A Q&A With Dave Sheets, Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year

coach-dave-sheets
Photo Courtesy: Mike Nobles

By Lillian Nelson, Swimming World Intern

Dave Sheets has been the head coach at Duquesne University for 14 years and has stuck with his team through thick and thin. After the devastating loss of the university’s men’s program in 2010 due to the university “focusing on and strengthening a core group of sports…to compete at the highest level, enhance the student athlete experience, and better utilize existing funding,” Sheets was left with a broken program, and little funding to rebuild it.

Sheets’ tireless efforts to reconstruct and reshape the program for the better are finally beginning to pay off, and people are taking notice. Duquesne was recently featured on College Swimming’s list, “Movin’ on Up: The Top 25 Most Improved Women’s Teams.” The team was ranked as the 22nd most improved women’s team among all NCAA programs in the United States.

At this past year’s Atlantic 10 Championships Sheets received the Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year award. All swim coaches involved in the Atlantic 10 Conference vote upon the Coach of the Year honor, and this year one man was clearly deserving of it. Being one of Coach Sheets’ swimmers, I had the pleasure of being there when his name was announced. The energy that erupted in the natatorium that evening was indescribable and it will always be one of my favorite Duquesne swimming memories.

I recently sat down with Coach Sheets and asked him a few questions to gain further understanding of some of the deeper components of the program he has worked with for the better part of his career.

LILLIAN NELSON: What qualities do you strive to bring out in your athletes in order to push the program in the right direction?

DAVE SHEETS: We always try to get every athlete to understand how good she can be. There are always athletes that come into our program that have an idea of the kind of swimmer they want to be, but with so many other things going on in their lives, sometimes they get sidetracked.

We want to work with them to keep them moving in the right direction. We have to teach them to compartmentalize and focus on all the things going on in their lives at the right time. Beyond that challenge would be having everyone focus on being a good teammate/person. Good people/teammates create an environment for success.

LN: What makes a team great?

DS: To really make a team great, you first have to establish a culture (hard work, dedication, being a positive role model…etc), and then the people in your program have to buy into that culture. If you can establish a culture within your team that is a positive one, where everyone is moving in the same direction that is what will really make the team great.

LN: What do you think has factored into the team’s rolling success?

DS: The biggest thing that has helped us grow and develop over the last six years is the recognition of our own team identity. Our program now knows who they are. It’s not about trying to be somebody else. It’s about trying to be the best we can be as Duquesne women’s swimming.

LN: What do you aim for your athletes to get out of the program after their four eligible years with you?

DS: The most important thing the swimmers are going to take with them is the friendships they have established. The friends they make will be friends that they take with them for the rest of their lives. In addition to that, through the challenges we have put forth in the water, the weight room, and working with their teammates, hopefully we have taught them things that they can take with them to apply in the professional world, whether it is in their job or anything beyond that.

Sheets expressed excitement for his program, and looks forward to what the future holds for the Duquesne women’s team.

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Hannah Kondrotas
8 years ago

Go David!

Somat Abd
8 years ago

Friens..

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