As head coach Bob Bowman wrapped up his first year at Texas, the season was filled with record-breaking meets and a couple of NCAA firsts. The team ended the season in the top spot in the nation, rounding out a dominant season.
Bowman joined the team after the retirement of former head coach Eddie Reese. Bowman started his tenure at UT with the added stress of the Olympic trials and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, both of which he coached for, delaying his involvement with the team till the completion of the games.
“It’s really been amazing to be part of the organization at Texas to just feel like every day I come to a place where everything just exudes excellence,” Bowman said in a press conference before the Southeastern Conference Championship.
Bowman was not the only force to join the team in its first year in the SEC. Olympic champion and junior Hubert Kós followed Bowman from Arizona State. He proved to be a standout performer, winning multiple NCAA titles in his first year at Texas and helped secure the team’s national championship in March.
“(I’m) just following Bob’s process and following the training he puts on, and just doing that to your best best ability, and I’m really happy with how it turned out,” Kós said.
Under a new coach with a new system, the Longhorns saw early success in their season. In the first home meet of the season against Indiana, Texas dominated in the pool. Senior Luke Hobson said Bowman’s training plan had assisted the team.
“As a team, it is fun being on top again,” Hobson said. “It’s been a bit of a process getting here, but I think the transition has gone super smoothly and Bob’s been doing a great job with the whole team and I think our team culture this year has been really good.”
The team continued to shine, going undefeated into the conference and NCAA Championships and repeatedly wiping out the competition. Sophomore Rex Maurer, Hobson and Kós continued swimming strongly throughout the season, preparing for the SEC and NCAA championships.
The team looked to earn their 46th consecutive conference championship streak at their first ever SEC Championship in February, out-scoring Florida by 149.5 points, coming home with 21 gold medals and the championship title. Maurer also earned the SEC Commissioner’s Cup Trophy after scoring 91, the highest score by any male athlete during the championship.
“I remember in our first team meeting saying we can contend for a championship, in (my heart) I was like ‘Eh maybe next year,’” Bowman said. “When they started getting better, we started doing some meets. I started doing some things, so we were able to get our roster together a little bit.”
Texas entered the last meet of the season at the NCAA Championships ranked No. 1 and undefeated. In the end, the Longhorns emerged national champions and secured 490 points, ending Bowman’s inaugural season and their first season in the SEC in the top spot. Following the win, Bowman became the first Division I swimming and diving head coach to win a national championship in back-to-back years in two different teams and was awarded the NCAA Coach of the Year title.
Now, as Texas swim and dive looks forward to next year, Kós has another year of eligibility left and may return to the team with the possibility of back-to-back seasons. There is some uncertainty on the roster with the pending NIL settlement ruling that could affect the number of spots available on the team, but until the settlement is finalized, it is time for the Longhorns to go back to the drawing board and prepare for the next season.
“The people who are gonna win (national titles) are the people who train the most,” Kós said. “I feel like I’ve trained so hard this year for those moments and little finishes, little touches that make or break your swims.”
