Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years (which, considering what’s been going on for the last year, is honestly totally reasonable), you probably know what a blue blood is. Whether you watch sports, enjoy the hit CBS crime drama starring the more famous of the two Wahlberg brothers, or know a little something about history, it’s generally understood that a blue blood is a member of a noble or socially prominent family (or group).
Sporting-wise, the blue bloods are generally understood to be teams such as Duke and Kentucky for college hoops, Alabama and Ohio State for football, and despite the lack of parity in a lot of professional sports these days, it’s generally understood that teams such as the Lakers and Packers have the most clout in terms of team history. With that being said, who are the blue bloods in some other sports? It’s pretty obvious with some. Virginia is generally understood to be one of the more prestigious teams in men’s lacrosse and North Carolina has achieved a level of success in women’s soccer that very few have been able to reach in other sports.
So, who qualifies as a Blue Blood in college swimming?
Texas Longhorns
Eddie Reese is to swimming what Anson Dorrance is to aforementioned North Carolina women’s soccer, or what Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is to basketball: Absolute dominance.
Since becoming the head coach at Texas 40 years ago, he’s won 14 national championships and every conference championship since his second season for a total of 40 in a row. Sure, Mike Krzyzewski has single-handedly turned Duke into a national powerhouse and Nick Saban has won seven national titles, but have either of them won 14 national championships? I didn’t think so. Duke also just missed their first NCAA Tournament in 25 years, so they also have that going against them.
California Golden Bears
If Texas is Alabama, California is Clemson. The men have been in the top two at NCAAs every year since 2010 and won four of those years. Still need further proof? For four straight years (2015-18), the top two teams at the NCAA Men’s Championships were Texas and California. The previous 10 years were all top-10 finishes too, with top-six finishes in eight of those years. When you consider the amount of talent in Division I, that’s pretty impressive. They’re also pretty stacked in terms of alumni, having produced the likes of Matt Biondi, Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin, Anthony Ervin and Missy Franklin.
Florida Gators
Tracy Caulkins. Ryan Lochte. Caeleb Dressel. Dara Torres. Need more proof? I didn’t think so. Just kidding. Going back to the 1930s, (that’s the Stone Age for anyone trying to get a bearing on things), the Gators have won at least two conference titles in each decade, including every year in the 1960s except for ’69 and the last seven of the 2010s. They only have two national titles, but like Michigan are still one of the more dominant squads in the nation. For starters, the last time the men didn’t finish in the top-10 at NCAAs was 1999 – that’s the year I was born, and I’m 22 now. Can you imagine the amount of depth it has to take for a team to finish top 10 in the country for 22 straight years? Even Alabama football has had its off years.
Michigan Wolverines
Michigan athletics is kind of funny because its most recognizable sport is probably its worst sport at the moment. That’s also saying something because its other sports are so good that despite actually being somewhat decent lately (if you ignore the glaring inability to beat Ohio State), Michigan football is still probably the worst-performing sports team there. That’s beside the point though.
Michigan swimming and diving is, like most of the school’s other sports, one of the more underrated teams in NCAA swimming and diving history. The Wolverines own 12 national titles, 42 conference titles (including seven in nine years from 2011-20), and notable coaches from their ranks include Matthew Mann, Jon Urbanchek, Bob Bowman and current head man Mike Bottom. Famous alumni include Tom Malchow and Tom Dolan.
Auburn Tigers
Auburn, if you had to compare it to a blue-blood type school on the football field, would be Texas. Success has been a little sparing recently. In the early 2000s, however, the Tigers were downright dominant, winning 18 straight conference titles from 1995 to 2012 along with five straight national titles from 2003-07 under coach David Marsh. The women have been excellent, too, winning five national titles in six years from 2002 to 2007, and five conference championships in six years from 2003 to 2008.
Stanford Cardinal
With recent alums such as Katie Ledecky and Simone Manuel and past stars like Pablo Morales, Stanford is another great example of an elite college swimming program. While the men’s program has eight NCAA titles, with the most recent in 1998, the women’s program is downright dominant. They’ve won the last three NCAA team titles, are currently at nine overall, and have a loaded freshman class coming in that’s headlined by world-record holder and Olympic hopeful Regan Smith. They’re led by 2020 U.S. women’s Olympic swimming head coach Greg Meehan.
Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia women’s swimming may just be the equivalent of Alabama football in the SEC. The Dawgs have 12 conference championships, including nine since 2000. Not to mention, they have three NCAA championships in the last ten years, winning back to back titles in 2013 and 2014. In terms of famous alumni, they’ve got Chase Kalisz, Kristy Kowal and Allison Schmitt, among others. Longtime coach Jack Bauerle is a multi-time Olympic coach who keeps the program surging.
Does Indiana deserve recognition as a Blue Blood, based on its historical achievements, especially the success of its squads led by James “Doc” Counsilman? What about USC, which was a national power in the days of Peter Daland and Mark Schubert?
The Auburn, Texas Women, and Stanford Women swimming traditions were started by Coach Richard Quick. 3 decades of swimming dominance at the NCAA and Olympic levels. His mentor? Don Gambril, who is to be credited as maybe the original blueblood of American swimming, if you believe in such a front.
I’d go with relentless levels of work. Harder work than anyone else in the profession is or was willing to do.