Women’s swimming is now part of USF’s athletic arsenal for the first time in school history. This addition not only brings the potential for increased enrollment, but has already contributed to a more diverse student body. “Athletics is another avenue for expanding the enrollment and reach of USF,” USF Athletic Director Josh Synder says. “Adding women’s swimming, a conference sponsored sport, would help the campus while also helping the conference.” Previously, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) only had four women’s swim teams: Minnesota State Mankato, Minnesota State Moorhead, St. Cloud State, and Northern State. However, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires six teams to host a championship. …show more content…
Josh [Synder] and Pam [Gohl] not only gave me the freedom to do everything in the non-traditional way, but sort of empowered me to run with it,” Maccol says. Maccol has been coaching for sixteen years and swimming competitively since the age of six. He attended Ashland University for two years before transferring to Slippery Rock University. “I was an average DII swimmer and I kind of fell into coaching because I decided not to go to law school, Maccol says. “I never had a right or wrong way to do things.” The main component that makes Maccol’s coaching methods unique is that he does not coach the way he was coached. “I tailor my training to each athlete, I fit me to them, not vice versa,” Maccol says. Rather than blaming the swimmer for their failure, Maccol uses the experience to learn how he can become a better coach. With his past experiences under his belt, Maccol began going through databases and calling in favors trying to build his new team. At first it was difficult getting traction, Maccol estimates that he made roughly 1200 calls in two weeks. However, once he found his pace, Maccol was able to recruit a few big names in the swimming