Bob Bowman, David Marsh to coach US swimmers at Olympics

Bob Bowman and David Marsh will be the U.S. swim coaches at the 2016 Olympics, looking to spark a powerhouse team coming off a disappointing world championships.

USA Swimming made the announcement Wednesday during a coaching convention in Cleveland.

Bowman is the longtime coach of Michael Phelps, the winningest athlete in Olympic history. Bowman, who recently took over the swim program at Arizona State, will be in charge of the men’s team in Rio de Janeiro.

Marsh is the director at SwimMAC Carolina in Charlotte. He will lead the women’s Olympic team and is also the personal coach of men’s star Ryan Lochte.

Bowman and Marsh have served as assistant coaches on three previous Olympic teams. This will be their first head coaching stints for the national team at the sport’s premier event.

The U.S. team led the medal count at this summer’s world championships in Kazan, Russia, but eight golds and 23 medals overall were far below expectations. Katie Ledecky essentially carried the team, claiming four individual gold medals and five golds overall. Lochte was the only other American swimmer to win an individual title.

Bowman was a men’s assistant at the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics, where Phelps won 18 golds and 22 medals overall — far more than any other athlete. After a brief retirement following the London Games, Phelps returned to the pool with the goal of adding to his record in 2016.

His comeback, however, was complicated by an arrest on drunken-driving charges for the second time, leading to six weeks of in-patient therapy. But Phelps bounced back to post some of his best times in years at last month’s U.S. national championships in San Antonio.

“Michael is in such a great place,” Bowman said. “In Beijing, he was basically just a machine. That’s what he had to be to do that program (where he won a record eight gold medals). By the time he got to London, he had opened up more as a team leader. I thought he had a real impact on the other people on the team. That’s just going to continue now. He’s more vocal now about what he thinks is important to the team, what the team needs to do. He’s going to take on a real leadership role. It will almost be like having another coach on the staff.”

Bowman was head coach of the men’s team at the 2013 world championships in Barcelona, Spain.

Marsh was a men’s assistant at the 1996, 2000 and 2012 Olympics, in addition to serving as a head coach at worlds and several other major international meets. A longtime head coach at Auburn, he has run the SwimMAC program since 2007, working with 12 current members of the national team. Lochte is the most prominent member of that group, but Marsh also coaches Olympic gold medalists Tyler Clary and Cullen Jones.

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