It wasn't a matter of if, but when.
And the timing is perfect for Jared Anderson to become the next head coach of the Hopkins swimming and diving program. Anderson is competing in what he believes will be his last Olympic Trials this week and next in Omaha. After the trials he's moving his efforts to coaching. It's a bittersweet move, but one he's excited about.
"It's tough," Anderson said. "I've known for awhile that no matter what happens, I'm going to need a break from the competing and training after this summer. I don't know how long the break will be. I can't imagine not swimming again, but I'll be out for awhile and when I do come back it will be different, whether it's masters or I find more of a sprint-based training or something that requires a little less time.
"But this seems like a good opportunity for me to stay in touch with the sport and especially kind of get the competitive side of my personality out a little bit. I think the coaching aspect of it will be fun and this was too good of an opportunity to pass up."
Anderson originally interviewed for the head girls job at Hopkins in 2013, but felt competing and coaching would clash schedule wise. However, his interview went well enough where his name was remembered and was asked to interview again.
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Jared Anderson
- High school: Brainerd
- College: University of Minnesota
- Next: New head boys swimming and diving coach at Hopkins High School
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Anderson is a senior reporter for SwimSwam.com, a website devoted to swimming news. Anderson said he covers mostly college competitions being he just graduated from the University of Minnesota, where he swam for four seasons as a Golden Gopher.
Before swimming for the Maroon and Gold, Anderson won a Class 2A state gold medal and two silvers in the 100-yard breakstroke. He graduated from Brainerd in 2009.
Anderson's father, Dan Anderson, is the head girls swimming and diving coach at Brainerd and he'll use his father along with Warrior boys head coach Jon Zemke to develop a program, routine and most important a culture.
"I've talked to my dad a lot and the college coaches who I'm still training with," said Anderson. "Mostly to see if they thought I was ready and what else I needed to learn and do before I felt ready to jump into it. Luckily I'm also going to be the assistant coach on the girls side this fall so that will be a nice way to see how somebody else runs a program. That will be a big help.
"After trials next week, my plan is to spend a lot of time with other coaches and seeing what they do and get as much advice as I can before I get started."
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Anderson said he's reading and trying to learn as much about creating a culture. He believes creating the right culture and implementing it quickly is his first priority.
Where he lacks the most experience is with the administrative side of being a head coach.
"We're kind of working on meet schedules and lining up assistant coaches," Anderson said. "We're still in the market for a diving coach. So just trying to get the staff set and practices times figured out. A lot of that stuff is probably the area that I feel the least experienced in. As far as the actual coaching, I've done some camps and clinics where I taught so I feel good about that."
Anderson knows all the strokes being a former individual medley performer and a breaststroker, which is the one event many coaches struggle with.
"Breaststroke especially is the one event that is tough to train for and I've been fortunate to have a lot of great breaststroke coaches that I've gotten to work with," said Anderson. "I've picked up a lot of stuff where that's one thing, when talking to a lot of other coaches and swimmers where they'll be at a loss for teaching breaststroke. That definitely helps and I feel very comfortable with that. Then with the other strokes, I was an (individual medley swimmer) in high school and trained really hard on all the strokes and then spent a couple years in college where I tried to be an IMer before I realized I needed to specialize a little more. I feel good about all the strokes."
Many of Anderson's former teammates and friends are in the coaching ranks as well and he's said he's received a lot of support from them. He is excited to remain a part of the swimming community.
"Swimming has been a big part of my life for a long time," he said. "I've been swimming since I was 8 years old. Even through all the years and all the tough training, it's always been the source of joy in my life. I really do love swimming. It's something I feel like I've been blessed with the ability to do and the understanding of. I just feel real good about using that to help other people as much as possible. Hopefully as a coach I'll have even more of an impact on young athletes coming up in the sports and hopefully inspiring them to love the sport, too."
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JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com . Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .
