The Crimson Tide, in their quest to rebuild the once mighty Alabama swimming program, may accidentally have assembled the National Team of Alabama.
That’s because they will have at least two former big-time National Team coaches floating around on deck next year; one being head coach Dennis Pursley, and next with the pending hiring of Jonty Skinner to join the staff. Multiple sources have confirmed that the announcement from Alabama should come shortly.
Skinner, like Pursley, is an Alabama graduate, as he came over the United States from his native South Africa before college. In 1975, he won the NCAA title in the 100 free, and would have been an Olympic medal favorite in 1976 if it weren’t for South Africa’s banishment from the games over the countries apartheid policies.
Skinner, who is now an American citizen, was an assistant and head coach in a previous stop in Tuscaloosa in the late 80’s and early 90’s. After that, he began a 15-year run working with the US National Team – the first 7 as their Resident Team Coach, and then 8 as the Director of National Team Technical Support. He’s also spent the last few years in the UK, doing work with the British Team as their Director of Performance Science and Technology.
As a former USA Swimming sports scientist, he’s an extremely technical coach, who will use every elite and advanced tool at his disposal – think along the lines of what Sean Hutchison preaches about the connections between the brain and the body to enhance performance. Skinner is expected to focus on the sprinters, which are the foundation of the college scoring system.
This now puts an all-star coaching staff on deck that basically bleeds crimson and white, and are true Alabama guys. There are still more hires yet to be added to this staff, which is looking to be a large group – a sign that Alabama is investing the resources to make the program top-notch.
Earlier this weekend, Alabama announced that another coach with National Team experience, James Barber, would be sticking around in Alabama. He worked under Skinner as a resident coach in Colorado Springs.
I had a class with Jonty Skinner back in the 70s, an English class on writing short fiction. Every time I read he would go out of his way to make biased, homophobic remarks to the point that the instructor, Dr. Elizabeth Meece, threatened to throw him out of class for bias. I hope Jonty has grown over the years into a man free of homophobic bigotry, especially since I remember the incident all these decades later.
The “new pool soon” is not your typical new pool recruiting gimmick. UA is flush with cash and Saban wants this pool property now. He has specific plans of how things are to be moved around and it revolves around the corner where the current pool is. UA owns the land for the new pool site, they have the plans, they have the $36 mil cash and Saban says asap. The new pool has to be ready before he can start demo. Plus MM does not like AU to top the Tide at anything. Swimming is a thorn, but they plan, not for long. Soon, in this case, means very, very soon.
nepotism?
Thanks for drawing the line between those two dots. Might have missed that.
Lisa Ebeling Named to Swimming and Diving Coaching Staff
http://www.rolltide.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/052512aaa.html
This is Pursley’s daughter. Must have just got married….
http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/pursley_lisa00.html
Am I the only one who thinks this staff wont cut it? The National Resident Team Jonty headed for years was an epic failure. Dennis hasn’t coached in years and is at retirement age.
Add a brutally fast conference with some already great coaches/swimmers/facilities, and Bama has their hands full.
You obviously didn’t read the post from “Whatever”.
I do not think that this new staff will have much trouble exceeding the benchmarks set by the departing staff.
What a disappointment. The potential (and money) to really kick this program into gear, and they hire two coaches who haven’t been on deck in years, his daughter, and a current assistant with minimal success.
You’re really going to like their volunteer assistants then…stay tuned.
..don’t think that hiring his daughter is a bad thing. What I heard she is good. But to keep the current assistant. The one with the least success over the last 5 years…
The other assistant coaches developed their swimmer better. Look what Coci ,Hornikle and Ziegler had been able to do in their meets.
At this point you just wonder…..
I agree with all those comments. Not sure what Alabama is looking for. If they don’t build that pool SOON, I don’t see this staff turning the corner. They should have cleaned house completely and gone with younger assistants!!!
Not necessarily younger, but at least some who have had recent success. This is the same athletic department that has won three NCAA titles this year (football, gymnastics, golf). The athletic department is all about fighting for national titles; this staff seems to be all about Denny and his buddies.
I think it is a bit premature to be officially disappointed. Given their credentials and experience,it is difficult to imagine Denny or Jonty having problems going back to the deck.
withwater-you need to check the facts-if you look at athlete results and improvement over the past 5 years the coach that is staying produced the vast majority of their NCAA swims and the most team records, and has a great track record of developing athletes. Great move by Alabama to keep that one!
Great hire for the Alabama swim program. Hopefully with a new pool coming soon the future looks bright for Bama swimming. ROLL TIDE
My only question with these guys is recruiting and time. We all know if you want to win a championship today you have to be able to recruit and you need to have top swimmers (ideally pros) training with you like the Cals, Texas’, Arizonas’, Florida’s and USC’s of the world among others. As a 19 year old kid who took a gap year to try to make it to Alabama I’m excited about the hire and hope they can find a place for me on the team as a walk on
The day starts with am workout…good time to check email, write some workouts, and play some wolfenstein. Moving on to a staff meeting at city cafe. Nap. 2.5 hours of a little b-ball, maybe some swimming for DP. Lunch. Afternoon workout…good time to check up on fantasy football, write some workouts, download some music. Home before 6PM. (notice we didn’t pick up a phone today.) Can’t wait for the game this weekend. Let’s all welcome the 5th staff there into retirement (welcome back for one). Congratulations, Bama.
You heard it here first- next staff member….. (drum roll) ……. Forbes Carlile!