By james art 
Can Bob Baumann and the University of Texas boost American men in the years to come?
The climax of the Olympic swimming competition, where very little went right for the U.S. men, came on the final day when Bobby Finke won gold in the men’s 1,500 freestyle with a world record. Finke helped the team avoid a complete shutout from winning individual gold, and it was just the sixth individual medal the men’s team won all week. Otherwise, the nine days of swimming were filled with many disappointments.
Veterans Nick Fink and Ryan Murphy each won individual medals, with Fink taking silver in the 100 breaststroke and Murphy bronze in the 100 backstroke, but Murphy missing the 200 backstroke final while his fellow three-time Olympian Caleb Dressel he couldn’t repeat his time from the US Olympic Trials, let alone his best times. Carson Foster took bronze in the 400 IM but just missed out on a medal in the 200 IM. Many American male swimmers are currently in college, including Jack Alexi, Matt Fallon and Chris Guilianothey swam slower than at the Olympic trials. If they had repeated the results of the Paris trials, they would have been fast enough to win individual medals.
In fact, current American college players have only had one individual medal when Luke Hobson won bronze in the 200 free, nearly stealing gold in an event where he had no business battling the likes of David Popovichi or Matt Richards. But Hobson finished with bronze in 1:44.79, becoming the fourth-fastest American in the process.
Luke Hobson — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Hobson now competes again for the University of Texas as a senior remaining with the program following the retirement of the legendary coach Eddie Rees and the hiring of Bob Bowman to lead the program. Bowman is perhaps best known for guides Michael Phelps in his greatest career of all time, but perhaps the Paris Olympics were his most successful: the swimmers he coached accounted for 11 individual medals, although only four of them were American medals.
Bowman athletes included Leon Marchandwho won four individual gold medals in a legendary performance in his homeland, and Hubert Kosswho won gold in the 200 backstroke. Also on the men’s side, Bowman played a key coaching role Ilya Harunbronze medalist in both butterfly events before leaving Arizona State after the collegiate season in 2024. The only U.S. medals by swimmers coached by Bowman were won by women, with Regan Smith taking three individual silver medals and Paige Madden won bronze in the 800 free.
Could Bowman plus Texas in the new quadrennial be the formula to develop a new generation of medal contending American men? With Hobson and Foster, Texas was the program that produced the only two U.S. men’s individual medals from swimmers under the age of 24, and Bowman has only bolstered his Hall of Fame resume in recent years, especially with his work turning Marchand and Koss into international stars.
Through the first part of this college season, we’ve already seen signs of promising swimmers making big strides under Bowman and the Longhorns, especially in Friday’s Texas-Indiana dual meet in Austin.
Rex Maurer — Photo courtesy of Peter H. Bick
As Texas held its meet with a light show, pre-race introductions and a packed crowd, Hobson won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:31.86, about three seconds off the all-time record in the event he posted last year. But it wasn’t far Rex Maurersophomore transfer from Stanford who clocked 1:32.13 to break his previous best time of 1:33.54 from his high school days. Maurer later won the 500 free in 4:11.20, again besting his high school time, and in the morning session he won the 400 IM in 3:40.90.
Maurer finished in the top 11 in three different events at the Olympic trials, but failed to get over the hump in any individual finals. Now we’re seeing hints of Maurer taking steps toward national competition, just as Hobson did in his first year at Texas.
Meanwhile, Texas’ top two returning sophomores were impressive against the Hoosiers. Will Modglinnational high school swimmer of the year during his days in Zionsville, Ind., had his best long-distance season in 2024 when he reached the finals of the 100 backstroke and 200 IM at the Olympic trials. Against Indiana, Modglin became the first swimmer to break 45 for 100 yards this season in college.
Nate Germonprez200 IM semifinalist at Trials, swam the second-fastest time in the nation in the 100 breaststroke, beating the Hoosiers’ deep breaststroke squad with a time of 51.60. Germonprez barely competed in the breaststroke during his freshman season, instead handling the butterfly leg of the Longhorns’ top medley relays, but his progress in the stroke will be watched in the coming months.
Swimming two meets is a long way from the NCAA championships, let alone the long course season, but we should pay attention given Bowman’s recent trend of taking solid-accomplished swimmers and turning them into stars in both the short, as well as long courses. The U.S. needs it for reasons that go beyond the struggles in Paris: Most of the biggest college stars of the past few years represent foreign countries, while several top Americans have failed to translate their success into the big pool.
Given the prestige of the University of Texas and its swimming program, plus his own coaching success in recent years, Bowman has a better chance of attracting blue-chip American talent to Austin. The early return of his work with Maurer, Maudglin and Germontprez brings much-needed optimism to the still-unsettled American men.