Q&A with Elliott McGill on the Transition from Club to College Coaching

Photo Courtesy: Julie Kolar

By Jamie Kolar, Swimming World College Intern.

As swimmer, we like to have most of the attention. We like to be asked about how we are feeling, what is going through our heads, etc. But have we ever stop to consider how our coaches feel when they leave? Maybe not until now.

Elliott McGill was most recently at Nitro Swimming where he was head national group coach for three and a half years. Before Nitro, he spent four years coaching at Eastern Illinois University after his four years of swimming there. After the departure of University of Illinois’ Coach Alec Hayden in September, McGill was hired to take on assistant coaching duties in Champaign.

Swimming World sat down to talk with McGill about his new position, the transition, and the challenge of leaving a group of swimmers he knew so well and was so close to.

Swimming World: What is it like being the new guy on deck? Any challenges that come from being the new coach that is coming in during the middle of the season?

It’s weird, just as it weird for the swimmers to have a new coach, it is weird for a new coach as well. You’re trying to get to know them, learn their names and not make them mad, but also show authority. There are so many different dynamics at play that it is weird coming in. But it is a good weird.

SW: Did you find it hard to leave somewhere that you had been for so long?

Yes, leaving Eastern was incredibly difficult because I was an alum and we were very a close-knit group. Leaving Nitro was very much the same, but to take it one step further, I got to see some kids grow from young teenager to young adults and when you see the people that your athletes are becoming it’s tough to leave that close relationship behind.

SW: How would you describe the feeling of leaving your past swimmers?

I have two conflicting thoughts on this question. First, you think that you’re letting them down and you are letting the team down by making what feels like a more selfish decision but at the same time, as a coach, you recognize that the athlete made themselves better and did all the practices and that you were just along for the ride. You come to realize that they will be okay and so will you at the end of the day.

SW: Are there times that you miss your old swimmers?

Some of them- Ha! Just kidding. Every coach should recognize that every kid, no matter what the experience, made you a better coach. You should be grateful that they have helped you along in your coaching experience.

Without them you would have never grown as a coach and will never be the coach that you want to be. Similar to how an athlete learns from races and practices, we learn from them.

SW: Do you ever think about your old swimmers?

Yes! A couple times a week I have a dream about coaching swim practice-and my dreams about them are a combination of the new team and my old team. Obviously, there is something in my brain that says remember that kid! I do remember my former athletes all the time, as I think every coach should.

SW: What makes coming to new team exciting?

What’s not exciting about something new? There’s something fun, energetic and, for lack of a better word, exciting, for both the coach and the athlete when you have something new.

Photo Courtesy: Julie Kolar

SW: You have been at a few different clubs and colleges, what is the biggest thing that you see as a coach that makes a great team?

Belief, trust in the process and trust in each other.

SW: Our relationships with our coaches can sometimes be challenging, what makes being a coach worth it?

You guys are our difficult. That is what makes it worth it. We get to be able to do this every day. We get to develop relationships every day and we get to go through these experiences everyday, whether they are fun, sad or upsetting, and that’s how a good life is.

You get to have those family members or friends that annoy you, but you love them… We get to have that as coaches and that’s what makes it so hard leaving somewhere that you have called home for so long.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World nor its staff.

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