Eddie Reese
FameRank: 4

"Edwin Charles Reese" is an American college and Olympic Games/Olympic Swimming (sport)/swimming coach and former college swimmer. Reese has been the head coach of the Texas Longhorns men's swimming and diving team that represents the University of Texas in Austin, Texas since 1978, and previously served as the men's head coach for the United States' Olympic Swimming Team in 2004 and 2008, as well as an assistant coach at the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

More Eddie Reese on Wikipedia.

I don't believe in the philosophy that if you knock a champion down, then they get back up. You have to build them up gradually. You have to develop their self image. It's just how you treat people everyday that makes them better.

It wasn't our best season. We especially didn't perform our best at the NCAA Championships.

Last year it was on me. With the excitement from the Olympics, I had them burned out by November. This season, they've all been trying very hard and listening very well. Our only mistake this season would be for me to work them too hard.

Even though I didn't know I was going to be a swim coach, I always acted like it. I was always coaching other swimmers and telling them what to do.

When I came here, Texas had the greatest facility in the world at the time. What also attracted me to UT was the fact that I wouldn't lose as many good swimmers to the academically prestigious schools, because swimmers could also get a great education here.

All coaches have theories on where their teams are supposed to be, and we were as good as I could have hoped against Auburn. I want them to stay aggressive and keep competing.

Swimming and track are similar because you don't have to win along the way to win it all. I use meets like this one to know how much rest to give the guys, and hopefully we will wait until the end of the year to peak.

The hardest skill to acquire in this sport is the one where you compete all out, give it all you have, and you are still getting beat no matter what you do. When you have the killer instinct to fight through that, it is very special. All great swimmers have that skill.

It was a great effort in his first Big 12 Championships. We did some things well but this is another step toward the NCAA Championships. Tomorrow is big day with more time in the pool, we need to stay focused and continue to improve every day of the meet.