Hansen's Top Teams, No. 9: Wildcats juggernaut swam to first national title in 2008

Frank Busch was the NCAA Coach of the Year in 1993, 2005 and 2006, and coached Arizona’s men’s swimming team to consecutive finishes of fourth, fourth, third, second and third place from 2003-07.

That’s the equivalent of five straight Final Fours.

But to become a national champion, Busch had to overcome the Auburn juggernaut, which won five consecutive NCAA men’s titles in those seasons.

Finally, in March 2008, Busch’s Wildcats not only beat Auburn, they outscored the Tigers by 184 points in the NCAA championships at Federal Way, Washington.

“We’ve dreamed of this,” said Busch, who had been Arizona’s coach since 1989. “We’ve talked of this. We’ve wondered how to do it. You realize it’s not magic. It takes persistence and getting enough people on the same page at the same time. That’s the trick, and it all came together.”

The 2008 Wildcats men’s swimming team was loaded. It had the equivalent of an All-American point guard in Albert Subirats, a versatile junior from Venezuela, and an All-American power forward, in freestyler Jean Basson of South Africa.

At the NCAA finals, Arizona incredibly won five events and finished second in six. The Wildcats scored 500½ points to overwhelm runner-up Texas’ 406 and third-place Stanford’s 344.

Subirats won the 100 butterfly, was second in the 100 backstroke and was the key member of two national championship relay teams with South Africa’s Darian Townsend, Brazil’s Nicolas Nilo and Canada’s Joel Greenshields.

Basson teamed with Townsend, Greenshields and Nilo to win a third national title as a relay team.

It reflected Busch’s resourceful recruiting efforts. With just 9.9 scholarships to spread over more than 20 swimmers, Busch didn’t waste much time going head-to-head with established powers Stanford, Cal, Auburn and Texas for the top American recruits.

Instead, he recruited globally and it paid off with a national championship.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“This is all because of Frank,” said Subirats. “He has made us care more about the team than ourselves.”

Busch didn’t rely totally on foreign swimmers. He helped to develop Tucson’s Marcus Titus, a Flowing Wells High School grad, who finished second in the 100 breaststroke. He also acquired All-American Cory Chitwood, a prep star in Kentucky, who finished second in the 200 backstroke.

The 2008 swimming season was rewarding for Busch in many ways. He was named to the USA Olympic team coaching staff, and three years later became the Director of National Teams for USA Swimming. Busch also was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 2008.

A graduate of Loyola-Chicago, Class of 1973, Busch began his coaching career with his hometown Northern Kentucky Piranhas in the mid-1970s. He then coached the Cincinnati Marlins to national prominence as a club swimming program, which led to his appointment as head coach of the University of Cincinnati swim teams in 1980.

In 1989, Arizona hired Busch from a pool of about 50 applicants. Three years later, he was the NCAA Coach of the Year.

“Frank does it the right way,” said Roric Fink, head coach of the nationally-prominent Tucson Ford Aquatics program and an Arizona assistant coach under Busch’s son, Augie. “He doesn’t cut corners and he doesn’t use loopholes. He treats people the right way.”

After Arizona won the 2008 NCAA championship, Busch and his team was invited to visit President George W. Bush at the White House.

Afterward, Busch sent handwritten notes to more than 100 people who had emailed him, congratulating him for being a national champion.

“It’s the least I can do, I owe a lot of people a lot of thanks,” said Busch. “This isn’t a one-man job.”

More from Star columnist Greg Hansen

• Updated Sep 7, 2022