Stoddard Emerges From a Shadow With the Rose Bowl Aquatics Club

Rose Bowl Aquatics is Terry Stoddard’s swim club. His and his alone.

There will be no more references about him being a caretaker. No second-guessing his techniques. No, “That’s nice Terry, but when Mark Schubert was coach . . . “

He’s building, not maintaining.

Last summer, Stoddard resigned as coach of the Mission Viejo Nadadores, a job he had held since 1986. He walked away from an internationally known club. In doing so, he walked out from under a shadow.

“The last seven years, I was perceived as running a program that was already there,” Stoddard said. “It was much different than what’s before me. Here, I can do my job.”

And do it well.

Rose Bowl Aquatics isn’t about to become the next swim Mecca, not yet anyway.

Stoddard inherited a team that had virtually no senior national program. Of the club’s 148 swimmers, only 32 were in the 13-and-up age group.

But the club, which was spawned from the Amateur Athletic Foundation in 1984, had two 50-meter pools. It had a solid core of backers, including former Olympian John Naber, who is on the board of directors. It was the perfect place for a coach to start from scratch.

“This program is just an absolute diamond in the rough,” Stoddard said. “I’ve been able to establish a very team-oriented philosophy. It’s already showing signs of results.”

Rose Bowl Aquatics won the Olympic Section short-course championship in the spring, finishing more than 500 points ahead of the runner-up. True, the section did not include any of the Orange County clubs, considered the strongest in Southern California, but the victory was a start.

The team then placed fifth in the Junior Olympics, behind four Orange County teams. They had never finished in the top 10.

Individually, the club had two swimmers qualify for the senior nationals in six events, another first.

“It was a good sign,” Stoddard said. “It shows that we are developing.”

And, this time, Stoddard can take the credit.

He was hired by the Nadadores in 1986 to replace Schubert, who guided the team to 18 national championships. Stoddard won one more, then the Nadadores’ strength began to wane.

They remained competitive, but didn’t win another national team title under Stoddard. He was constantly being compared to Schubert, who is now the coach at USC.

“No matter what was done, it wasn’t enough,” Stoddard said.

Now, everything he does is more than enough.

He left the Nadadores after the Mission Viejo Company--the team’s major sponsor--withdrew funds. He immediately applied for the job with Rose Bowl Aquatics.

The program was still in its infancy. The facility, located near the Rose Bowl, was completed in 1990. According to Stoddard, it’s the only complex in the United States with two outdoor Olympic-sized pools.

The ideal spot for a coach to prove his worth, once and for all.

“I’m just excited to be here,” Stoddard said. “It’s a challenge. What is life if we don’t have these challenges?”