The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/432566
BY BRANDON BROWN M ike Bottom is in his third year as the head coach for both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams at Michigan. He came to U-M in 2008 to coach just the men, but in 2012 he took over the women's program as well. In his first season, the women finished sixth in the Big Ten and 36th in the country. Year two saw a fifth- place finish in the Big Ten and a 30th-place showing at the NCAA Championships. Now in year three, he has the women at 4-0 in the Big Ten and ranked No. 12 in the country. He gives his coaches a lot of credit for the increased success, but also identifies what he believes makes a program grow. "We were able to hire two more coaches, which was great," he said. "As the head coach, I just had to make sure the duties were divided up and that my coaches were all getting better. "It's not what I bring to the table, but it's what the whole men's and wom- en's combined culture brings to the table. The women are combining with a team that has won an NCAA cham- pionship and several Big Ten cham- pionships. That combination brings a new expectation. "The women now expect to win. It's not about whether they're going to win, it's about when they're going to win. "That translates into practice, it translates into their motiva- tion and how much effort they put into the details and mak- ing changes in their strokes and their tech- nique. It translates into how they come to practice prepared and how they take care of themselves away from practice." There are subtle changes to the struc- ture of his practices and slight changes in his attitude be- tween the men and women, but the expectations are virtually identical. "There is a different dynamic, yet you can come at it in the same way," he said. "I have two great coaches in Danielle Tansel and Rick Bishop on the women's side. They aren't just women's coaches because they coach the combined team, but I rely heavily on them in their communication with our women. "The women, now instead of having OLYMPIC SPORTS Mike Bottom Is Taking Women's Swimming And Diving To Another Level In just his third season in charge of the women's swimming pro- gram, Bottom has the Wolverines ranked No. 12 nationally. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS