The Morning Swim Show, Sept. 2, 2011: Auburn Tigers Ready for Success in the Pool Under Brett Hawke’s Direction

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 2. Brett Hawke's Tigers at Auburn are ready for the upcoming swim season, and on today's edition of The Morning Swim Show he talks about some of the swimmers to watch in the coming months.

Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace will be the top swimmer to watch after her amazing performances at the NCAAs, and making the finals of the 50 free at world championships. Hawke also talks about his first gig as a coach for Team USA and what the experience was like at the World University Games. Watch the full show in the video player below and visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.

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Show Transcript: (Note: This is an automated service where some typos and grammatical errors may occur.)

Peter Busch: This is The Morning Swim Show for Friday, September 2nd 2011. I'm your host Peter Busch. In the FINIS monitor today we'll talk to Brett Hawke. He's the head swim coach for men and women at Auburn University. Coach Hawke joins us right now in the FINIS monitor from Auburn, Alabama. Coach welcome back to the show. How are you doing?

Brett Hawke: Good, Peter, I'm doing great. Thanks.

Peter Busch: Glad to have you on. Let me ask you is Auburn still in rebuilding mode or are you guys ready to contend for national titles again?

Brett Hawke: You know I don't know about rebuilding, I don't know about national titles, I just know that we're trying to be great, we've got some good athletes coming in, we've got some good athletes that are still here. It's competitive out there, there's no doubt about it – some great coaches, some great programs. I wouldn't say there is one program that is clean cut favorite any year and so we're always going to consider ourselves in the mix and that's where we are this year again.

Peter Busch: Tell me about the teams this year – I think the guys have an impressive SEC championship streak to keep up?

Brett Hawke: Yeah, we're going for 16 in a row this year and it's getting kind of that crazy Stanford kind of do we do it, do we not do it. It's just one of those things that we've won a lot over the years and I think our competitors are ready to try and take it away from us for sure but we're proud of it and we'll definitely try and defend it again this year.

Peter Busch: Who's the leader on the guys' team this year?

Brett Hawke: The leader? I would say Karl Krug is one of the leaders. He's a California kid, came in, and just a good guy and people really respect him on the men's side; on the women's side obviously it's Arianna. On both sides I feel like we've got really good leadership.

Peter Busch: The sprinters in Auburn have been known to break barriers in the past. Arianna going to go 20-point in the 50 this year?

Brett Hawke: I'm not going to try and hold her back that's for sure. She's hungry; she's hungry for Olympic success and I think the NCAA is part of that stepping stone and she's ready again and I'll tell you why – we had our first practice yesterday and she was leading everything and setting a standard straight off the bat so it's very similar to last year and she's ready to go again.

Peter Busch: How did you and how did she feel about her summer?

Brett Hawke: She was really happy. She had five swims at the World's and she had five best times. Each time she got faster, she just missed the finals of the 100, finished 10th. It was a little bit disappointing for sure but then she came back in the 50 and made the final in the 50. She's faster in the 50 than any American right now so she's pretty proud of that and it's one of those things where as Americans we have to step up and say "Hey, we've got to put our name in there" and there's a lot of competition around and Arianna's just one of the great ones right now.

Peter Busch: Big summer for you as well, first coaching gig for USA Swimming, right?

Brett Hawke: Yeah, it's was awesome, it was amazing. There it is. I had a lot of fun, went to China with the World University Games, and got to spend a lot of time with different athletes from different colleges and built up a really good relationship with some of the Texas guys and some of the Stanford women. It was just fun, I really enjoyed it.

Peter Busch: That must have meant something personally to you as well. And maybe – I don't know – mixed feelings at all?

Brett Hawke: No, not really. I felt great being part of the American team. It's always nice to be on a winning team. And you know what? I actually had one of my Australian friends that I knew from the past come up to me and ask "What's the difference between being on the American team and being on the Australian team?" and really I knew this before, but to actually sense it and feel it -we go in as Americans thinking that we want to win every event and we go there to be competitive at the highest level. I think it's just a different mindset that other nations have as opposed to what we have here in America. We want to be the best and we want to contend for gold and that's really the aim of all the athletes at that meet.

