Poppell and Nesty. Mission Viejo and Practice Excuses. Plus: Brent Rutemiller is a Coward

This week Erik and Joel drop in to discuss the recent coaching moves within the SEC. We then go over some highlights of the Mission Viejo meet. Finally, we talk about the top reasons we’ve heard to get out of swimming at practice.

Listen to the end where I address the pathetic way Swimming World covered the departure of Garrett McCaffrey from Phoenix Swim Club.

The Return of Matt Leach

Hot off a season where he coached the program’s first ever PAC-12 Champion, I talk to Washington State Swimming Head Coach Matt Leach.

We cover the ups and downs of the finished season, how someone goes from 23.5 to 22.1 in the 50 free in college. We also talk about quality of life in coaching and some of the recent movement around the coaching landscape.

Nikki Kett Steps Away, Self Care and WORKOUTS!

In this one, we address the decision by Nikki Kett to leave coaching at the University of Michigan before turning to our own suggestions for taking care of yourself in a coaching career.


Stick around for the end where we go through the following workouts:

Erik’s Workout:

IM Set.jpg

Joel’s set:

Whitewater Pain Train

16 x 100 on 1:05. 

Four in a lane. 1st person leaves on 60 second and third five a part 

Four stays on side.  

On the next 60 1st person dives in, the original leader is now second leaving on the interval (:05) 2nd person goes on :10, third is :15 and last person hops out. 

Keeps repeating. Interval can change to whatever - math gets harder on those 

So more people in a lane less breaks

My Workout:

4:7.jpg


Signe Bro

Signe Bro is a swimmer who has made an Olympic qualifying standard for Denmark and hopes to compete in Tokyo 2021.

We talk about the role her parents have played for her over her career as well as some of the ways she has learned to handle with nerves at big meets. We also talk about how she's learned to deal with more people giving her opinions on what she should do as she rises in the ranks, and pro swimming in the ISL:

Joel and Erik: NCAA Men 1 Event, Women Wrap up and Recruiting

Joel and Erik are here once again for the Thursday pod where we talk NCAA swimming. We start by giving our snapshot analysis of the men’s meet, and then look back at the women’s meet the week before.

Finally, we discuss the morality of how much pressure is appropriate to put on kids at 16-17 years old in the recruiting process.

Dani Korman

Fresh off the 2021 NCAA Championships, I’m joined by Cal Associate Head Coach Dani Korman. Dani talks about the team’s performance at the meet, as well as what obstacles Cal had to overcome to have a successful season.

Finally, we turn to some talk of recruiting and what Cal’s doing differently than some of its rivals. Enjoy:


NCAA One Event, Transferring to D3 and Fike's 200 PB

This week on the Swim Brief I’m joined by Joel and Erik to react to one event of the Women’s NCAA Division 1 Championship.

We then turn to the story of a swimmer transferring from D1 Arkansas to D3 Hendrix College, before giving our thoughts on James Fike crushing personal bests in his late 30s.