Head Coach Gregg Troy Reviews 2010-11 Season
Monday, April 4, 2011 | Men's Swimming & Diving
University of Florida head coach Gregg Troy addressed the media Monday morning.
Coach Troy shared his thoughts about the 2010-11 season, Conor Dwyer, Gemma Spofforth, this summer's 2011 FINA World Championships and the restructuring of the program.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH TROY'S PRESS CONFERENCE
TRANSCRIPT
Opening Statement:
“We wrapped up our season. As a matter of fact, most of our athletes are already back to training to get ready for next year which is real important in our sport. Any time you're here at Florida, the ultimate goal is to see if you can win a national championship, so from that perspective we fell a little bit short. The staff and the athletes took a week, sat back and took a hard look at what happened.”
On the women's season:
“Overall, the season was good. On the women's side, we swam very well at the NCAA meet in most spots. We had a couple of spots we weren't very good. We're probably a top-three team if we swim the relays well. Quite frankly, we just didn't swim the relays well. Our individual performances were pretty good; a lot of people stepped up. We took 15 to the meet and 14 of them scored in some manner. In that aspect, the depth was good. We swam four of our five relays with two really inexperienced athletes that were freshmen. We also swam two older ones. The older ones did a pretty good job. The freshmen were good for where they're at, but not as good as they needed to be at the NCAA meet. In reflecting and assessing where we're at, it looks good for the future. There were some real bright spots in the season, but it was an emotionally-draining one for the women because we dealt with a lot of trauma through the year. It was a little bit different than the year before (when UF won the national title).”
On the men's season:
“On the men's side, it was an outstanding competition. We were in a very close battle for the top three. We probably weren't as good as the top two teams, but we swam real well and fell a little bit short of maybe what we could have done. The men's team was outstanding across the board with the exception of Conor Dwyer. To his credit, Conor was about 80 percent, but he never made any excuses. He raced tough all weekend. His second day at the meet was tremendous effort and tremendous performances. It's just one of those things in life where you don't always control sickness or what happens, but we were really pleased with the men's performance. It's especially good for the future. (At the NCAA meet) there were some tremendous swims from freshmen. Marcin Cieslak in particular was a finalist in a couple of events and was in the hunt to win some things. Overall, the season was good. Probably fell a little bit short, and it's always bittersweet at Florida at the end of the year when you're not at the top of the podium.”
On training for the World Championships:
“We already have a few athletes that are already back in training. We have five (training in Gainesville) that are on the U.S. National Team this summer (Elizabeth Beisel, Teresa Crippen, Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte and Peter Vanderkaay). We have quite a few that are going to the 2011 FINA World Championships this summer. In swimming, if you don't have people with those type of goals and that type of focus, you're not going to be very successful on a regular basis.”
On Conor Dwyer and Gemma Spofforth:
“This weekend is the Hall of Fame banquet on Friday evening. Conor Dwyer and Gemma Spofforth are both Ben Hill Griffin Award recipients (given to the top male and female student-athlete on campus). They are classic examples of what it is to be a Gator athlete. They are great students, fantastic people in the community and have achieved at the highest of levels through hard work.”
On Dwyer's sickness at the NCAA meet:
“He is such a big part of what we do on relays. We actually didn't swim him on two relays he would have swum on because he just couldn't go. He probably handled it a little bit better than his coaches did. He didn't say too much through the first day of the meet. Probably if he would have spoke up, we could have done a little bit better job with it. On the second day, we ran him in and got him some IV's at the hospital and he performed a little bit better. It's tough when you put that much into it. He finished the regular season with the fastest 400 IM time (3:37.75); his time at the conference meet was almost three seconds faster than the (NCAA) winning time (3:40.97 by Bill Cregar of Georgia). He had the fastest 200 freestyle time (1:31.73) just off the American record. Everything we saw in training the week before (the meet) indicated he was going to be outstanding. He's a pretty good guy (laughing). When he got back, he was actually in the hospital here. We got everything squared away and he was back in the water at the end of last week. He was on the U.S. National Team this summer looking at the World Championships. Sometimes you get lemons and sometimes you get lemonade, and we got a little lemons. He handled it real well. The best thing about Conor is his whole demeanor; he felt like he was letting the rest of the team down. You have to be proud of that type of performance.”
On Dwyer compared to Ryan Lochte:
“He's in Ryan Lochte mode. He's a little less experienced. Ryan came a long a little quicker. We'd give anything to have a couple more years of eligibility with Conor, but I see him being a big player on the Olympic level. He has a year of school left and has some classes to finish up, but he's a good student. He's going to stay here and he'll be training towards 2012. He's certainly going to be a player.”
On the 2011 World Championships:
“Conor is on the World Championship team along with Elizabeth Beisel and Teresa Crippen. We have a handful of foreign athletes, about six to eight, which are all going to represent their countries. There may be a few others that have trials this summer with countries that haven't selected their teams yet. Ryan Lochte still trains here in town. There's a group of post-graduate swimmers that are still training. That group trains together with Gator Swim Club, a local swim club, this summer. It gives them an outlook to compete. We have to have people with that type of focus. You just don't win the NCAA meet (without the focus). If you look at the finalists from the NCAA meet, it's the people who have that type of focus who are there. It's a good thing for the Gators. It gives them a good platform going into next year. (The Olympic year) is always a tough year collegiately, because if you have athletes with that focus, they're going to be interested in the Olympics too. Then you're dividing your time between a 25-yard course collegiately and a 50-meter course. It makes it a very unique year, but it's always good for the program to have people with that sort of dynamic.”
On the restructuring of the staff:
“That was kind of a two-fold thing. We're fortunately blessed with maybe the best staff in the country. We added Steve Jungbluth last year that had head coaching background at Colgate; he had five years as a head coach there. In order to utilize more of his skills, we moved a lot of the recruiting to his dynamic. He will do all the logistic work for the recruiting. The whole staff will still be involved, but he'll take care of the paperwork, bureaucratic end and logistics of that. He has experience in that area. As a matter of fact, that's one of his strengths in addition to his on deck responsibilities. Martyn Wilby and Anthony Nesty both have offers regularly to go other places. They both like Gainesville and they both like being a Gator. It's a great place to work. In an effort to make sure that they were here, we elevated both of them to associate head coaches. We removed the men and women's titles because they have both always worked with each gender. They focused on each. At the same time as part of the movement, we're giving them some of the administrative responsibilities that are on my desk. It allows me (as Olympic head coach) a little more time to plan. It gives me more time to be on deck with the athletes personally and cover new things that will come up as part of being the Olympic head coach. The timing of the whole issue is something we needed for the whole program. It certainly keeps our staff intact. While this year we weren't as successful team-wise (as we wanted), I think that we created a level of stability that makes us a top-five team year in and year out. We've been that way for 12 years now. That stability is incumbent on keeping the staff together and allows us to work with those international athletes and the Conor Dwyer's, Elizabeth Beisel's and Teresa Crippen's of the world. They're going to have to have a slightly modified meet schedule next year so they can see some more 50-meter competitions. It is a tricky year, and this (the restructuring of the program) makes it all work. I should say, along those lines, (UF Athletics Director) Jeremy (Foley) is great about that. He understands high-level performance. There are not many athletic departments in the country that the athletics director will go to bat for you and make those types of things happen. It really contributes to our success here.”
