Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
Much was made of how Margo Geer would handle her first full-time head coaching job after it was announced she would be taking the reins at the University of Alabama this season, and so far she’s proven that she was the right choice for the job.
Geer, who was announced as the head coach-to-be last December after Coley Stickels‘ departure, led the Crimson Tide to a pair of runner-up finishes at the Tennessee Invitational Nov. 18-20, defeating the reigning NCAA champion women from UVA in the process.
Geer, along with associate head coaches Ozzie Quevedo (who served as the interim head coach for the latter half of last season) and James Barber, had the team execute perfectly at the meet, with both the men’s and women’s teams winning nine events apiece, including a combined six relay victories.
In addition to having the team’s top swimmers perform, such as Rhyan White, the Crimson Tide also had breakout swims from their freshman and some breakthroughs among upperclassmen.
This included first-years Avery Wiseman and Kaique Alves performing exceptionally, while some of the more experienced athletes like Derek Maas came through with lifetime bests.
The vaunted female freestyle corps was on fire, winning seven of the eight free events contested at the invite (including relays). This included a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 free from seniors Kalia Antoniou, Morgan Scott and junior Cora Dupre. Sophomore Diana Petkova was just hundredths away from making it a 1-2-3-4, finishing a close fifth.
In addition to the team’s performance at Tennessee, Alabama also cruised to a sweep over LSU on Nov. 5, keeping them undefeated in dual meets for 2021-22. The swim team returns to competition Jan. 8 at Georgia.
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To the folks who say that is was the men who proceeded her or coach on her staff who get the credit, let me ask this: if Bama had done poorly at their first big taper meet, who would you have blamed? I for one am happy for her, and for the program to have done so well. And congrats to all of the coaches for a job well done.
It’s interesting to note that the previous coach spent 2 years improving the Bama team that was already there, bringing in the current staff and swimmers (including some big recruits and transfers), and getting rid of those that were hurting the program and yet Margo gets credit for inheriting/coat tailing off his success (while probably doing his same workouts). The program was set up for major success when he left as indicated by last years results, and to give Margo credit after being head coach for 3 months is a disservice to him like it or not.
Maybe Ozzie or James Barber should be the coaches of the month if not Coley.