1
For the first time in the history of the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships—since 1982—the University of Virginia finished first. It was also the first time it cracked the top 5 with its previous highest finish sixth in 2019.
- VIRGINIA’S ROAD TO HISTORY
by Dan D’Addona - NC STATE ADDS TO ACC DOMINANCE
by Dan D’Addona - THE TALK OF THE MEET: MAGGIE MacNEIL
by John Lohn
018 MEN’S NCAAs: THE PERFECT RETIREMENT GIFT
Days before their coach, Eddie Reese, officially announced his retirement from coaching after 43 years, the Texas men’s team won their 15th men’s NCAA national team championship.
- THIS ONE’S FOR EDDIE!
by Andy Ross - SCINTILLATING PERFORMANCES: SHAINE CASAS & RYAN HOFFER
by John Lohn - PATIENCE REWARDED: MAX McHUGH & NICK ALBIERO
by Andy Ross
022 NCAA D-II CHAMPS: SOME THINGS NEVER SEEM TO CHANGE
by Andy Ross
A year into the pandemic that has completely changed our world, Queens University of Charlotte brought about some stability to the 2021 NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships by sweeping their sixth straight women’s and men’s team titles.
023 NO LIMITS!
by David Rieder
Claire Curzan has been swimming fast since she was a young age grouper and has continued to do so in high school. Last March, she came within 13-hundredths of the American record in the short course 100 fly, and in April, she found herself within 22-hundredths of the long course U.S. best. She’s versatile, she’s coachable, she has international experience, and she’s moved from a fringe Olympic contender to an Olympic favorite. Curzan is only 16, and her promising future couldn’t be brighter.
026 TAKEOFF TO TOKYO: WHEN IRISH EYES WEREN’T SMILING
by John Lohn
Ireland’s Michelle Smith—a four-time Olympic medalist in 1996 who received a four-year ban from the sport in 1998 for tampering with a doping sample—has been defined as being a poster girl for cheating, and by her willingness to cut corners and take advantage of performance-enhancing drug use to make the leap from an athlete of very-good skill to one of elite status.
029 50 SWIMMERS, 6 MEDALS
by Dan D’Addona
The Tokyo Olympics will mark the fourth occasion that open water swimming will be contested on the Olympic level, and even a 10-kilometer marathon race can bring exciting moments and dramatic finishes.
030 JOSH MATHENY: RISING STAR
by Matthew De George
From a middle-schooler newly committed to swimming full-time in 2016, the future looks encouraging for 18-year-old Josh Matheny, who approaches the U.S. Olympic Trials for Tokyo in June as a dark horse to make the team in men’s breaststroke.
032 ISHOF: THE ART OF SWIMMING
by Bruce Wigo
This is the story of Hero and Leander, Lord Byron and the birth of open water swimming.
035 NUTRITION: HYDRATION—BEYOND THIRST!
by Dawn Weatherwax
Hydration truly has a daily importance for all kinds of swimmers from age groupers to Olympians to Masters swimmers, but it tends to get more notoriety when the weather gets warmer.
COACHING
012 THE POWER OF POSITIVE COACHING
by Michael J. Stott
Relationships built upon honesty, trust and communication go a long way toward cementing a bond between coach and athlete. Coupling that with knowledge of the individual first and athlete second produces a positive working relationship that can last for a lifetime.
038 SWIMMING TECHNIQUE CONCEPTS: MAXIMIZING SWIMMING VELOCITY (Part 1)—STROKE RATE vs. STROKE LENGTH
by Rod Havriluk
Swimming velocity is the criterion measure for swimming performance and is the product of stroke length and stroke rate. This article explains how stroke length and stroke rate vary and how stroke time provides insight into maximizing swimming velocity.
042 Q&A WITH COACH STEVE HAUFLER
by Michael J. Stott
044 HOW THEY TRAIN CHARLOTTE SHAMIA
by Michael J. Stott
TRAINING
037 DRYSIDE TRAINING: THE IM DRYLAND CIRCUIT
by J.R. Rosania
JUNIOR SWIMMER
047 UP & COMERS: TEAGAN O’DELL
by Shoshanna Rutemiller
COLUMNS
008 A VOICE FOR THE SPORT
011 DID YOU KNOW: ABOUT THE MOREHOUSE TIGER SHARKS?
046 THE OFFICIAL WORD
048 GUTTERTALK
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