What is Happening With Arizona Swimming?
The University of Arizona swim team is facing a coaching situation.
There is something bad in the water in Tucson, Arizona. The University of Arizona has a storied swim and dive program that has trained and produced multiple Olympians and NCAA champions. But recently, the team has not had as much success, and most recently, the head coach fired two of his assistants upon completion of the 2022-2023 season.
In the college swimming world, assistant coaches change frequently. I remember when I started my Kenyon swimming career, I was told our assistant coaches likely would not be there for my full four years. Not because they would be asked to leave, but because it was seen as a stepping stone position of sorts. Ideally, they would develop their coaching skills and transition to a head coaching position or into Division I – a voluntary move to further a career. At the University of Arizona swim program, however, this was not the case for two long-time assistants.
Head coach Augie Busch recently announced that two of the University of Arizona assistant swim coaches - Clif Robbins and Anna Heller - are moving on (read: fired). Busch is the son of former USA Swimming National Team Director and former University of Arizona head-coaching-legend Frank Busch. Assistant Coach Clif Robbins moved to Arizona when they hired Augie from the University of Virginia in 2017. Anna was brought in two years later, in 2019. It would not be entirely surprising for either assistant coach to move to a new job after being at a program as an assistant coach for as long as they were, but it is the circumstances that are worrisome.
Before going into the current situation, it is worth noting the storied history of the University of Arizona swim and dive program. Both the men’s and women’s programs won the NCAA Division I Championship meet in 2008. The coach at the time - Frank Busch (Augie’s father) - was a six-time NCAA coach of the year. Under his leadership for 22 years, Arizona swimmers won 48 individual national championships and 31 relay national titles. He also had three women swimmers win the NCAA Woman of the Year Award, an award given annually to one athlete out of the three NCAA divisions, any sport, as recognition for incredible athletic, academic, and community achievements. He is a legendary coach.
So what has been happening since Frank Busch left Arizona to become the USA Swimming National Team Director? This past season, the men finished fourth out of six teams and the women finished sixth out of eight at the Pac 12 Swimming and Diving Conference meet. The men’s team had six NCAA qualifiers, and finished 32nd. The women had four qualifiers and while they finished 18th, all 52 of their points came from one individual - a diver. In-state rival Arizona State swept Arizona in their dual meet this year in dominant fashion, with Arizona State winning every single swimming event and beating the men and women by 165 and 123 points, respectively. To give credit where credit is due, Arizona State has been on a rise in the past few years, led by legendary coach Bob Bowman, but this result is still disheartening.
Given these recent results, it is not surprising that some changes may be needed. So it is also not entirely surprising that there may be coaching changes. However, it appears that change is needed at the top, not with the assistants. In an interview in December, head coach Augie Busch admitted there were issues. However, he also called the women’s team a “soap opera” when describing why they had issues. When I read that, I was honestly horrified. I cannot imagine a coach of mine referring to my teammates and I as a soap opera. It is disrespectful and condescending. It is not the way a coach should refer to their swimmers. This, combined with him firing two of his assistants, immediately sounded warning bells in my head. And as I read the comments that were posted in response to the SwimSwam article about the assistant coaches being fired, it seemed like this sentiment was shared.
I do want to note that the SwimSwam comment section is notorious for being, well, notorious. Commenters are often anonymous and while the section is moderated, comments can be pretty wild and commenters are not verifiable sources. However, there was such an overwhelming amount of comments all referring to one main issue - Augie. Below are a few quotes from comments:
From “Arizona Swammer” - “Augie is 100% the problem… Letting the two assistants go was a last ditch effort to save himself. Having only one or two women out of incoming classes of 6-8 finishing their 4 years here speaks for itself. He is lucky he isn’t being sued for some of the things he has said and done to swimmers.”
From “Former Swimmer” - “As someone who swam for Augie at a school other than Arizona, I can tell you he is an extremely irresponsible head coach. He prefers to pretend he doesn’t know about major team issues rather than handle them.”
From “Zona Boy” - “Augie is famously known for maintaining a toxic deck, he LOVES the head coach title more than anything.”
Again, these are just comments, not anything official, but there were so many that I think it is important to take note of them because they are worrying. It appears that Arizona needs a coaching change - but one at the top - and fast. Until then, I will stay up to date on this story and follow up if anything else comes out. In the meantime, I hope action is taken to right this historic program that right now is looking more like a sinking ship.