Peter Busch: Well you're coming on board with the Americans at a precise time when Australia seems to be having a bit of a resurgence themselves.

Brett Hawke: YeaH, I mean Australia's always going to be great. They've got great coaches, they've got a great youth program, they do a really good job of sending out their athletes at an early age to get international experience all over the world. Australia is a nation that has to be recognized as one of the best and it's great to see some of these young guys coming through. A guy like James Magnussen winning the world title at 19 years old and beating one of my ex-athletes and beating the rest of the world — he's pretty exciting to watch.

Peter Busch: I've got to say I've never heard much about him before this summer. Now everybody of course knows who he is. Did you know anything about him?

Brett Hawke: No, I really didn't. I'd had a conversation with Ian Thorpe at the Paris Open and I asked him who was the next big star to watch out for in Australia and he said James Magnussen and a couple of weeks later at the World's he came through. So I hadn't heard much before that but man, he was exciting to watch and he's going to be tough to beat next year that's for sure.

Peter Busch: Tough in the 100 for sure and he's got 200 potential too the way he finished his races as you can just tell. On the 50 side can you see anyone touching Cielo right now?

Brett Hawke: No, not really. I mean if I'm going to be honest Cesar is built for that race and he loves that race and to win that race with all the nonsense that was going on in the lead up to the world championships to actually go and stand on the blocks and win that race you've got to be pretty tough. And so I was really proud to see him win that and he's going to be tough again. If you want to beat Cesar you've got to bring something special and that's what we're going to have to do next year if anyone wants to beat him.

Peter Busch: Do you ever miss training him?

Brett Hawke: Absolutely, yeah. It was a great time in my life coaching him and I've just got to admit that – it's the truth – he's a great athlete, one of the best I've ever seen and people can say what they want about him but I know the truth and he knows the truth and he's been an exceptional athlete for many years and it's just good to see him at the top in that sense.

Peter Busch: Who's a freshman or sophomore coming on to the team now that we might get to know their name a little bit better in the next year or two?

Brett Hawke: Abby Duncan on the women's side I think has got a lot of potential, a breaststroker that we got in from Minnesota. She's exciting, she's a great kid, a lot of maturity, and just expecting some good things from her in terms of just being a great team person so that's fun. On the men's side we've got a couple of internationals who have come in and joined the team and we're expecting some good things from them. It's just one of those things where they have to gain experience in their first year and you don't put too much pressure on them. Hopefully in the years to come they'll be pretty decent.

Peter Busch: You've been a coach for a long time but just like swimmers you always try to learn new things and pick up some new stuff. Have you seen since your head coaching days started a few years ago changes in yourself?

Brett Hawke: Yeah, I wanted to take on the world my first year and win everything and I think—Peter Busch: Well you did.

Brett Hawke: I think we won some things for sure but I think once you get slapped around a little bit by some other coaches and some other athletes you tend to sit back and realize "Listen, I'm in this for the long haul." This is the profession that I've chosen and I've got many years at it and so I'm trying to take piece by piece. I'm not trying to win everything all the time but I'm trying to be great at what we can control. So I think I've learned patience and some humility and you change over the time and hopefully I'll evolve into a better coach over the years.

Peter Busch: How's my little brother?

Brett Hawke: He's good, he's a good guy. You've got a great family and he's one of them. He's got a lot to learn but I'll tell you what – he's hungry and he's a great asset to our team. In terms of what you guys did in Arizona in coaching him and just bringing him up you did a great job so we're pretty happy to get that aspect out of him. He's just a great young coach and I think we're really happy to have him on our team.

Peter Busch: I know he's excited to be there. He knows he can learn a lot from you.

Brett Hawke: Yeah, well we hope.

Peter Busch: Well coach good luck this year. Thanks for joining us.

Brett Hawke: Thanks, Peter, I appreciate it.

Peter Busch: All right, that's Brett Hawke joining us in the FINIS monitor from Auburn. That is it for today's show. I'm Peter Busch reminding you to keep your head down at the finish.

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