By Blake Dowson
The Daily Iowan sat down with head men’s and women’s swimming coach Marc Long to talk about Iowa swimming program. Long graduated from Iowa in 1990, and is heading into his 12th season as the head coach for the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes are currently ranked No. 30 in the collegeswimming.com poll heading into this weekend’s meet against Minnesota.
DI: What keeps you coming back each year?
Long: It’s been the challenge, I think. If you look early on at what we did at the Field House, merging the two programs together, developing and adding on to the staff, getting things up to a level to compete in the top-25, that’s been exciting and motivating. And working with young, motivated people every day is a great opportunity.
DI: What does it mean to you to coach at your alma mater?
Long: I’ve thought a lot about that and talked a lot to the staff about that. It definitely adds a little extra pride beyond the job. You want to see the university be successful, and it gives you that little extra “oomph.” It really is a dream.
DI: What will you consider a successful year this season?
Long: We’ve been working a lot on a base and getting them to think and believe that we can compete at the NCAAs. Numbers-wise, that meet isn’t a huge meet. So getting numbers there is great, but we need to score and get some relays there. Getting more people to that NCAA meet and getting more people scoring is really what this team is about. I’m asking the seniors to help with the legacy of this program; what legacy are they leaving for their teammates?
DI: Your swimmers have always had success in the classroom. Is that something you emphasize or do you just happen to recruit some smart athletes?
Long: To me, that’s ultimately why you’re here. We don’t really have pro swimming. You have Michael Phelps and a few others, but not many. So it’s extremely important. Especially on the women’s side, they’re very driven, they’re very competitive, and I want them to be empowered. I want them to know they can do whatever they want, and they can use swimming as a tool to learn about themselves.
DI: Speaking of recruiting, what are some things you try to sell to recruits to get them to Iowa City?
Long: Well, like a lot of sports, the hardest thing is to get a recruit to visit. Once we get them here, it’s really about the people. The commitment we will give to them both academically and athletically is a big selling point. We want to get people in here that want to be the best.
DI: What was it like to compete in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials?
Long: I wish there were more walls, that’s a long-course pool. But it was great. I was a small-town kid, coming into Iowa after a year at Northern Iowa, and it was a big step for me. Each step for me, going to NCAAs and making finals, winning Big Tens, those were all steps that led to the Trials. Making the Olympic Trials meet, it was great for about 75 meters of my 100. It didn’t end great, and I didn’t make the team, obviously, but it was a cool experience. I will say, competing for the University of Iowa was probably more rewarding, doing it for your school and your state. You represent something bigger than yourself.
DI: You were on an Iowa team that placed eighth at NCAAs. What will it take for this year’s team to be a top-15 or top-10 team?
Long: You know, that was a goal of ours at the time, and it was cool how it worked out. For the guys, you need top-8 points at NCAAs. You need those big points at that meet, and you need relays to get you points. You look at last year, we had six guys at the meet which is well above the average for the team. But we just didn’t score a lot. You know, the team I was on that finished eighth scored higher at NCAAs than we did at Big Tens. We weren’t winning any relays. On this team, we’re doing a good job winning relays, and that’s a big step.
