Swimming-to-Coaching: A MIAC Swimming Tradition

By Wilson Josephson, Allie Clark, Swimming World College Interns

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that most coaches were once athletes themselves, it has certainly become a MIAC Swimming tradition in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Throughout the years, athletes accumulate thousands of hours of valuable experience as they strive to perfect technique and learn to deal with the physical and psychological toll of collegiate competition. This experience makes athletes specially qualified to take up positions as coaches.

But among the swimmers of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), there is a tradition not only of coaching, but of coaching within the conference. This path has been taken by MIAC swimmers for generations, at least as far back as Dave Hauck, St. Olaf’s legendary coach and one-time sprint champion for Gustavus Adolphus.

In order to get a better grasp of what the transition from student-athlete to coach is like, we checked in with three young alumni of the MIAC. Gunnar Teigen was a distance swimmer for Gustavus Adolphus who graduated in 2012 and now coaches at Carleton. Andy Hardt, a 400 IM-er who graduated from Carleton in 2013, now coaches at the University of St. Thomas (UST) alongside Colby Kubat, a breaststroker from St. Olaf who graduated in 2014. They all took time out from their holidays to answer our questions about their experiences in the MIAC.

For each of them, coaching – and coaching in the MIAC specifically – held a strong appeal. Teigen coached club briefly while waiting for the right position to open up, but never looked for a position outside of the MIAC. Hardt briefly considered coaching at the club level, but UST “became a strong first choice” as soon as he heard that they had an opening.

“In addition to UST,” Kubat says, “I looked to coach at Kenyon and Carleton.”

Kubat was happy to stay in the MIAC, though; he says coaching within the conference “is ultimately what I want to do.”

For Teigen, one of the most interesting parts of his new job at Carleton is the Knights’ program compares to the one he trained under at Gustavus.

“Whether it be training groups, practice schedule or various sets,” he says, “both schools put extra emphasis on certain aspects of practices and races, and it’s cool to see that reflect in practice and races.”

Teigen adds to his by noting that “Carleton has a very rigorous academic schedule, and it is noticeable how it can interfere with the athlete’s training schedule.”

But despite the differences between programs, young MIAC alumni report that the transition between roles, as well as between schools, is a fairly easy one.

“You have so many connections around the conference,” says Hardt, echoing the sentiments of his fellow assistant coaches. “You know how kids train and race, you know the structure of the season.” This familiarity, combined with the lessons learned as a student-athlete, “taught me so much I could basically just jump into coaching.”

Sometimes, switching roles can be tough.

“It was weird starting off and having the kids actually listen to what I say,” says Hardt. “I was thinking ‘No, you’re not supposed to listen to me. What do I know?’ But it turned out that whether I knew what I was talking about or not, people were going to listen, so I tried to make what I said good.”

But overall it’s been a positive experience, and all three of the young coaches tell us they are happy to have stayed in the MIAC.

“The new rivalry between UST and St. Olaf has been a lot of fun and great for the conference,” Kubat says. “I have now been a part of both sides and have to say it is a wonderfully competitive rivalry…it has made the MIAC one of the deepest and most talented conferences in the country.”

Hardt has also enjoyed being able to stay involved in the conference.

“Every meet is a good meet,” he says, “because at least somebody knocked it out of the park. When you’re swimming, you have teammates, but everything is from your own perspective. So even without actually competing collegiately yourself, it’s still exciting because you are invested in a totally different way.”

Wilson Josephson and Allie Clark are teammates at Carleton College. Josephson is a junior butterfly specialist, while Clark is a sophomore who fills in multiple roles on the team.

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