Bob Bowman wastes no time in continuing Texas Longhorn legacy in first season in Austin

In his first orientation meeting as head coach at the University of Texas, Bob Bowman took a tour through the University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame, which honors great coaches from all sports. Eddie Reese has a big presence in the Hall—he is the head coach of 15 NCAA men’s team championships, the most of any coach in Division I swimming and diving history, a record he broke in 2016.

“No pressure, right?” Bowman said to the newly hired women’s golf coach, as stated on the Unfiltered Waters podcast with hosts Missy Franklin and Katie Hoff.

On Saturday night at the end of his first season as head coach of the University of Texas men’s swimming and diving program, Bowman held up the national championship trophy, the 16th for the Texas programme.

Success is no foreign thing to Bowman, who coached Arizona State University to its first ever team title last year in 2024, making him the second coach in Division I swimming and diving to win back to back NCAA team titles at different schools. Hall of Fame coach Richard Quick is the other one, having led the Texas women’s team to the NCAA title in 1988 and again the following season in 1989 with Stanford.

The history and tradition of Texas was not lost on Bowman. In one of the first team meetings, he mentioned Texas was always “the standard” of excellence in the sport of swimming. From names like Aaron Peirsol to Ian Crocker to Rick Carey, the school has more NCAA team titles than any other, now with 16, having pulled away from Michigan’s 12 titles in 2017.

“I want you to remember (that excellence) when you put (that logo) on,” Bowman said to the team in August. “What it stands for - not only to you but to everybody out there. There’s a lot to live up to when you put this on.”

Last year, Bowman was coaching for Arizona State, where he had future Olympic gold medallists Leon Marchand and Hubert Kos leading the charge, along with NCAA champions Ilya Kharun and Zalan Sarkany. After nine seasons in Tempe with Arizona State, Bowman had built the team from the ground up to become national champions.

When Bowman was announced as head coach of the University of Texas just hours after winning the 2024 title with Arizona State, Kos and Marchand followed him to Austin, with the Frenchman Marchand going pro and the Hungarian Kos joining the Texas team that already had Olympic medalist Luke Hobson.

“It just means more here,” Kos said of Austin in an interview with World Aquatics in November. “It feels like there’s a lot more expectation to do well. At ASU, we were this ‘dream story’ come true to compete for a title two years in a row, and to have won the second year. It really was a dream. I feel that Bob did an excellent job over the nine years he was there to create a team basically from nothing and build it into a championship team. “Going from there to Texas, it’s ‘oh you have won a national championship? We have 15.’ You get back into work and try to bring it home this year. It’s a different culture and vibe but it expects more of you and that’s how you become a better swimmer.”

David Johnston also returned from an Olympic redshirt, and the team gained transfer Rex Maurer, who quickly became a breakout star for Bowman’s team.

It was the addition of Olympic finalist Chris Guiliano as a transfer in November when the wheels were in motion for a Texas national championship.

Last year, Texas finished a meagre seventh place in Reese’s final season, so a team title seemed out of reach when Bowman took over. But the team was able to buy in to the new coach, and keep the tradition alive.

“I’m really proud of this team because they didn’t know me, I didn’t know them. It was a little rocky at first trying to figure everything out,” Bowman said to reporters Saturday night. “I remember in our first team meeting saying that we could contend for a championship. In (my heart), I was like, ‘Maybe next year.’ But then they started getting better and we started swimming some meets and I started seeing some things. We were able to get our roster together a little bit with some firepower. It’s really kind of gratifying to all of those efforts came together, but it’s really all about those guys and their hard work.”

Texas senior Luke Hobson was key in getting Bowman up to speed on Texas culture. He has been on fire this season since his Olympic bronze medal in the 200m freestyle, following that up with a world record in the 200m freestyle at the World Short Course Championships, and the fastest time ever in short course yards this past weekend.

“He does everything right,” Bowman said of Hobson. “He lives the right way. He trains the right way, and he behaves the right way…I sat down with some of these guys and said, ‘what are the traditions you think are really important?’ It’s been important to make a smooth transition.”

Hobson was one of three Texas champions over the weekend. Hubert Kos set the fastest time ever in the 100 (43.20) and 200 backstroke (1:34.21), and also won the 200 IM (1:37.91). Rex Maurer won his first-ever titles in the 500 freestyle (4:05.35) and 400 IM (3:34.00) to solidify his status as one of the rising stars in the United States.

It may be a “new look” Texas team - seven of the 18 qualified swimmers weren’t on the team last year. But the tradition of excellence is still there, and will be there for a long, long time.

“I’m actually going to get to celebrate (this one),” Bowman said with a laugh. “I’m looking forward to going back home and lighting the tower and doing all the things that happen at Texas, and hopefully getting ready to win another one.”