Augie Busch is ready to get back to it. Even if, right now, there isn’t a ton to get back to.
The pools at the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center have been closed since the pandemic shut down the sports world in March. His UA swimmers and divers are just starting to get their physicals and other tests done this week, though they won’t be competing until January.
However, Busch’s message remains the same.
“January through March is really normal in our sport — we will have a great season. We just have to figure out how to get there,” he said. “Yeah, we are missing a couple of dual meets and an invite (by not competing this fall), but the fall semester is about training and getting ready for more important stuff from January through March. Just keep optimistic that January, February and March will be normal. And there is no more fun part than that — so enter it in great shape.”
That’s not to say these past 5ƒ months apart have been easy. Far from it.
As soon as everything shut down, Busch — Arizona’s fourth-year coach and the son of UA coaching legend Frank Busch — encouraged his athletes to stay in shape, even if that meant doing all their work outside of the pool. Most community pools were closed for months.
Together, Busch pushed the Wildcats to keep a positive attitude and “recalibrate what to be grateful for.” Even though his swimmers are back at school now, Busch is reluctant to share when exactly the pool will open.
“Since the beginning, we used the COVID experience to instill gratitude and thankfulness in what our normal is,” Busch said. “We have great leadership. No one said, ‘Woe is me.’ I’m not the type to allow sulking or pity parties, so that has not been a challenge. I haven’t given false hope on when the pool will open, when the weight room will open. I’ve been conservative and not getting people’s hope up.”
The Wildcats have used the downtime to connect in different, socially distant ways. The Wildcats listened to the audiobook of “The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work and Team with Positive Energy” as a team, splitting it up across a few separate Zoom calls and discussing key points.
“Our team never ceases to amaze me — how much they are willing to share,” Busch said.
Busch also showed a documentary that hit close to home. His mom, Patty, and sister, Molly, produced “Between Water and the Wood” — a behind-the-scenes look at Arizona’s 2007 swimming and diving season. Frank Busch was the Wildcats’ head coach then, with Augie as an assistant.
“We were hoping it would be my dad’s first national championship and it almost was for the women,” he said. “It came down to the last day. So it was a sad ending, but what worked out is that they didn’t realize that post-production would take another full year. So the next Christmas they said, ‘Screw it, we’re going to the NCAAs and maybe there will be an unexpected ending.’
“It was 2008, and we all know what happens. The film ended with us crying and sad and then the screen goes black and … a year later it was happy as we were champions. It went from heartbreak in ’07 to jubilation in ’08 — it worked out perfect.”
The film, which opened to a standing-room-only crowd at The Loft, is now used as a motivational tool by many coaches across the country.
The book and movie may have helped Busch through another element of his trying spring and summer. He underwent oral surgery to fix teeth that were damaged in a capture-the-flag injury at age 18.
“I juked at the last second,” he said.
“My dentist – Jason Kirkland — was telling me for years that something has to be done about it or I’d have a lot of trauma. I should have had it done five or seven years ago. It could have gotten to a point that I couldn’t wait any longer, unless I wanted to bite into something and have my teeth fall out.”
Busch traveled to Colorado for the surgery, which was performed by his friend and fellow Salpointe Catholic High School Lancer Jeremy Miner.
“It’s a lot, but this is the ideal time to do it. It’s not like I’m going to the office a lot or have to impress my team,” he said.
“If I need to be on a Zoom call with my fake teeth, I’ll do it; if not I’ll roll without them. It’s a multiphased deal. It could be done in February or March or might be June to July. But a year from now I’ll be looking good with new teeth.”
