Split decision
tough call for coachHawaii's Anderson can't
accompany both of his teams
After guiding the lives of 53 swimmers throughout the year, making an either/or selection seems the simplest of all.
But not for third-year Hawaii coach Mike Anderson. He will be poolside with the UH women's swimming and diving team as the Rainbow Wahine attempt to topple Southern Methodist for the Western Athletic Conference title at San Antonio today through Friday. While he is there, his men's team will be miles away in Rochester, Mich., trying for a conference title of its own.
"It is a difficult decision each year," Anderson said. "Last year I flew back and forth, but I felt bad leaving the girls. I won't be doing that again. The assistant coaches have picked up enough experience on their own that they can handle the whole tournament. Next year maybe I'll go with the men."
Hawaii probably will win a conference championship in swimming and diving some day. The improvement demonstrated in each of Anderson's first three seasons makes it seem inevitable. But the coach only has a 50-50 chance of seeing it because his men's and women's teams compete in different conferences. And it doesn't appear that will change any time soon.
When the WAC split in half in the late 1990s, the remaining eight were left with only two schools that sponsor men's swimming, forcing the Warriors to move to the National Independent Conference (NIC) along with SMU. The Mustangs depart for Conference USA after next year, leaving Hawaii as the only WAC school with men's swimming. The Wahine stayed on with the five remaining schools that still field women's swimming teams.
So each year, Anderson must decide which team to abandon and which to follow. If things go according to plan this year, it may be the coaching decision he most regrets. This time Anderson went with the team that has the slimmest chance of winning, perhaps robbing him of the opportunity to pick up his first conference title at UH. Anderson's women are not expected to win, but his men are.
The Wahine have chased SMU for seven years -- and have had five head coaches in that time -- and are likely a year away from challenging the perennial pool power. Hawaii finished fourth in the WAC championships last year, but is picked to finish second this year.
"We are solidly in second because SMU is in the top five in the nation," Anderson said. "They are not catchable this year, but we hope to make a run next year."
Among those counted on to score big for the Wahine are Jessica Affleck in the 1,650-meter freestyle, Yan Chen in the individual medley, freshman Nicole Mackey and senior YingJuan Zhen in the sprints.
Maggie Roberts, QiongJie Huang and Miranda Maas ensure Hawaii will continue to dominate the diving events. Anderson hopes the preseason predictions prove true and his team comes home with a few more NCAA qualifiers and a better understanding of how to stop SMU's streak of WAC championships.
By staying with the women, Anderson is entrusting the tightest competition to a trio of assistant coaches.
"They are excited about the opportunity," Anderson said. "The men are ready to take them down. We know our front-line guys will dominate, it will be up to our B-line guys to step it up if we want to win."
There are no NCAA champions among those front-line guys yet, but there are more than one school's share of NIC champions and All-Americans.
Even though the Warriors finished second behind the Mustangs for the second straight season last year, it brought home its share of gold. Cheyne Bloch was the NIC Swimmer of the Year and Mike Gowdy was the diver of the year. Both athletes are expected to match the accomplishment this time in the pool.
Just below Bloch and Gowdy sit Peter Thew, Jonthan Coyle, Kurt Boehm, Andrew Affleck and Nimrod Palma. Hawaii will get points from that bunch, but won't win unless Anderson gets a phone call from his assistants telling him that someone else stepped up to join them as an NCAA qualifier.
Anderson expects to return to the islands with more than 10 NCAA qualifiers between both teams, when he can settle down to coaching without waiting for the phone to ring.
The men's and women's national meets are a week apart, allowing Anderson and his staff to go from the pool at Texas A&M for the women's meet March 18-20, to Long Island, N.Y., for the men's meet March 25-27.
