Swim coach Bob Bowman wants Arizona State to be an example

TEMPE, Ariz. — The timing seemed odd, at least with an Olympic push coming.

But Bob Bowman was drawn to Arizona State, and Arizona State to him. And so he went this past summer, taking 22-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps with him to the desert, along with the other professional swimmers he trained back in Baltimore.

“When it came up, I was like, ‘It’s not good timing,’ ” Bowman told Paste BN Sports. “But then I thought, ‘When will it ever be good timing?’ It ended up being a good thing because my pros love training here; they like being outside. It’s a great environment for that, and we have the space. We have an environment which is a little less little kids and lap swimmers. It’s a little more professional environment for them.

“The thing that made it really work is that everybody on both sides knows that it’s kind of a compromise on everybody’s part. There are times when I go to college meets, and the pros will swim with someone else. There are times when I’m going to be going to Grand Prix meets because of the pros when I won’t be here. Everybody has been perfectly fine with that.”

Bowman moved to Arizona in the summer of 2015, shedding his role of head coach and CEO at the North Baltimore Aquatics Club (NBAC) he’d become synonymous with. There, he said he felt like a manager — and he’s excited to get back to teaching and developing young swimmers in college.

Bowman has done this before, balancing demands of coaching a collegiate program with his training commitments to Phelps and others. From 2005-08, Bowman coached the Michigan men’s swimming and diving team. Here, his responsibilities differ — he oversees both the Sun Devil men’s and women’s swim teams.

That’s not the only difference this time around, either.

“Honestly, we’re just in a very different place than Michigan,” Bowman said. “Michigan was already one of the best teams forever, and here we’re kind of building. That really to me was the fun part. This represented a challenge that I haven’t had in a long time, to really raise the level of the program.”

The ASU men’s swimming program was cut for budgetary reasons back in 2008. After months of a predictable outrage, the program was resurrected due to financial support from donors. This story — minus the revival — is an all-too-common occurrence for Olympic sports as athletic departments try to cut costs and maximize revenue, which has gotten more difficult in the past year as many colleges have paid out cost-of-attendance stipends to give more financial support to student-athletes.

“One of the reasons I came here as well is I think this is a really good story for swimming and men’s swimming in particular,” Bowman said. “... I think we could be an example of showing what the value of Olympic sports is. The people who are involved in those sports are going to be contributing to society just like all sports in general. I think Olympic sports in particular offer a unique set of challenges and mindset that are really valuable to the university as a whole and particularly to the educational system.”

Athletic director Ray Anderson has shown a remarkable commitment to both Bowman and swimming in terms of staffing and budget, but he’s shown that commitment to all of the sports his department sponsors. He’s started new sports programs — like men’s ice hockey and women’s triathlon — and devoted support and resources to the existing ones. His coaching hires, particularly one as decorated as Bowman, show how serious he is about competing at the highest level across the board.

“We’re trying to bring in people at the top international levels and make that a focal point for ASU which is very rare,” Bowman said. “I was reading something and Ray had done an interview where they asked him 10 questions. It said, ‘If you had one thing to tell people about your job, what would it be?’ He said, ‘Don’t minimize the importance of Olympic sports.’ That is why I’m here because we can get support. Hopefully this would be an example for other people.”