Rick DeMont. Photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics
When Rick DeMont retired as Arizona’s swimming coach in the spring of 2017, he told me he had begun the retirement process in late 2016, getting documents in order and thus planning to end 30 years as one of the most accomplished and respected coaches in UA history.
I remarked that he probably had the most difficult coaching job on campus. “I wouldn’t disagree with that,” he said.
DeMont’s successor, Augie Busch, now has the most difficult coaching job in Arizona’s athletic department.
The Pac-12’s two national swimming powers, Stanford and Cal, employ two head coaches for their swimming programs — one for the men’s team and one for the women’s team. That’s a much better idea, but other Pac-12 schools choose not to invest that much money in their swimming operations.
At Arizona, one head coach (and three assistants) oversee a program of approximately 50 male and female swimmers. They are assisted by a swimming operations director.
It is complicated. A diving program, with an additional seven or eight athletes, is often folded inside a college swimming program. Those diving programs have a separate head coach with separate recruiting and practice schedules.
There are so many moving parts it almost invites personnel problems.
Compare that to Kevin Sumlin’s football program of about 100 players. Sumlin has 10 full-time assistants and 26 full-time employees, including a full-time assistant athletic director, Dennis Polian, who is essentially the general manager of UA football.
Last week, the NCAA Committee on Infractions said that DeMont did not “promote an atmosphere of compliance” when it was determined that former UA diving coach Omar Ojeda committed multiple recruiting violations. The Wildcats were put on two years’ probation. Ojeda received a show-cause penalty.
Arizona offered DeMont a two-year contract extension in the spring of 2017. Last week, athletic director Dave Heeke said that DeMont “did not uphold the values … I have for all staff members.”
It scarred DeMont’s otherwise remarkable coaching career, and it’s unfortunate.
In my opinion DeMont is about the last guy on earth who would knowingly break an NCAA rule. He spent 22 years coaching for Frank Busch, who was the working definition of integrity in college sports. DeMont learned the system from the best.
After DeMont’s retirement, former UA swimmer Steve Wyatt wrote to Swimming World magazine, saying “I swam with Rick at Arizona during the ’78, ’79 and ’80 swim seasons. He taught me something I have never forgotten, and that was medals and trophies don’t define an athlete or a person, but if you give it your best effort then you will always be a winner.”
In his last months as a swimming coach, his move to retirement in process, DeMont failed to properly monitor his diving program. That should not define an otherwise exemplary 30-year coaching career.
