Swimming Australia today announced Leigh Nugent as the new head coach of Australia in the wake of Alan Thompson's resignation amid political infighting in the federation. Nugent, a cohesive force for the Dolphins, will lead the team "through to the London Olympics in 2012 and beyond", according to a SA Ltd statement.
Nugent has been acting in the role since early December. Speaking on the first day of Australian nationals and Commonwealth Games trials in Sydney, Nugent said: “This is a fantastic opportunity and one that I’m very passionate and excited about. To be involved with this team is always a very humbling experience and one that should never be taken for granted. The Australian swim team plays a unique and important role in elite sport in this country, particularly in relation to Olympic success. Every member of the Australian swim team works hard towards that success and in pools all over Australia that journey to London has already begun. This week here in Sydney is just another milestone along the way for many.”
Nugent will be joined at the helm of the Dolphins by a new appointment of performance director. Thompson made clear that he was unhappy with SAL's decision to split the job he held into two. David Crocker will take on the role of General Manager of High Performance. Crocker, who was CEO of New Zealand basketball for seven years and more recently has been a consultant at the Australian Sports Commission, has been acting in the position since December and will start immediately. It remains to be seen how useful his skills will be in a very different world to that of basketball.
Nugent, 59, has a fine track record. Most recently, he served as the National Youth Coach to Australia, since 2005, and is widely considered to have done a sterling job. With a nod to the importance of feeding senior waters, Nugent said: "There is plenty of talent out there, both from an athlete and coach perspective, and that’s where this week could prove so important - as new talent can always step up at a meet like this.”
Nugent told AAP's Tom Wald that he would be prepared to welcome back Thompson if the former head coach is cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent inquiry into anonymous accusations of "inappropriate behaviour". That investigation is independent of Thompson's decision to step down.
One of Nugent's key roles is to stem the flow of Aussie coaches leaving for overseas positions. He will need all the help he can get if he is to fulfil his ambition of making "Australia the No.1 swimming nation again", that reference to be found in an AAP report. Only twice in history, the 1956 Olympic Games and the 2001 world championships in Fukuoka has Australia emerged ahead of the United States, the standout aquatic superpower of the race pool throughout history.
"It is a lofty ambition," Nugent told Wald. "It is obviously not very easy to achieve but that is the challenge that is put before us and we will do everything we can to get to that position."
The shiny suits crisis warped the true picture of world swimming but what can be said is that Australia climbed out of the plastic bubble of buoyed performance worse off. At world titles, Rome 2009, 17 finalists raced in 13 solo finals and Australia failed to make 13 solo finals. Two years before, at home in Melbourne, the tally was 27 finalists in 18 finals, with many more making it past prelims than they did in the fast-forward circus of Rome: 24 swims failed to make it past prelims, compared to 11 at Melbourne 2007.
Nugent said that he was keen to make use of former British head coach Bill Sweetenham and Laurie Lawrence, two men linked to many a success story down the years, including the achievements of the likes of Tracey Wickham and Duncan Armstrong.
